1 00:00:01,240 --> 00:00:05,320 Welcome to the Teachers Need Teachers Podcasts, the podcast for teachers who don't want 2 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:09,599 to just survive teaching but actually thrive. I'm really excited for you guys to 3 00:00:09,640 --> 00:00:13,679 be here today because this is a really important topic that I don't know what's 4 00:00:13,759 --> 00:00:17,920 taken me so long to talk about. I mean, at some point everyone 5 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:21,640 is going to miss work, and I don't know why I haven't talked about 6 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,760 subplans or sub days or substitute stuff in general. I don't know. So 7 00:00:28,359 --> 00:00:31,079 I think that this is going to be really useful for you, especially if 8 00:00:31,079 --> 00:00:34,679 you are a new teacher, and definitely a refresher for those of you that 9 00:00:34,799 --> 00:00:39,840 are veteran teachers. As teachers may know that the unexpected can happen at any 10 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:44,079 time, whether it's a sudden illness, a family emergency, or just a 11 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:49,479 much needed personal day. Having a planned or unplanned absence can be a stressful 12 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:53,799 experience. But how can you make the process of planning for a substitute as 13 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:57,520 stress free and seamless as possible. How can you make it so that it's 14 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:02,600 even worth taking a day off when you have to consider that sometimes making a 15 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:06,200 substitute plan is more work than taking a day off. I'm going to share 16 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:10,040 with you the best way to plan for when you're going to miswork to ensure 17 00:01:10,359 --> 00:01:14,560 that your classroom runs relatively smoothly and that you have a greater chance of your 18 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:19,239 students actually accomplishing something while you're gone. So the first thing that you need, 19 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:23,480 and I'm sure that you've already heard of this, is a substitute binder. 20 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:26,799 This has everything that your classroom needs to run. So it should include 21 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:33,640 things like how to take attendance, seating charts, protocol for bathroom passes, 22 00:01:34,159 --> 00:01:38,159 how to handle discipline, especially with particular students that you know ahead of time 23 00:01:38,519 --> 00:01:42,560 are going to be difficult, a fellow teacher to contact if the substitute has 24 00:01:42,599 --> 00:01:48,359 any questions or concerns. Definitely a school map and where the closest staff bathroom 25 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:53,879 is so helpful, bell schedules, daily routines, and of course the location 26 00:01:53,079 --> 00:01:57,519 of your emergency substitute plans should you not have a plan for that day. 27 00:01:57,799 --> 00:02:01,799 This is definitely definitely good to have, especially if you teach elementary because your 28 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:05,840 sub is going to be with your students all day long. But even at 29 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:09,680 the secondary level, it's still really good to have a substitute finder. At 30 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:14,479 my school, the substitute binders are kept with the front office secretary, So 31 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:16,759 make sure, if that's the case for you, that you keep that minder 32 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:22,759 updated every year. Now, let's be real here. I asked substitutes before 33 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:25,400 if they actually read this stuff or use these binders, and a lot of 34 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:29,800 them say that they might refer to it. Most of them don't look at 35 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:32,719 them at all, especially if they've already taught or subbed at that school. 36 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:36,919 But it's still a really good thing for them to have. So the next 37 00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:40,840 thing that you definitely need are emergency sub plans. Now, I don't actually 38 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:45,080 have these because of the way that I run my classroom. Most of you 39 00:02:45,159 --> 00:02:50,120 know that I use the modern classroom project model, which means that my students 40 00:02:50,159 --> 00:02:53,560 get an entire unit ahead of time, and it's very much self paced. 