As important as preparing for a substitute teacher, it’s also essential that substitute teachers know what to prepare for. This blog post is for the new substitute teacher new to being a sub or supply teacher with advice, tips, and tricks.
9 Tips for New Substitute Teachers
Just like being a regular classroom teacher, being a sub is part instinct and part technique. The instinct is something that you may come up with or may need to develop as a new substitute teacher, but the technique is something that can be passed from one sub to another and learned.
Being past the new substitute teacher stage, having subbed for a while now and in various grades and subject levels, I am passing on some tips and techniques to make your day much more productive and enjoyable as a new substitute teacher.
This guest blog post on tips for new substitute teachers was written by Rebecca Gettelman, who is a middle and high school teacher from the Midwest. She has been teaching for over eleven years. This blog post has been edited for clarity.
Set The Tone
For a new substitute teacher, the first few minutes in a classroom with students are particularly important. Those moments establish the tone, and once the tone is established (whether positive or negative), it can be very difficult to change. With this in mind, here are a couple of suggestions for establishing a positive and productive tone for both the seasoned and new substitute teacher.
- Go in with a good mood. Even if what you are teaching is not your favourite, don’t let it drag you down. Be happy, optimistic, and generally positive. Students feed off your mood, whether it’s a good one or not.
- Greet students. Students, even the ones who don’t show it, need people who want to be there. Saying hello, asking how their evening/weekend/break went, and generally expressing interest in their lives and them as individuals goes a long way toward establishing rapport with them.
- Be on their level. How you go about this depends on the age of the students and the subject material you are teaching.
- When teaching preschool or kindergarten, this often means sitting down and colouring or doing puzzles with them in their opening centres – it is hard to be nervous around someone you are sharing markers with (and that goes both ways).
- When they are older, this might mean leaning against the door frame or wall outside the door and talking to students as they come in. Finding a way to make those connections early can be vital.
- Give students second chances. Maybe you taught these kids before, and maybe they were terrible, but you never know who was having a bad day or who just needs someone in their life who is happy to see them. When they come in, greet them as you would any other student.
- Nonconfrontational is key. As a new substitute teacher, pay special attention to your tone and body language, as well as how you phrase things.
- Asking a student, “When might you get to work on this?” (and being okay with it when they say five minutes from now) often yields better results than telling them they “need to get to work now.”
- Placing yourself physically at their level, but not in their personal space is also a great help.
- Talk quietly and privately with them so that they don’t feel they have to behave a certain way for their peers. All these things encourage success.
- Realize that you are not going to make students do anything. Especially as students get older, they realize you are not their real teacher and most likely are not going to call the principal for work avoidance.
Remember that a good chunk of what you do as a new substitute teacher and how you set the tone is influenced by your personality. What works for one person might not be comfortable or workable for another situation. Find your method, but make an effort to find one.
Be Upfront with Students
No matter the age, students are creatures of habit. Whether they admit it or not, they get thrown off when a sub is there. As a new substitute teacher, not only are you not their normal teacher, but you will do things differently than they are used to, no matter how detailed the plans the regular teacher leaves for you.
Ask for students’ help. How does the teacher normally do things? Can they help you get the technology up and running for the class? Can they take attendance (or anything else) down to the office for you? This not only helps students be invested in the class and your success, but it also shows that you trust them. You may be bad with names – let them know and maybe even recruit them to help you learn them.
Maybe you are confused by directions for a normal routine listed in the sub notes (for instance, you don’t know what going over weather and calendar means) – ask the kids how to do it. Maybe the high school has a rotating lunch, and you don’t know when you are supposed to eat, so just ask.
As a new substitute teacher, “faking it `til you make it” has its place, but sometimes, being upfront can help create a partnership with your students that benefits everyone and helps students deal with the change in routine having a sub brings.
Leave Notes for the Teacher
Whether via email or paper copies left on the teacher’s desk, notes are usually your main mode of communication with the classroom teacher. They will leave you sub plans, and you will leave notes on how the day went. As a new substitute teacher, it’s important to note that, generally, the more detailed notes you can leave, the better. The big stuff is important, but the little stuff allows the transitions between teacher and sub to go smoothly.
When I was a new substitute teacher, I waited until the end of the day (for the most part) to write up those detailed notes. Still, I found that not only did this keep me there for much longer than I wanted at the end of the day, but it also left me forgetting some of the smaller, important details.
By taking a few minutes here and there throughout the day (between classes, during planning periods, while students are working), my notes for the teacher are so much better – pages we finished on, who was struggling versus who was flying through an activity, which activities the kids did well on and which need to revisited, specific names of students who were particularly helpful or particularly chatty, etc.
To end my notes, I always leave my contact information (something like, “If you have any questions or need any clarifications, just give me a call or send me an email” and then both my email address and cell number). Only about a third of the time do teachers make use of it. Still, the occasional need for more information or clarification on a note you left can help their teaching and create a positive and professional relationship.
Make In-Person Contact
Making in-person contact is often impossible, but if you know ahead of time and have the opportunity, meet with the teacher you will be subbing for. It is often so much simpler to talk through things than have them try to leave detailed notes about how to make technology work, where to find supplies, and other such things, especially if you are a new substitute teacher.
If they have a chance to run through their written plans with you, there is also an opportunity for you to ask any questions you have that will make the day go more smoothly. Finally, it is often easier for a worried or busy teacher to have talked through things with you than try to anticipate every question and situation in their notes.
In that same vein, if you are in the building the following day and have a moment, swinging by to check in with the teacher to make sure that all went as they hoped and to answer any questions can be very useful for them.
Additionally and again, you are developing positive and professional relationships with the teachers that can help as you establish yourself as a new substitute teacher in the school and help you get requested in the future.
