What I Learned About Sub Plans From My Year of Subbing (EP4)

What I Learned About Sub Plans from My Year of Subbing

Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of Elementary Math Chat! I hope you enjoyed a triple dose of episodes last week to celebrate the launch of the podcast, and thank you to those of you who reached out with your support. That meant so much to me. This is a lot of work to put together, so it’s nice to hear that people are actually listening and enjoying it.

Today’s episode isn’t specifically about math. There will be a little bit sprinkled in, and I have a really great Teaching Tip of the Week for you at the end that is math-related. But today’s topic is important to discuss prior to beginning a new school year.

I know many of you create your sub plan template or even write your emergency sub plans in the weeks leading up to school now that you have your new schedule and everything. So, I thought this would be the perfect time to dedicate an episode and share what I learned from my year of subbing.

I mentioned back in episode one that after I left the classroom in 2022, I decided to go back and sub a couple of times a week. I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I had subbed a couple of times, way back after I graduated college before I got a full-time job. But it was a whole new ballgame this time around, and I learned so much, a lot of which I wish I had known when I was in the classroom. And that’s what I’m going to share with you today.

So, I’m going to break this down into two parts. First, I’ll just talk about my overall experience with subbing. What did I enjoy the most? What surprised me? What was the most challenging part about it? And then I’ll get into specifics about sub plans. I’ll share what I believe are the essentials that you must have in your sub plans, and then what are some things that you can leave out.

So, let’s start with my overall experience with subbing, and I’ll make this brief most of this episode will be about your sub plans. I honestly wish all teachers could have the experience of being a sub, and you might already, but you learn so much from being in different classrooms. Teachers often asked me what I enjoyed the most about subbing, and it’s honestly hard to narrow it down to one specific thing. I really enjoyed being around teachers and around students, and I loved getting to teach.

But I think my favorite part was getting to see how other teachers ran their classrooms, from their math centers, to review games they played, to how they pulled small groups. I was always curious about that when I was in the classroom. So, to be able to experience it firsthand was really interesting.

There were many times I would text my former teammates about something that I did that day that I thought they should try, or something that I saw just so someone could put the ideas to use. Again, you just learned so much by being in someone else’s classroom.

I seriously think it would be neat to have a switch day where you prepare sub plans for another teacher in your same grade level, but from a different school, and then you sub for each other.

It’s one thing to go and observe another teacher. I’m sure you’ve done that before but spend a full day in their room with their students following their procedures, and you will learn a lot. You’ll especially learn about what to include in your sub plans. Trust me on that one. I realized by subbing that there were a lot of things I left out of my sub plans that would have been really helpful.

So overall, I had a really positive experience with subbing. I met some amazing teachers that I never would have met before, and it was a really good way to transition me out of the classroom.

So, let’s move on and talk about what surprised me the most. The first was how many substitutes were either former teachers themselves who left for various reasons. Maybe they had kids, or their spouse got a different job and they had to move, and then you have the handful of them who are retired teachers. So, a lot of subs have teaching experience.

Others who were never an official classroom teacher usually sub often enough that they begin to learn how to teach and how a lesson flows. The reason I’m sharing this with you is because more than likely your sub won’t have a problem teaching your lesson. So, you don’t need to write a book when it comes to your lesson plan.

That was a big mistake I think I made. I was always so focused on making sure the math section of my plans had the most detail. But I was overlooking something even more important, which was how to manage my class. Even if you have the most well-behaved class, they are going to act differently with a sub. So, we’ve got to prepare ourselves with how to manage our class.

The other thing that surprised me was how hard subbing could be, even for someone like me with a lot of teaching experience. But there are ways we can make it easier, and that’s especially important during a time like now when a lot of schools are dealing with a sub shortage. I know many schools have had to split classrooms because they didn’t have enough subs to cover. Others have had to pull office staff or support staff to cover classrooms. So, you want to do everything in your power to make sure your subs come back after spending a day in your room. 

