You know what the single most important thing is to having a good day when you are a substitute teacher? Go ahead and take a few guesses. I’m pretty sure you won’t get it. Long lunch? Nope. No “rainy day indoor recess”? Not it. Helpful colleagues? That’s nice, but not the answer. A fool proof lesson plan? So close, but still not correct.
Okay, here it is. The single most important thing to having a good day as a sub is… a seating chart. That’s right. A plain old seating chart. It doesn’t have to be fancy. It doesn’t have to be neat and tidy. It doesn’t have to be to-scale. Sure, grading programs can usually spit out diagrams that have all the little boxes/desks lined up perfectly and names are neatly typed inside each one. Fantastic. But if your grading program doesn’t do that, or if it does do that but you don’t know HOW to make it do that, if you just plain old don’t want to LEARN how to make it do that, or even god forbid if you do not use a grading program so you have no access to this option, may I let you in on a little secret?
We subs do not care about your technological prowess or lack thereof. We simply want to be able to know who is in the class and where they are in the classroom. There are a number of reasons, as I’m sure you can imagine, why it is advantageous to know a child’s name, as well as where that child sits. Let me spell some of them out for you.
As a guest teacher in a classroom, I begin the day at a disadvantage. I do not know the routine. I do not know the personalities. Students are well aware of this, and even the nicest of kids will alter their behavior somewhat with a sub in the room. Side note: when I was in eighth grade, I was one of those "nicest of kids" (if I do say so myself). And yet when we had a sub in history one day, I so much wanted to sit by one of my friends that I traded desks with another kid in the class--a guy no less--and proceeded to watch as that kid had to confess to the sub that, yes, it is hard being a boy named Kim, and no, he wasn't aware that Kim was a much more common boy's name in England. It all worked out--we weren't discovered. But still, you see my point that having a sub in the room changes things a bit from the norm. Okay, anyway, back to the topic at hand.
As a sub, I’m pretty good at setting out my rules and expectations from the get-go. I begin the day somewhat stern and serious as I want the class to know that I am in charge and will remain so throughout the entire day. But I will say that after I’ve let the students know I expect them to raise their hands if they have something to say, it doesn’t sound very stern or serious to say to a student who has just blurted out a response, “You, girl in the back row with the Tinkerbell shirt and the pink scrunchy in your hair, what’s your name?” Try a few of your own—it’s like a Mad Lib. Say them out loud, as if you're talking to a student—see how authoritative you sound.
As a sub, I’m pretty good at setting out my rules and expectations from the get-go. I begin the day somewhat stern and serious as I want the class to know that I am in charge and will remain so throughout the entire day. But I will say that after I’ve let the students know I expect them to raise their hands if they have something to say, it doesn’t sound very stern or serious to say to a student who has just blurted out a response, “You, girl in the back row with the Tinkerbell shirt and the pink scrunchy in your hair, what’s your name?” Try a few of your own—it’s like a Mad Lib. Say them out loud, as if you're talking to a student—see how authoritative you sound.
You, young lady/young man
___________ (location preposition, i.c. near, under, on, next to, beside, beneath)
the ___________ (piece of furniture in the classroom)
with the ___________ (popular cartoon or TV character) t-shirt,
and the ____________ (color)
_______________ (accessory)
on your _________________ (body part corresponding to above chosen accessory),
please raise your hand and wait to be called on before you answer.
Really, try a few of these. Mix it up a little. Say it loudly while maintaining a direct stare.
Really, try a few of these. Mix it up a little. Say it loudly while maintaining a direct stare.
A seating chart would dramatically change the impact of the above exchange.
Try the same thing, but insert a child's first name and omit everything else except the last line.
Try the same thing, but insert a child's first name and omit everything else except the last line.
“Joe, please raise your hand and wait to be called on before you answer.”
Much better, thank you very much.
It's not, I don't think, a lot to ask. But you'd be amazed how many teachers do not think to leave a seating chart when they are gone. They will leave detailed lesson plans. They will explain at great length how the kids should line up for recess (line leaders first, groups with the highest point in descending order next, kids with check marks next to their names last, etc..). Really, that's a lot of detail for recess line-up (and not at all out of the ordinary, by the way). May I gently suggest to you, absent teacher, that you reallocate your time to dashing off a quick seating chart for me instead of filling me in on which order the kids should line up to leave the room?