41 00:02:53,919 --> 00:02:58,280 So this means that my students have a list of all the assignments and they 42 00:02:58,319 --> 00:03:01,520 know what to work on next. Whether I'm absent or pair absent, they 43 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:06,199 just know what they're supposed to do next. Also, anything that I do 44 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:09,639 gets pushed out in Google classrooms, so students can always refer to that in 45 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:13,639 my absence. Now, if you don't use a system like this, then 46 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:17,120 you definitely want to have some emergency substitute plans. These should definitely be an 47 00:03:17,159 --> 00:03:22,520 activity that you don't normally teach during the school year. So for me, 48 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:27,879 that will include a story or some articles in the textbook that I normally don't 49 00:03:27,879 --> 00:03:30,639 read with the students because frankly, I can't cover everything in a textbook. 50 00:03:30,879 --> 00:03:35,719 So for your particular subject, you want to think of pages or chapters that 51 00:03:35,759 --> 00:03:38,639 you normally don't get to. And these could be topics that you would like 52 00:03:38,719 --> 00:03:42,599 to get to, but based on the pacing and how things go in your 53 00:03:42,599 --> 00:03:46,080 school year, you know you're not going to get to that chapter or concept, 54 00:03:46,319 --> 00:03:50,800 so that would actually be perfect for emergency subplans. You can also make 55 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:53,879 packets ahead of time that will include extra practice in terms of things that you 56 00:03:54,039 --> 00:03:59,080 have already done the school year, because it's always good for kids to practice 57 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:04,120 more, whether it's practicing reading and comprehension questions or vocabulary or math, just 58 00:04:04,319 --> 00:04:08,800 anything like that that you know they would benefit from doing and that will keep 59 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:14,599 them occupied for the entire class period. And then if you trust your substitute 60 00:04:14,639 --> 00:04:17,720 and you trust your kids, this is important. You can also have online 61 00:04:17,759 --> 00:04:24,519 programs that students can use for additional lessons or practice. So obviously the next 62 00:04:24,519 --> 00:04:28,560 thing that you need if you're going to miss a day of school is detailed 63 00:04:28,639 --> 00:04:32,639 lesson plans. Now, definitely, the best way to do this is to 64 00:04:32,759 --> 00:04:36,079 lead up the lessons to the day that you're going to be gone. So 65 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:40,439 you definitely don't want to be absent on a day when you need to teach 66 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:46,079 a big concept that just doesn't make sense, because the substitute may not understand 67 00:04:46,079 --> 00:04:48,560 that concept or just may not teach at all. So you want to try 68 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:54,319 to pace everything so that on the day that you're gone, the students are 69 00:04:54,319 --> 00:04:59,639 doing some kind of individual work. So this could be more practice on a 70 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:02,319 content that you taught the day before, or it could be a test, 71 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:05,800 It could be group work if you trust the students, it could be a 72 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:10,040 project. If they don't need a lot of your help, maybe it's just 73 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:14,959 something that they have to do by themselves and it's just time consuming. That 74 00:05:14,959 --> 00:05:17,519 would be a good day for you to be absent because all the substitute has 75 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:21,560 to do is just sort of monitor them, just make sure that there's enough 76 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:26,439 work for the entire period so that students aren't just sitting around, because that's 77 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:29,639 when trouble happens. And then also you want to have a plan if the 78 00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:33,439 students finish early. Now, as you can see, I'm not necessarily making 79 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:38,800 it so that the substitute has to actually teach anything, because if they don't 80 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:42,839 know my subject area, I don't want them to teach it incorrectly. And 81 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:46,319 also if I'm relying on them to teach something and I can't do the next 82 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:50,519 day's lesson unless they taught it, then I'm setting myself up for failure. 83 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:56,519 So it's just better to have a class period where the students are doing individual 84 00:05:56,800 --> 00:06:00,319 or group work and it's not reliant on a teacher leading it. The next 85 00:06:00,399 --> 00:06:03,920 thing is I like to prepare my students for when I'm going to miss a 86 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:06,800 day of work and when there's going to be a substitute. I think it's 87 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:11,560 important to let the kids know ahead of time because that way they can kind 88 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:15,639 of be in the mindset that when I'm gone, the expectations are going to 89 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:17,959 be different. I expect them actually to behave better for a sub than they 90 00:06:17,959 --> 00:06:21,519 would for me. And then you also want to ahead of time write the 91 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:26,560 agenda on the board so that when the students come in, it's already ready 92 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:30,519 to go. Especially if you don't have a substitute and it's just other teachers 93 00:06:30,519 --> 00:06:32,839 covering your classes, then the agenda will be on the board because no one's 94 00:06:32,879 --> 00:06:35,639 going to be there to write it. Also, if you have a learning 95 00:06:35,639 --> 00:06:40,879 management system like Google Classroom or something like that, use that to send up 96 00:06:40,879 --> 00:06:45,399 the agenda as well. I would double up online and on the board. 