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Tips For Substitutes

50 quick activities for when sub lessons run short

Substitutes who follow lesson plans and directions left by the permanent staff are those who will be requested for return assignments.

When the class arrives, introduce yourself, write your name on the board and Smile! Your day with the students has begun! As a professional replacing a permanent staff member who is absent, you should fulfill your obligation to make the school day of value to the students. Once again, the substitutes who fulfill this obligation are requested for return assignments. Rapport with students should be established quickly. A pleasant, sincere, but firm approach and adherence to the established routine of the classroom will help ensure a relationship of mutual respect with the pupils. Students should be under your supervision at all times. The Farmington R-7 School District expects all students to do the work assigned and to observe all the requirements of good conduct. You must accept no other standard. You are responsible for upholding school rules and regulations and maintaining daily records of attendance, lunch payments, etc. If you are in doubt about the method of keeping these records, information may be secured from the school administrative assistant, the nearest classroom teacher, or the principal. In most cases, there will be a lesson plan you will be expected to follow; however, it is not always possible for adequate plans to have been made by the regular teacher ahead of time. In these instances, please contact the principal or office personnel for alternate plans. 

Create a Super Sub Pack!

Your work with students can be improved if you take the time to create a Super Sub Pack. This “bag of tricks” can be a backpack, satchel, plastic storage box, or any other roomy container to hold supplies and materials for you and the students. Personal items such as a water bottle, a whistle for recess duty, breath mints, etc. can be stored there. You may also want to assemble some school supplies for your personal use. Substitutes often say it is easier to find and use their own supplies when they are in the classroom.

Other ideas can be found at:

https://www.weareteachers.com/50-tips-tricks-and-ideas-for-substitute-teachers/

https://swingeducation.com/resources/substitute-teacher-tips-high-school-classrooms/

Letting Effective Instruction Work for You

Students will more likely perform as expected if you incorporate motivation and reinforcement principles into your daily routine. This involves building interest, success, feedback, and accountability into your lessons. Positive reinforcement involves encouraging students to maintain appropriate behavior. When students are on task as expected, make sure they are positively reinforced so that this behavior will continue. Appropriate behavior, as well as inappropriate behavior that is positively reinforced, will continue or increase in frequency. The Substitute Teacher Institute provides the following principles of human behavior in their Substitute Teacher Handbook. Please see their reference below.   

• Behavior is largely a product of its immediate environment. If students misbehave, act out, are easily distracted, and so on, this is likely in response to something in the immediate classroom environment. Your actions as a teacher determine this environment. Control your actions, and you control the environment.  

• Behavior is strengthened or weakened by its consequences. The persistent behavior of disruptive or non-attentive students can invariably be explained by the classroom consequences of this behavior.  

• Behavior ultimately responds better to positive than to negative consequences. By genuinely reinforcing appropriate behavior through positive consequences, many undesirable behaviors will become extinct, and appropriate behavior among all students will increase.  

• Whether a behavior has been punished or reinforced is known only by the course of that behavior in the future. The only way you can tell if a response to a behavior is punishing or reinforcing is to watch what happens to the behavior after the response. What is a punishment to one student may reinforce and perpetuate a behavior in another. 

Professional Development-Sharpen Your Skills

The Farmington R-7 School District is committed to providing professional development for its employees. As a substitute teacher, you need specific training in district policies and procedures, effective instructional practices, and classroom management. To this end, several tracks of professional development are offered to our substitutes based on their past experience and level of expertise. Much of this training is based on materials developed by current district leaders such as De-escalation in Crisis Prevention Intervention (CPI) coupled with behavior management structures and A.L.I.C.E. participation within building levels. Information on these trainings is available each year through our substitute training meetings and social media posts. Substitutes are also welcome to attend district training and workshops. A professional development calendar is published periodically and is available in all schools. It lists classes, training, and workshops, as well as sources to contact in order to take advantage of these opportunities. As an employee of the District, there is no charge for these courses.