And one final plea for seating charts: I like to compliment kids who are hard-working and on-task. It really takes the "oomph" out of giving kudos to a student when you can't give them the compliment directly. "Hey, Sarah, thanks so much for having all your supplies out and being ready to begin math. Great job! And thank you also to Justin, Jose, and Lori for being on top of things... " sounds so, so much better than, "Hey, thank you to this guy, and that girl, and that girl, and this guy over here for being ready to go."
So, again, to recap, best possible thing I can find on the desk of the teacher whose room I'm about to commandeer for the next seven hours? Seating chart!
And just in case you're wondering, worst possible thing I can find on the desk of the teacher whose room I'm about to commandeer for the next seven hours? Bags of candy. Bags of candy means you think, no you EXPECT, that I'm going to have to bribe your kids to be good. And that ALWAYS means you've already told the kids that bribery is the plan. Not super high expectations of your students, or your sub for that matter. I am not a fan of candy as a discipline plan. Kids know how to work that one. In their little heads, when the teacher says, "And I'm leaving treats if you're good...", what they hear is "And I'm leaving treats if you can convince the sub that you should get them..." Big, big difference. I expect kids to behave well, not "good enough for a treat".
I can make it work for me, though. IF (big IF here) IF you leave me the seating chart with the candy. That seating chart is crucial to my ability to establish a rapport with the students, which in turn might just allow me to not actually have to use the candy at all in the end run.
So teachers everywhere, I implore you: make a seating chart RIGHT NOW! Scribble it out on a piece of recycled scratch paper, and tuck it in the top drawer of your desk. The next time you have to make out a sub plan, paper clip it to the back. I guarantee your sub will appreciate it--and you might even end up with candy left over as a little treat for you!
Much better, thank you very much.
It's not, I don't think, a lot to ask. But you'd be amazed how many teachers do not think to leave a seating chart when they are gone. They will leave detailed lesson plans. They will explain at great length how the kids should line up for recess (line leaders first, groups with the highest point in descending order next, kids with check marks next to their names last, etc..). Really, that's a lot of detail for recess line-up (and not at all out of the ordinary, by the way). May I gently suggest to you, absent teacher, that you reallocate your time to dashing off a quick seating chart for me instead of filling me in on which order the kids should line up to leave the room?
And one final plea for seating charts: I like to compliment kids who are hard-working and on-task. It really takes the "oomph" out of giving kudos to a student when you can't give them the compliment directly. "Hey, Sarah, thanks so much for having all your supplies out and being ready to begin math. Great job! And thank you also to Justin, Jose, and Lori for being on top of things... " sounds so, so much better than, "Hey, thank you to this guy, and that girl, and that girl, and this guy over here for being ready to go."
So, again, to recap, best possible thing I can find on the desk of the teacher whose room I'm about to commandeer for the next seven hours? Seating chart!
And just in case you're wondering, worst possible thing I can find on the desk of the teacher whose room I'm about to commandeer for the next seven hours? Bags of candy. Bags of candy means you think, no you EXPECT, that I'm going to have to bribe your kids to be good. And that ALWAYS means you've already told the kids that bribery is the plan. Not super high expectations of your students, or your sub for that matter. I am not a fan of candy as a discipline plan. Kids know how to work that one. In their little heads, when the teacher says, "And I'm leaving treats if you're good...", what they hear is "And I'm leaving treats if you can convince the sub that you should get them..." Big, big difference. I expect kids to behave well, not "good enough for a treat".
I can make it work for me, though. IF (big IF here) IF you leave me the seating chart with the candy. That seating chart is crucial to my ability to establish a rapport with the students, which in turn might just allow me to not actually have to use the candy at all in the end run.
So teachers everywhere, I implore you: make a seating chart RIGHT NOW! Scribble it out on a piece of recycled scratch paper, and tuck it in the top drawer of your desk. The next time you have to make out a sub plan, paper clip it to the back. I guarantee your sub will appreciate it--and you might even end up with candy left over as a little treat for you!
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