97 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:49,560 And then you can also appoint some students ahead of time to help the substitute 98 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:54,240 out and answer any questions if there are any. You can also ask those 99 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:58,480 students to take attendance or just kind of make sure that things run smoothly in 100 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:01,079 the classroom if you trust. And then you can also let the kids know 101 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:06,360 ahead of time for any consequences or rewords for good or bad behavior. So 102 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:12,519 if you want to get them some kind of reward like a movie or something 103 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:15,839 like that for being good, or candy or I don't know, whatever makes 104 00:07:15,879 --> 00:07:18,079 you happy, you can do that. But you can also definitely let them 105 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:23,439 know the consequence of bad behavior. Just be careful because you don't want to 106 00:07:23,439 --> 00:07:27,199 punish the whole class. If there's just a few knuckleheads that were acting up 107 00:07:27,279 --> 00:07:30,240 during that time. The next thing that you want to consider when you're going 108 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:32,319 to be absent is whether or not you're going to tell your colleagues. So 109 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:36,680 obviously you have to call into a system or let somebody know that you're going 110 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:41,480 to be absent, but that's usually like the front office secretary or maybe your 111 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:45,680 administrator. I don't always tell my colleagues. It just kind of depends because 112 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:47,800 sometimes they get upset when you're gone, especially if they have to cover your 113 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:53,399 classes. It just depends on how you get along with the people in your 114 00:07:53,399 --> 00:07:57,560 school. But it is helpful if you do have someone who you know, 115 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:01,160 you're good colleagues with, your good friends, or you just get along with 116 00:08:01,279 --> 00:08:03,199 and let them go ahead of time. And the reason why I do this 117 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:07,319 is so that they can maybe help out, especially if it's an unplanned absence, 118 00:08:07,519 --> 00:08:11,920 or just ask them to keep an eye out on my class or to 119 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:15,439 be there if the substitute has any questions. I just kind of have like 120 00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:20,240 a buddy system with my neighbor because we both teach the same subject in the 121 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:22,480 same grade, and we help each other out when the other person is going 122 00:08:22,519 --> 00:08:26,279 to be absent and it's unplanned, especially and this would be the person whose 123 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:31,279 name you put in the sub binder who the substitute can reach out to. 124 00:08:31,759 --> 00:08:37,039 Now, the next step is preparing for unplanned absences, which sounds kind of 125 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:41,679 interesting because it's unplanned. If you are going to be absent and it was 126 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:45,759 completely unplanned you got sick, or your kid got sick, or just something 127 00:08:45,799 --> 00:08:50,519 came up, then you definitely want to let your front office secretary or whoever 128 00:08:50,639 --> 00:08:54,159 is in charge of those absences and the substitutes ask them if they can maybe 129 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:58,440 put the substitute binder on your desk. If you can, again use a 130 00:08:58,519 --> 00:09:03,039 learning mannament system like Google Classroom, which I can access from at home, 131 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:07,919 you can also send out the plans for that day and say, hey, 132 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:11,200 can you please let whoever is your substitute today let them know what the plan 133 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:15,960 is. And that has actually worked really well for me and my classes because 134 00:09:16,159 --> 00:09:20,360 my students will check Google Classroom to see what they're supposed to do that day. 135 