So, let’s get to some of the ways that you can help with this. The first way you can help your sub is by providing an accurate and updated seating chart. I cannot stress enough the importance of having a seating chart, because not knowing students and not knowing their names is the hardest part about subbing. I hate to tell you this, but a class list is not enough, and I’m guilty of that. I didn’t always leave a seating chart. But when I started subbing, I realized how important it is.

Here’s the thing. When you have a seating chart, you’re able to call these students by name, and they know you know their names. I sound like that Friends episode, don’t I? But seriously, if I can call them by name, instead of something like, hey you, in the blue shirt or you in the striped shirt. That’s how I would have to refer to them if I didn’t have their name.

It just makes the lessons flow better. Their behavior is better. The whole day is better. So, take the time and make your sub an updated and accurate seating chart.

The second way you can help your sub is to email them your plans in advance. So, as soon as you finish writing them, send your sub a quick email with your plans attached. That might not be possible if your district doesn’t provide email addresses for subs. But if it is possible, I highly recommend doing so.

Not only did this allow me time to read through the plans and any PowerPoints I’d be using, but it also gave me an opportunity to ask questions if necessary. It was especially helpful when I was teaching a subject I wasn’t as familiar with, like reading or social studies. If I wasn’t able to view the plans ahead of time, I definitely felt a bit anxious going in. So, email them ahead of time, if you can.

The third way you can help yourself is to keep student info brief. There were times teachers would leave copies of IEPs, and I’m not sure if they were required to do that. But I just did not have the time to read through them. Nor did they really explain much about those students.

I think the language in IEPs is pretty formal and sometimes hard to understand, and that can be especially hard for someone who was never a classroom teacher to begin with and isn’t familiar with IEPs. So, this is what I recommend instead.

I subbed once for a friend of mine, and she gave me three bits of information that I found extremely helpful. She listed a few names of reliable students, a few names of students to keep an eye on, I loved the way she worded that by the way, and then the names of students who received academic support. With this info, I knew who I could turn to if I had a question. I knew who to keep an eye on for behavior issues, and I also knew who might struggle academically or who would be pulled out of class.

That way when they left the classroom, I wasn’t like, wait, where are you going? Because I have done that before. You can also mark these students on your seating chart with a little asterisk or put a note to the side if that’s easier so it’s all on one page. But either way, make sure you let your sub know a little bit about those students.

The fourth way you can help your sub is to include details about your behavior management system, especially how to reward good behavior. While it was helpful to know how to give consequences like behavior marks or taking time off of recess, I found it much more beneficial to know how to reward students. When I could reward good behavior early on and when students realized that I would be giving them points, they were motivated to do better and they were motivated to keep earning those points. I think it also made them take me more seriously. So, let your sub know how to reward students and encourage them to do so. Also, don’t forget to tell your students to be classroom A for this sub.

Now, you probably have a spot in your plans where your sub can leave the names of a few students who are helpful so you can reward them. I did this as well. The problem was I would often fill this out after school, and by that point, I had completely forgotten their names, especially with departmentalized classes.

If you’ve ever had a sub leave that blank, that’s probably why. It’s not that they don’t want to fill it out, they just can’t remember their names. So, I came up with an idea that I think would help in this situation, and they are called Super for the Sub tickets.

These are tickets that your substitute can give these students, and they write their own names on them. So, if Johnny is the student, I want to give it to, I don’t even have to know his name. He writes his name on it, and then he’s the one who gives it to the teacher the next day. So, you could leave your sub with five of these tickets and ask them to pass them out to helpful students. Again, then the next day, those students would return them to you, and they will be really excited to show you their ticket.

These tickets are actually free in my TPT store. So, I will have that linked in the show notes, and you can download them for free on TPT. Now, you can laminate these tickets and reuse them throughout the year, or you can just allow students to keep them. It’s totally up to you. If you do try these though, be sure to leave me a review and let me know how it goes.

