Author: TCR Staff

Teacher Resources

Tips for Being a Successful Substitute Teacher

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Anyone who has ever substitute taught knows that it can be both rewarding and challenging. Many times the substitute teacher is considered successful if he or she is able to simply keep control of a class. Surely, every substitute teacher strives to do much better than that.

General Tips
Here are some general tips to help you to smoothly assimilate into your new environment:

  • If you want to substitute teach at a particular school, get to know the secretary there. It is often her job to arrange for substitute teachers. Even if she doesn’t have to arrange for a replacement teacher, she is frequently asked for suggestions.
  • If you want to do long-term subbing, make that known to the school office and to the teachers you sub for. When you talk to them, provide each school with a copy of your résumé.
  • Say “yes” as often as possible. When you will be out of town or on vacation, call the person who is responsible for securing subs. Make sure he or she knows when you will return and call him or her as soon as you do.
  • If you don’t want to work on a particular day, let the person in charge know in advance. If you answer and say “no” too often, you’ll stop getting calls.
  • Keep a file on each school where you sub. Include administrators’ names, a map of the school, a list of faculty, and a copy of the school’s rules and procedures. Keep notes about individual teachers and classes. Indicate class rules and routines, whether the teacher leaves a sub folder and lesson plans, what classroom expectations are, how the class behaved, and so on. Keep copies of all your teacher reports.
  • Proper preparation for substitute teaching is essential. Your arrival time at the school can be essential to the smooth functioning of your classroom. Taking the correct materials into the classroom can mean an extra five minutes added to your teaching time with the students because you don’t need to spend that time looking for essential teaching supplies.

At Home

  • Answer the phone on the first ring. The person calling is very busy and usually has many positions that need to be filled that morning.
  • Be cheerful when you get a call at 5:00 A.M. Keep in mind that there is a person at the other end of the phone who had to get up much earlier than you in order to call you.
  • Keep a pad of paper and pencil by the bed to write down the assignment. It’s very easy to forget something when you have just woken up.
  • Arrange your clothes the night before. Make sure you have all the items you would need and that they are clean and freshly pressed.

When You Arrive at School

  • Arrive at your assignment earlier than requested, especially if it’s the first time you’ve been in that particular teacher’s class. Have your Sub Grab-Bag (in upcoming post) with you. Check in with the school secretary and see if there are any duties, assemblies, or anything else unexpected that you might need to do.
  • Treat the school secretary with the utmost respect. He or she can be your best friend. If you are going to make anyone angry with you at the school, don’t let it be the secretary.
  • Obtain any keys that might be necessary and check the teacher’s mailbox for announcements, attendance sheets, and so on.
  • Obtain the bell schedule, in case your teacher has not provided it for you in his or her notes.
  • Find the location of the restrooms and the teachers’ lounge.
  • Look around at the physical set-up of the room. Find the plans, rules, evaluation chart, and supplies you will need.
  • Follow the plans that are left for you. Don’t disregard them and do your own thing. If you have questions, ask other grade-level teachers.
  • Write your name and the assignments on the chalkboard.
  • Have an activity ready for students to do as soon as they enter the room.
  • Finally, go next door and meet that teacher. Ask if you can send a student to his or her room, if necessary. This isn’t showing weakness—it’s just the opposite: it says that you are preparing for any challenge.

Moving Through the Day

  • If a seating chart is not available, make one as you take attendance.
  • Learn the names of as many students as possible. Learn at least a few names immediately.
  • Follow the teacher’s lesson plans as closely as possible. Supplement with your own activities only after the assigned work is done.
  • Let only one student out of class at a time, with a hall pass of some sort. Bring your own, if necessary.
  • Take notes throughout the day about incidents you want to share with the classroom teacher. Whenever you’re unsure of what action to take, err on the side of caution.
  • During the break time, go into the teacher’s lounge and meet other teachers. If they seem “standoffish”, ask questions about them. People are often willing to talk about themselves if you show interest. Tell them you are available if they should need someone to substitute. This is how you get more job assignments.
  • Walk around the room. Students understand that if you move into an area of the room, you will take possession of it. On the other hand, if you never walk around the room, you’re letting them know that they are in charge there. Also, moving around the room allows you to speak to the students for both control and social purposes.