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:22,919 Now, if you do have a trusted colleague, this is where it's 136 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:24,720 nice to have a buddy system. You can ask them if they can run 137 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:28,519 over to your classroom and write the agenda on the board so that whoever is 138 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:33,519 covering that day, they can see what the plan is, and maybe even 139 00:09:33,559 --> 00:09:35,759 that colleague can print out the substitute plans for you. If both of you 140 00:09:35,840 --> 00:09:39,639 have access to a computer and a printer, they can kind of help you 141 00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:43,799 out that way. But honestly, if it's an unplanned absence and you don't 142 00:09:43,799 --> 00:09:48,080 have anything like ready to go, maybe the substitute plans aren't ready to go, 143 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:52,080 or your emergency plans were already used last time, you just have to 144 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:56,360 give up hope that anything is going to be accomplished that day and it's okay, 145 00:09:56,600 --> 00:10:00,320 Which leads me to the seventh thing that you need to consider when you're 146 00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:03,440 going to be absent, especially if it's an unplanned absence and you're going to 147 00:10:03,519 --> 00:10:09,320 have a substitute, is to just expect the worst. I mean, you 148 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:13,200 were a kid too, you know what it's like when there's a substitute. 149 00:10:13,399 --> 00:10:16,799 Kids act up. Maybe you act it up. So you just have to 150 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:20,159 expect that that's what's going to happen. And if it doesn't go that bad, 151 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:24,519 well then that's just beautiful. So even with the best laid plans, 152 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:31,919 even with the most meticulous lesson plans, things will go wrong. You will 153 00:10:31,919 --> 00:10:35,360 have students that will listen, and then you'll have a group of students that 154 00:10:35,399 --> 00:10:37,080 are like, sweet, I get a day off and I don't have to 155 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:43,519 do anything. And then you'll have a handful of knuckleheads who will intentionally act 156 00:10:43,639 --> 00:10:46,559 up and do things that they're not supposed to do. It's just how it 157 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:50,080 is. Now you need to decide ahead of time how much that means to 158 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:54,960 you, because what happens in your classroom in your absence is literally out of 159 00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:00,519 your control. I mean, there should be consequences for the more egregious things 160 00:11:00,519 --> 00:11:03,399 that kids are doing, like writing on the board or standing at the desk, 161 00:11:03,519 --> 00:11:07,519 or hitting a student or anything like that, the obvious things, But 162 00:11:07,879 --> 00:11:11,399 for the kids who just don't do anything, I really think you should just 163 00:11:11,519 --> 00:11:16,000 let it go. The worst things I've actually seen happen are students doing things, 164 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:18,639 like I said, starting fights. I've had colleagues where they told me 165 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:24,000 that students stole some of their stuff, went through the desk and stole stuff. 166 00:11:24,399 --> 00:11:28,039 But otherwise, just now that when you're gone, the worst will probably 167 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:33,720 happen, and you can be pleasantly surprised by just nothing happening. That to 168 00:11:33,759 --> 00:11:37,000 me, that's the best case scenario is that nothing happens. It's just a 169 00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:43,039 boring old day, And oh boy, would I give them a reward for 170 00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:48,559 actually doing the work while I was gone, That would be amazing. But 171 00:11:48,600 --> 00:11:52,240 otherwise I just expect that it's a waste of date and nothing gets accomplished and 172 00:11:52,039 --> 00:11:58,320 we get behind. So definitely catching up your students is tough when you've missed 173 00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:01,039 a school day and when you were hoping that it could actually be a day 174 00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:05,360 for them to work so that you could move on to the next thing the 175 00:12:05,399 --> 00:12:09,559 next day. So if you're someone who is struggling to catch your students up 176 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:13,519 because of something like this, then I would definitely check out episode one thirty 177 00:12:13,519 --> 00:12:18,039 six where I talk about how to catch up students that are struggling and falling 178 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:20,440 behind, but I also talk about how to catch up a whole class when 179 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:24,759 they're falling behind. Thanks for hanging out with me today, you guys, 180 00:12:24,799 --> 00:12:26,600 and I will talk to you next time.