Can any of you with substitute teaching experience offer any tips or tricks? I'm especially interested in tips for maintaining discipline (without candy... no sugar, LOL). I know that writing their names on the board for the teacher to see the next day is very effective but I also like some sort of reward for the ones that don't make any trouble and are helpful throughout the day.

I've subbed for a few years in the past but had enough *bad* days that I quit for a year -- last year. I do feel ready to try again... maybe. It's certainly not 'easy money' unless you sit and do nothing which is just not my style. I always stick to the teacher's plan which means that I get called a LOT.

Any tips that experienced subs use to make things run smoothly and so as to not come home feeling too worn out at the end of the day? LOL!

Thanks!

Come up with things that work for you. You will never be able to do things exactly like the teacher. When you introduce yourself to the class tell them that that you will do some things differently than the regular teacher. Keep control of the classroom from the beginning and maintain discipline. Like you said follow the lesson plan and try to get things done. Keeps the students busy so they don't have time to get into trouble.

I assume you're talking about elementary students. I have ideas for middle/high school, but not the little ones. Let us know the age range.

Tolerate no tattling. This is a big pet peeve of mine. The seemingly best behaved students invariably like to try and get the other students in trouble.

When I subbed in elementary levels, one "trick" seemed to work well. Talk with the kids in the morning and find out what kind of reward they would like the most (going outside, having a special book read to them, a game, short movie, ...). Write a word on the board (ex. OUTSIDE) and everytime the class gets rowdy, erase 1 letter. When the word is gone, there will be no outside time. Stick to it - they will learn quickly that you mean it .

That idea really works bing ding!

I love it when subs leave me detailed notes- also try to find out a trustworthy student who can tell you if everyone else is telling you the truth. If something happens, try to write down specifically who did what, and if you can have them write down what they did.

Never let them see you sweat. If it is elementary, bring a book with you to read aloud just in case you have extra time at the end of the day, or I love asking kids questions off of those quiz cards that are sold in sets at walmart.

Have the kids clean up before they leave for the day. It always puts a damper on my day if I come in after a sub and the room is a mess & all the kids are angry/upset.

Good luck!

Thanks for the great ideas.

I have done similar to what you suggested, bingding, but have usually broken them up into groups and then had any 'offenders' sit out the reward.

I carry antiperspirant for the sweat! It gets hot in those classrooms and I can never figure out the thermostat! I also do a lot of standing Yoga... they have no idea that I'm doing it either.

I work with Kindergarten - Fifth Grade. There are 5 elementary schools in our area but I only work at the one where my son is.

I bet that you do a terrific job, Cuthie!!

cj/

Thanks cj.

I do try very hard... It can be extremely exhausting. I compare it to the first day of the school year but with kids who have a secret party planned!

Luckily, our school now has two contracted subs who earn a full time salary. They are the first two who are called if there are any teachers absent.

Also, one of my own stipulations is that I can not take requests at 5AM, they have to call me and prearrange (this because of my own busy life during the school year!).

In all honesty, the teachers who know ahead of time that they will be out are more organized and are better to work for anyway. Those who call in early in the morning often (not always!) do not have a plan and that is HARD, HARD work for a sub!

Any other ideas? Thanks again to those who have responded.

I asked my 10 year old dd and the first thing she said were treats. I told her no treats and she said little toys??? She had a sub that brought in little stuffed animals and the kids that did something nice got to have one sit on their desk. This would work probably in 3rd grade on down for both boys and girls.

I asked my 11 year old son and he said there was nothing a sub could do except no work and PE all day. LOL

When my dd was in second grade I helped out a lot in the class. One day I came in to grade papers and there was a sub. I didn't even recognize the children in the class. I don't understand why they have to act up for a sub. We had a sub in kindergarten and first that would carry a puppet monkey named George. The kids loved George and that sub.

My dd is always good in class either with a sub or her teacher. She would die if she were to get in trouble in class. The thing that really bothers her is when someone gets in trouble for doing something that is ok to normally do in class. Like say get a book from the book shelf when done doing their work. A sub will tell the child to turn their clip. The child says our teacher lets us get up and the sub says well I don't go change your clip. The kids think this is very unjust. Good luck, I think being a sub is one of the hardest jobs of all time.