Before You Leave

  • Before the children leave, have them clean the room. This can be fun and easy. If, for example, you are reading a story or doing quiet seat work the last part of the day, ask for two or three volunteers to clean up the floor. You will be surprised at how well they will do because they were “chosen.”
  • Complete a teacher report form. Include a list of students who were absent or went home early.
  • Make the classroom look as it did when you arrived. Make it even neater, if possible. Teachers love this.
  • Grade any work you can. If you are in doubt as to what the teacher wants, leave it, but make sure it is stacked neatly. Try to keep track of who finished what and leave that information for the teacher, too.
  • Leave a full report about what you did and did not cover as far as lesson plans are concerned. Also mention student behavior, especially positive things. If any major negative episodes occur, write down what happened and also let another teacher or the aide know about the incident.
  • Go through the office and return the key. When you are there, ask if you will be needed the next day. Tell the secretary how much you enjoyed your time at the school or maybe what you learned during the day and how you hope to return for another assignment. Even if you are exhausted, don’t let her know: she’s had a hard day, too.

For more tips on how to be a successful substitute teacher, check out the Substitute Teacher Handbook.

Teaching Tips

Tips for Working with Different Cultures in the Classroom

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Consider the cultural differences before engaging in any of the following:

  • Appropriateness of using telephone to communicate with parents
  • Patting a child on the head as a sign of affection
  • Expecting children to look you in the eye when being scolded
  • Looking people you’ve just met in the eye when simply talking
  • Shaking hands, pointing, gesturing “come”
  • Being informal vs. courteous (e.g., it’s better to overdress than underdress)
  • Asking them their preferences and explaining your behavior

Ways Teachers Can Make a World of Difference

  • First of all, Do No Harm!
  • Be respectful and respectable.
  • Be inviting and caring.
  • Give the benefit of the doubt when your “cultural” feelings are hurt.
  • Be flexible with plenty of wait time.
  • Try more to understand than be understood, then teach and explain.
  • Be hypercritical, not hypocritical, of your own behavior!

Multicultural Education Isn’t…

  • About everyone agreeing and getting along
  • Only applicable to Language Arts and History
  • A process of watering down good curriculum
  • Related only to curriculum reform
  • Only for teachers and students of color
  • Achieved through a series of small changes
  • Modeled through cultural bulletin boards, assemblies, or fairs
  • The responsibility of culture-based student clubs or organizations
  • A single in-service workshop

Multicultural Education Is…

  • About naming and eliminating the inequities in education
  • A comprehensive approach for making education more inclusive, active, and engaging in all subject areas
  • A process for presenting all students with a more comprehensive, accurate understanding of the world
  • Related to all aspects of education, including pedagogy, counseling, administration, assessment and evaluation, research, etc.
  • For all students and educators
  • Achieved through the re-examination and transformation of all aspects of education
  • Modeled through self-critique, self-examination, and cross-cultural relationship-building
  • The responsibility of teachers, administrators, and school staff

When Using Multicultural Activities . . .

  • Be able to change the type of activities and exercises you use. Possible examples are whole class or large group, small groups, or partner share; simulations; role play; narrative; storytelling; and project making.
  • Have plenty of time for the students to dialogue and process.
  • Always start your lesson plan with concepts, and then add activities—never the reverse.
  • Whenever possible and appropriate, show the students you are willing to participate in the class exercises and activities. This gives strength to the position that everyone can share.
  • Role-playing is good, but it also needs to be balanced with real personal experiences followed by discussions.
  • Films can provide excellent illustration of concepts and lead to fruitful dialogues, but they should be short enough to allow for class dialogue.
  • Be creative. Too often, educators and facilitators become dependent on one or two activities or exercises. Canned activities and exercises are not designed to be used for every situation. After you’ve done it enough, you will have a sense for what will and will not work within that context.