Make Time to Go to the Teachers’ Lounge
In most schools, the teachers’ lounge is an important resource. Not only is it a place where teachers get some much-needed adult conversation, but it is also a place where you become a part of the community – a colleague and not just a fill-in.
The teachers’ lounge offers moral support, suggestions for dealing with the day’s issues, a feel for the school’s personalities, and sometimes even a plate of cookies or a cup of coffee. As a new substitute teacher, don’t pass on this resource! You might also get offered more work as teachers become familiar with you.
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help
As a new substitute teacher, remember that it’s okay to ask for help. With exceedingly rare exceptions, teachers are helpful by nature. Teachers want subs to succeed – both for your sake and theirs.
Not only do good subs make it easier on teachers when they have to be out, but they also help set the tone of the school day. If students are out of sorts because of a sub in one room, they carry that energy to other rooms. Your success helps everyone.
There are two basic cases where you may need to ask for help, whether you’re a seasoned or new substitute teacher. First, if you need clarification on something. This might be anything from how to connect the interactive whiteboard technology to the teacher’s computer to where to find art supplies for a project. Second, simple things like where to go in case of a fire drill or what hallway behaviour is expected are quick to ask and make everyone’s life simpler.
Even things that take a couple of minutes to explain, like how exactly you teach a specific math concept or how to play a classroom game, are worth taking the time to ask about. Not only will your day go so much more smoothly, but the teacher you are filling in for will appreciate that the day went as expected.
The other time you may need to ask for help is much less common, but it is still important. Sometimes, you will run into a student or a situation that you need help to handle.
- Maybe a student is being exceptionally belligerent or disruptive – it is okay to get help from another staff member or call the office for support.
- Maybe you have a student who does not seem 100% or makes comments about harm to themselves or others – alert the school principal promptly.
- Maybe a student brings up a topic that you are not comfortable addressing – there is nothing wrong with saying, “That is something you will need to ask your regular teacher or family about.”
Happily, these are not everyday situations, but when they do arise, it’s important to know as a new substitute teacher to not get pulled into a situation you cannot or should not be handling or let things you should not ignore pass you by when asking for help, which is perfectly okay.
Have Numbers and Procedures Easily Accessible
One of the hardest parts of subbing, especially as a new substitute teacher, is knowing all the important unwritten or uncommonly used rules and procedures.
- What do you do if you have a fire alarm?
- How is a lockdown announced?
- Who has an EpiPen, and where is it located?
These are just a few things regular teachers know and are informed of, but they might need to be more easily located when you need them, and time matters. If you are a new substitute teacher, make it a priority to know these things.
Ideally, the school will provide a folder or binder with all this information. Take time to read through it and mark important things for quick reference. If the school does not provide one, make your own to carry with you.
While these things are not used daily, the moment the tornado warning goes off is not the time to search for your shelter location, and five minutes of class time to find the office extension and make the phone work is not something you have when you need to call in attendance when your class is rowdy.
Be Prepared for Anything
You rarely know what you are going to walk into as a new substitute teacher. Sometimes, the sub plans are great, the students are angels, and the technology is cooperative. On other days, the sub plans are a little better than those jotted down on a notecard, the students seem wild, and the technology is not your friend.
It’s okay. This, too, will pass, but in the moment, go with it. Is there someone you need to call to get things to work more smoothly? Can you redirect students or re-engineer what or how you are teaching something to make it work for the situation? What do you need to address what is happening successfully? Identify it and put it into practice.
On a related note, it is always a good plan to have a set of fun activities that students can do in case you don’t have enough to keep them busy.
- For middle school students, a set of crossword puzzles or word searches, a digital escape room, or a fun non-fiction article.
- For younger students, have pictures to colour, songs to sing, or stories to read.
What you use will depend on the age level and the class’s behaviour, but being prepared for the just-in-case as a new substitute teacher is always a good plan.
Be Flexible and Available
The job of a substitute teacher is to fill in the gaps. Being flexible about who and what you are willing and truly happy to sub for makes you all the more valuable as a sub. Not only does it get you called more often, but it also makes you someone the district wants to call.
On that same note, being regularly available does the same – the more often you can say yes to coming in, the more likely you are to move to the top of the sub list.
Establish Yourself in One Place
With the need for substitute teachers as strong as ever and the limited number of subs out there, establishing yourself in one place may be easier than you think and has several benefits, especially as a new substitute teacher.
First, like any other work situation, sub-callers appreciate dependability – they do not have easy jobs. While they sometimes know in advance, a good portion of what they do involves finding available subs at 5:30 in the morning. Being regularly available and willing to fill in where needed makes a sub-caller’s job that much easier and gets you called that much more regularly.
Establishing yourself in one place also lets you get to know that place. While you are still a sub, you are not an outsider anymore. This helps familiarize you with teachers, students, procedures, and all those many things that help make the day run better for everyone.
Being in one place also allows you to become part of the school community – something that makes teaching that much more enjoyable. You get to know the teachers and students, you establish work colleagues and friends, and you become part of that “we’re in this together” unit. This might not be possible as a new substitute teacher, but if you can establish yourself at one or a few regular schools that you go to then you can become part of the school community and students will get to know you.
And Finally …
Teaching can be a crazy job, and subbing even more so—for seasoned and new substitute teachers. But a good sub is an invaluable resource for a school district. If you are a new substitute teacher, these tips and your instincts can help you become that valuable resource.
Be ready, be flexible, and be you!
Resources for New Substitute Teachers From 2 Peas and a Dog
- Free Sub Plans
- Middle School ELA Sub Plans Bundle
- Middle School Science Sub Plans Students Will Love
- Easy and Engaging Canadian History Sub Plans For Middle School Students
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