Any tips for being a substitute teacher?

Question

I am subbing for the first time this year. I am a little nervous about it because I normally don't like talking in front of people. Any advice on this?

Answer 1

Number one tip: Don't sleep with any of the students!

Answer 2

txgraham gave a great answer!  As a teacher, the only thing I would add is please do not give away the teacher's materials (pens, pencils, etc.) to the students.  Our subs do that, and we have nothing to write with the next day.

Answer 3

Go looking your best, follow the teacher's lesson plans, don't talk down to the students, be firm with discipline, don't take yourself too seriously, leave a detailed note at the end of the day telling what happened and which students were especially helpful.  Good luck.

Answer 4

Yes! Be strict with them, be aware and always carry some alternative work in case they complete the work the school has set them.

Answer 5

If nervousness before groups is your trouble, find a local Toastmasters International club and join.  It's a public speaking group that I joined years ago for the same reason.  

http://www.toastmasters.org

Second, go to the following websites and get their books on classroom management:

http://www.fredjones.com

http://www.harrywong.com

These are written for regular teachers, but you will find tips in them that will help you.  Besides, you never know if you will be called to serve in a long-term sub position.  

Many will say for you to prepare some emergency lesson materials beforehand in case a teacher leaves no lesson plan.  The down side to this is your plans almost certainly will not match what students were studying, and you will get students asking if they will be graded on it or refusing to do it because it isn't part of the teacher's curriculum.  This is NOT to say it isn't a good idea, but for myself I preferred to adapt to ways of quickly making a good lesson that applied to what students were doing.  

First, I would check to see if any plans were written on the board.  More than once I found myself looking so much for written plans I failed to see the board had all I needed.  Often in an unexpected absence the teacher will have still written for the students the day's activities.  

If nothing was on the board I would check recently turned in student work before the bell.  I would then choose the next chapter of the textbook and go from there.  

If there was no work I would quietly ask a student coming in what they were working on.  You can usually identify who you could trust by their appearance.  

If possible I would also ask neighboring teachers for lessons and materials.  

Once I became adept at this I could get a lesson going in five minutes in any subject.  Of course, I would have them do my own warmup activities as well for those five minutes.  

Now for the roll call.  This is very important.  If you teach high school you will have students coming into your class who shouldn't be there in order to be with their friends.  If you use the teacher's seating charts you will also battle with students who claim the teacher moved them.  So do NOT use the charts, even if the teacher writes for you to use them.  Instead, create your own charts by using blank sheets of paper and quickly drawing up the classroom.  Write in the names of every student as you call them.  Do this for every period.  

When you finish, compare your chart to the classroom.  Are there any students sitting in blank seats?  Those are your "extra" students.  If they claim they have added the class but can't produce documentation, call the office to verify.  They will usually leave before you even talk with someone.  

Sometimes you will catch students impersonating other students who are absent.  Often you will catch them by their not doing the work at all and just being real obnoxious.  If you suspect such a student, hold up the roster and look at it and ask their middle name.  It doesn't matter if the middle name isn't listed.  They don't know that, and they don't know their friend's middle name either.  Bluff them and they will have a meltdown and ooze out the door.  

To enforce the teacher's seating pattern you may want to tell the students you will be leaving the charts for the teacher to look at.  Often half the class will get up and move to their right seats from this.  Other times you may not want to tell them.  Then you can put the fear of God into them by memorizing several of the names and walking around without the chart, calling these students by name and asking how they are doing with their work.  You will stun the entire class with your amazing powers of memory, and therefore exert control.  Also, use the charts to write notes on student behaviors.  Every chart will become a snapshot of class performance.  

If a student leaves without permission, call security and report it.  With your chart you will be able to identify who left.  If you don't mind using your cell phone and have access to student phone numbers, call the parent(s) and tell them to call their child on their cell phone and tell them to get back to class.  I've never had the opportunity to use this option, but I can imagine it would bring just utter horror to any student who would scramble their brain trying to figure out how their mom or dad knew they were out of class.    

Oh, one more thing.  Another advantage of telling the students about the charts and putting notes on them is telling them you will give good marks to students who do their work, don't talk, etc.  Students hate getting bad marks on the charts, but LOVE getting good ones.  For many its like getting candy.  Positive motivators are better than negative ones.  

Good luck!

Answer 6

When I substituted these are what helped me....

1. Bring stickers or candy. Great for bribing. Trust me even the best teachers do it because you will get some really rambunctios kiddos that need to be bribed.

2. I had a point system - postive reinforcement of course. I gave thema point for being good and if they reached 10 points or 20 points then they got a treat - extra recess time or a sticker etc....

3.  Be firm and strict but not too strict on the scheduling. Allow for some freedom - not a free for all. I used to do silent reading where they had freedom to choose their own books and free wrtiing where they could write whatever they wanted. Drawing was also fun.  

4. Play some games. After you follow the lesson plan of course.

5.  Go to the staff lunch room. You can learn a lot and it is a great chance for you to meet others who may want you as their sub. The ideal thing is to be called frequently to the same school so that you kinda know the culture instead of always going to a different school.

6. Be sickenly nice to everyone at the school ESPECIALLY the office staff - they can make or break you as a sub. Teacher's talk and if you p**s one off, you will not get called again.

Answer 7

dont be too boring... you dont want the students to think you are a bore. try to teach like the original teacher (the teacher you are subbing for) so that they dont go huh? and ask all sorts of questions.  

Answer 8

lol don't do it!

subs. are put thru h**l at my school.

ahh... fun times.

on the ther hand, do it, the kids will love it!

=]

Answer 9

be confident. kids can be cruel and smell fear a mile away.lol, im serious.

just dont be too mean, but not a push over.

carry puzzles they can do if they finish their work early

tell funny stories about yourself.

dont be too involved with the students, like dont hover over them or ask too many questions, that is annoying (i had a sub do that last year, they even started reading my essay over my shoulder when i was still writing)