Adapted and used with permission from Strategies for Choosing and Using Activities and Exercises for Intergroup Learning by Paul Gorski.

Lesson Plans, Teaching Tips

Working with Students with Special Needs: Part VI – Activities for Gifted and High-Achieving Students

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Teachers with gifted children in their classrooms need to pay particular attention to developing the upper three levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy: (1) Synthesis, (2) Evaluation, and (3) Analysis.

Below are several creative-writing topics that emphasize the use of the upper levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Again, it is not only gifted students who will benefit from activities like these. They are enjoyable activities that stimulate higher-order thinking skills in everyone.

Story Starters

  • Tell how to make a paper airplane (or anything else that is relatively simple to do).
  • Describe an object without naming it.
  • Write down all the actions of someone or something in the room.
  • Pretend you are a tetherball (or anything else). Describe your feelings during the day.
  • Describe a day in the life of a pencil. (Other nouns can be used.)
  • Write a fairy tale in modern or futuristic terms.
  • Invent a new machine; describe it.
  • What would you put in a time capsule, and why?
  • Invent a new holiday and tell how it came to be and how it will be celebrated.
  • Write an advertisement for a make-believe product.
  • Imagine the history of a discarded item in the junk pile.
  • Invent a new vitamin.
  • Re-design a piece of clothing you’re wearing and describe it.
  • Rewrite your favorite nursery rhyme and substitute slang words.
  • Analyze the qualities of a superhero.
  • Classify yourself as a car (or any object) and describe your parts accordingly.
  • Analyze what you would do if you were lost in the woods with nothing but the clothes you’re wearing, a pocket knife, and a match.
  • Write down a conversation between a cat and a dog (or any two people or animals).
  • How are your parents the same as and different from you?
  • Discuss the differences between cars and oranges (any two items can be substituted).
  • Analyze the construction of a chair.
  • Describe the special abilities that a ballet dancer needs. (Other nouns can be substituted.)
  • Describe the actions of an ant you are observing. (Other animals can be substituted.)
  • How does it feel to look down from a high place (or from any precarious position)?
  • Describe a meeting between your teacher and Superman (or any unlikely combination of two people).
  • Critique your favorite TV show.
  • Recommend three things that will be essential for those living 25 years from now.
  • Debate an issue (handguns, smoking in public places, etc.) by writing the pros and cons.
  • Write a note to put in a satellite to tell how good or bad Earth is.
  • Is it a good idea to tell a secret? Why or why not?
  • What is the most perfect place to be?
  • What is the “good life”?
  • What does generosity mean?
  • Defend the idea that Earth is round.
  • Describe your house from a visitor’s point of view.
Teaching Tips

Working with Students with Special Needs: Part V – Classroom Strategies for ADHD

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Environmental Interventions

1. Make sure this student knows what is expected.
2. Sit this student near the teacher.
3. Try using a carousel or separate seating.
4. Surround the child with others who know how to do the work.
5. Divide the workload into small, manageable “chunks.”
6. Be very structured and consistent.
7. Allow for extra time when needed.

Interpersonal Interventions

1. Understand what this child is capable of doing.
2. Connect briefly with the child during the day.
3. Give constant feedback.
4. Meet with the child one-on-one during the school year.
5. Give immediate rewards.
6. Give a lot of encouragement and praise.
7. Keep a log on this student’s behavior, good and bad.
8. Help student to expand his or her attention span.
9. Teach the student to ask for help when confused.
10. Recognize the child’s strengths and successes.
11. Look at the student often during the lesson.
12. Remember to use different modalities during your lesson.
13. Ask the student to repeat the instructions.
14. Make a plan for organizing the student.
15. Allow the student to stretch or take a break when needed.
16. Let the child know when a transition is coming.
17. Enforce rules and consequences immediately.
18. Redirect privately.