Getting your plans and room organized for a substitute teacher

Educators are sometimes absent from their classroom. Professional Development, personal days, sick days, emergencies can all cause a teacher to be absent. We need to make sure that our room and lessons are organized so that a substitute can easily run the class and find things.

Labeling things in your room is a good idea so that another teacher or the substitute can find things. While you may think your students know where everything is, they don't always. I have signs and labels all over the place to help the students, and anyone else, find things. I have a sign near the door with labeled pictures showing where things are in my room, including sub plans, objectives, reference books, and more.

Have your substitute plans available in your room. We have our plans in folders in the office, but I have a copy of my emergency plans laminated on my front lab bench so that they are easily found. I also have signs pointing to where the emergency student work can be found in the room. It also has the class rules, my schedule, emergency instructions, and other information on it. I printed it in color to highlight certain things, and even have a picture showing exactly where in the room the actual assignments/work is. Many of the science teachers email each other when we are absent so that we can check on the class and assist the sub.

There are posters in the room with the class web site, blog sites, and my email address posted so that students, and the sub, can find these resources when needed. The 7 student computers in my room also allow me to assign more than just worksheets when I am absent.

When I know I am going to be absent, I leave instructions printed with the assignments on my front desk, and written on the white board. I let the teacher next door know that I am going to be out. We all check up on each other's classes and assist the subs.

Technology can also help. When I was out with a back injury one year, knee surgery one year (the perils of being a Paramedic) and on jury duty, I was able to communicate with my students, my colleagues and even have the students do work that I assigned from home or the courthouse.

What do you do to organize your room for when you are absent?

See the related articles below for more information.

Related:

Backup plans - some tips for teachers

How Technology Has Helped during Injuries and absences

Technology to the Rescue while I'm out for jury duty

Technology to the Rescue while I'm out for jury duty

TECHNOLOGY TO THE RESCUE!

I've been selected to serve on a jury here in Connecticut. The case is only supposed to run for about 5 days, so I won't be out of the classroom that long. However, I don't like missing school for any reason. So, I'm very thankful for the technology resources I have in my classroom and the fact that I have been using them with my students all along.

The case is tentatively slated to start this coming Wednesday, so I have two days in school to layout the plans for the sub and get organized. I've been working on the plans this weekend, and realized that things weren't changing much from what I would have been doing with them if I was in the class. The only real difference will be that I won't be physically in the classroom to give real-time feedback and guidance to the students and I won't be doing the short topic lectures that I usually do for each topic.

My AP Physics students are working on the unit on Sound and the Physics class is working on the unit on Universal Gravitation. The AP Physics class will be reading the chapter in the textbook and doing problem sets. Both classes will be using websites and Multimedia Science School (MSS) software to further explore and understand the topic. The websites and MSS software have self paced lessons on the topics, with problem solving practice, virtual interactive labs, videos, and demonstrations of the concepts.

I will be communicating with the students via the class blog, and will be communicating with the sub and my colleagues via email to monitor their progress and address any issues or questions. My department is very good at looking in on classes with subs and assisting with any issues. The class blog will also be used for students to submit their work, ask questions, and receive answers and help from me. Normally, I would use the blog for all of this, but I would also be in the classroom to answer questions and give guidance to the students as they work. Instead, I will have to answer questions and give guidance in a delayed time format via the blog each evening. My students all subscribe to the blog so that they get updates when I post new things or respond to comments. They also contact me via school email for questions and issues so we are able to expand their learning beyond the normal school day.

They'll also be watching some great videos on Discovery Education that relate to the topic.

I also maintain a class web site that has resources, links, handouts, and more on it. I post solutions to work along with the lecture notes that I use.

Technology will keep my students learning and exploring as I am absent from the classroom and not cause the typical wasted days and busy work that many students experience when their teacher is absent from the class.

I am very excited and intellectually curious to experience our justice system 1st hand and am very happy that I can do this and still educate my students because of technology.

AP Physics Class Blog
Physics Class Blog
Class Resource Site
Multimedia Science School Software


What are your experiences with activities for your students when you are absent from school?