5 Ways to Make Planning for a Substitute Easier -

There is a belief in teaching that it’s more work to be out than it is to write sub plans. This is definitely true! There are some truly wonderful substitute teachers out there, but none of them are YOU. It can be so hard to explain to someone exactly how your classroom runs. Below are some ways that I have learned to make planning for a substitute a little easier.

Establish Expectations Ahead of Time

You will be out at some point in the school year. I don’t care if you have been blessed with the immune system of a Greek god, life happens. You’ll get in a car accident on the way to school. Your kid will get sick. You’ll be required to go to professional development during the workday instead of after school (hallelujah!). No matter what, planning for a substitute is part of our job as teachers!

Whatever the reason is that you might be out–you need to plan in advance. I don’t mean to plan your exact plans in advance, because sometimes we don’t know we’re going to be out. I mean plan to be out at some point in the year and establish with your students your expectations for that day ahead of time.

Having an anchor chart with expectations serves as a visual reminder to students and to the substitute.

To create this anchor chart, students used sticky notes to write down what they thought our expectations should be. I merely acted as a scribe once they shared their ideas. They also determined what they thought should be the rewards and consequences! In my plans, I add a note about the anchor chart and tell the sub to reference it when needed. It works like a charm!

Use a Template

For the most part, our daily schedules are pretty predictable for us. But it can be annoying to write out each and every step when planning for a substitute! So why write it out every time? Each year, I create a template of the schedule that we normally follow and add directions for normal procedures. When it comes time for me to plan for a sub, all I have to do is add that day’s activities!

Creating a template to plug substitute activities into saves my sanity all year!

Use Technology… If You Can

I am VERY fortunate to work in a school that is now 1:1 with student laptops. I realize that not everyone is that fortunate, but if you DO have it, use it!

Although we are 1:1, I am not in a Google district. So I am not lucky enough to have Google Classroom (womp womp). What I do to work around that is that I have a Google Site that I keep a list of activities on each time I’m out! Students know to go to that website and their directions and activities can be found there. Parents can also access it, in case a student does not finish his or her work in class!

Using technology in your classroom is a great way to give your students substitute work!

Here are a few of the activities I have given to students this way:

Screencast videos- A lot of times I’ll make a screencast video with my voiceover. It’s like I’m in the classroom teaching when I’m not. I would think this would be kind of boring–but my students REQUEST it! Hey, I’ll take it! 😉
Google Surveys- Sometimes I will put videos on Google Surveys and then have students complete questions. This gives me a chance to check for understanding!
Online Resources- I will often assign students activities from popular online resources, such as Khan Academy, Quizizz, or Nearpod.

“Splittable” Work

I don’t know about your school, but it never fails at my school. I will put in my absence far in advance and a sub will pick up the job… and cancel the morning of. When that happens, my class gets split up and students get sent to the other teachers on my grade level. If I’ve planned an interactive activity for the kids to do, it turns into a nightmare for the other teachers involved!

When I leave work behind for a substitute, I include all directions for each student attached to all of their work. This makes it easier to travel to another classroom with them if they need it to!

After years of this happening, I’ve learned to make the work that I leave for subs “splittable.” This means that the work I assign is “grab and go,” so that other teachers don’t have to do extra work! I create a “to-do list” for each student and staple it to their work for the day. When my students get split between different classes, teachers don’t have to do any extra work when they’re already receiving extra students for the day!

A “split list” tells each student where they need to go, in case your class gets split up amongst other classes.

In addition to making the work “splittable,” I have a list of students assigned to each of the other teachers on my grade level already prepared. That way, if they have to split up my class, they can easily grab the students from my “split list” and get back to teaching!

Have Easy Work Prepared

During my first few years of teaching, it was so hard to find activities when planning for a substitute . Especially when I was sick! After struggling with this for a few years, I decided to create a folder on my computer with files that I could easily print and copy for students to complete while I was gone!

The types of activities I include in this folder are:

Questions that go with different chapters in our science and social studies textbooks.
Math fact coloring worksheets
Reading comprehension passages on our science and social studies standards
Fun math worksheets, such as math riddles!

These riddle worksheets are available in a variety of math topics and are easy to pull out when you have a substitute!

There you have it! My 5 ways to make planning for a substitute easier. I hope that you won’t have to be out of your classroom too many times this year, but if you do, I hope that these tips will be helpful!

Do you have any tips that you’ve learned in order to make planning for a substitute easier? Leave me a comment below!