I would say be honest in your report to the teacher. Try to be positive but if you have problems with certain students, let the teacher know. There is nothing worse than for a teacher to come back and to find out your class misbehaved.

Since you are only in one building, make sure you know all of the policies and procedures of the buildings and enforce it.

airebornearmywife... I'd love to sub for you!

3togetready... my kids are a wonderful source of ideas for me. I love the stuffed animal idea but know that I'd have to put them through the laundry every time I sub.

cscout... you are right but do teachers like to come back to the truth? or do they want the sub to take care of problems? We walk a fine line but if a teacher doesn't like coming back to the truth, then I probably don't want to sub in his/her room again anyway.


I like having a good plan ahead of time because that means that I will get called back for certain teachers whose classes I love to sub in.

A good bag of tricks... math games word games fill in the blank...

I would say that teachers do like to hear the truth. They are going to hear anyway from their co-workers. Try to have something positive in your notes. (If most of the class misbehaves, and you have a handful being good, make sure you praise them.) The teacher does not want to hear that they have the class from heck (even if they do), they will take steps to ensure that it doesn't happen in the future. The trick is to keep them busy and on track.

I honestly do not like it when I come back to a nice note, and everyone I work with tells me the kids were like escaped convicts.

I would love to have you sub too My regular sub took over a position at my school, so now I get to work with her full time.

Once I got moved into an 8th grade class an hour before school ended because the teacher got ill after lunch.

It felt like half the class had some kind of complaint or tattle as soon as I walked in and there was no assigned work.

I handed out some crossword puzzles and lined sheets of paper.

I told them to work on the puzzle and also write their regular teacher a letter telling her how they behaved after she left. Whenever a student threw something, poked someone, dropped items repetitively, etc I told him/her to make sure that was written down. Of course when they did something nice like share pencils, open the window, work quietly, help collect papers, etc I had them write that down too.

Amazingly it worked! They were so busy policing themselves that the hour just flew by and I didn't have to deal with tattling

I used to bring age appropriate distractions when I subbed - coloring sheets and fun stories for the younger kids, crossword puzzles and word searches for the older kids. These were really easy to find on-line.

Writing names on the board is surprisingly effective also - as long as you give them a chance to behave and get the name taken down as well.

Good luck!

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Quickly memorize the names of five students. Within the first 10 minutes of class call them if only to tell them something about the layout of the class or the weather outside. This works with elementary level students. They seem to automatically assume you know the names of each student in the class.

Just an update... I've used several of the ideas posted in this thread and they have been very helpful.

I'm now being requested by the teachers when they submit their sub requests. That makes me feel good.

Thanks to all who posted.

You are IN DEMAND, girl! Congratulations!

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Hey Cuthie!

I am a pretty seasoned sub from my days prior to teaching a behavior management focused class - so I feel pretty confident in this area!

I think it's nice to work toward something like a fun game - but I try to earn it 2 times per day to keep the incentive high even in the morning! It stinks if the class fails the group goal by ten o'clock - so I have them try to earn a privilege starting fresh after lunch/recess, too!

Games my kids have enjoyed (in all classrooms up to and beyond 5th grade):

Spelling Bees
Seven Up (or thumbs up - email me if you don't know how to play this - I'll write it out!)
Trivia - pick 2 teams - put on opposite sides of the room - have the 1st kid in each line come up to your desk - ask the question, and see who gets the answer - score the point for the team of the correct responder. Then those kids go to back of the line - 2nd kid in each line is now 'up'...) for this game, you can even use whatever the unit material was that was covered most recently, or multiplication facts, or whatever you want!

I really think that behavior management is the primary skill you need to have for subbing - and the best way to do that is usually through incentives to be good, like earning these short games.

If a particular kid is NOT earning the game, I will usually quietly let them know 1st as a warning. If they continue making bad choices, I write their INITIALS on the board (for some kids, seeing their entire name on the board is too stressful, I have found this out!!) and then as they do better, I erase their initials.



Oh - just reread your post, and see that you're already doing fine! Good for you. I'll bet you're great!