Another reward that works well, and I’m sure this won’t surprise you, is candy. Students will do anything for candy. So, leave some for yourself if possible. I was subbing in a fifth grade class once, and this was during the last week of school, and candy was literally the only thing that worked. It did not matter that it was probably from Halloween. To elementary students, candy is candy, and parents will donate candy if you ask for it. That’s what I always did. So, have candy on hand for your sub in case of an emergency.

One more tip on the topic of classroom management. Let your subs know how to get your class’s attention. Do you say class-class, yes-yes? Is there a certain handclap you do? Or do you have a noisemaker or a ring doorbell? Consistency is key for students and they like things to feel normal, especially when you are away. So, share this with your sub so they can continue these normal classroom procedures.

The fifth way you can help yourself is to include answer keys when necessary. I subbed in a few reading and social studies classrooms, and I promise you I would not have survived without answer keys. Those students really thought I knew everything about Greek mythology and World War II. I can fool them with answer keys.

The way I feel about those subjects is probably how some subs feel about math. Even if they know the answer, it’s still sometimes hard to come up with it on the spot. So, having an answer key helps take that pressure off.

The final way you can help yourself is to explain how to use your smartboard and doc cam if these things will be used. This was something I did not expect to struggle with because I used technology every day when I was a teacher, and I still had issues with certain boards when I subbed.

The thing is, there are just so many different versions of smart boards, and they all turn on differently. Some are obvious, but some are not, and there were times I had students entering the room, and I still had not figured out how to get my slides to show on the screen, which of course then set me into complete panic mode, and that is not a fun way to start the day.

Thankfully, teammates across the hall were able to help, and in some cases, the students were able to help when they came in. But I could have avoided the need for that if there were directions in the sub plans. So, make sure you include those.

Go ahead and take the time now and put all of this in your sub plans, and that way they’ll be ready to go when the time comes, and you can be sure that you’re setting your sub up for success.

So, that takes us to today’s teaching Tip of the Week. Today I am sharing with you one of my favorite math games to play. It’s a simple guess my number game that deals with place value, so it’s perfect for the first week of school. But it also can be used as a time-filler throughout the year.

I learned about this one from one of my math coaches years ago, and I have used it ever since. I even used it last year when I subbed a few times.

To play the game, draw a three-column chart on the board and label the columns, guess, digits, and place, or just write GDP. Then you’ll need to come up with a three-digit number where none of the digits repeat. So, you can’t do a number like 222 or 335. They all have to be unique digits. That is the number that students are going to try and guess.

So, let’s say the number is 625, and a student guesses 489. Under the guess column, I would write 489 because that was their guess. You want to keep track of those. Under the digits column, I would write zero because none of the digits are correct. I’d also write a zero in the place column because none of them are in the correct place.

So, they didn’t get any digits correct. That should tell them that they should eliminate all three of those digits from their future guesses. It is helpful to also write the digits zero through nine on your board, and then cross them off when you can eliminate them.

So, let’s say their next guess is 614. Remember, my number is 625. I would write 614 under the guess column. Then under the digits column, I would write a one because they have one correct digit, and I’d also write a one in the place column because they have that digit in the correct place. Now they should realize that their guesses should either include a six, a one, or a four, but they don’t know which one is correct. So, this becomes a game of guess and check.

Let’s say their next guest is 652. Remember, mine is 625. In that case, of course, I’d write 652 under the guess column, and then I would write three under the digits column because they have three correct digits. But I would only write one under the place column because only one is in the correct place.

That should be the last thing they need to know before they realize that my number is 625. With upper elementary, you could try a four-digit number. That might take a little bit longer, but I think they can handle that. What you can also do is let the student who guessed your number then lead the next round, and let it continue that way.

This is also a great time-filler for your sub plans. You don’t even have to explain to your sub how to play this because students already know how to play, and they can lead the activity. So, that’s just something to keep in mind.

Well, friends, that is all for today’s episode. I hope you enjoyed it. Have a great week, and I will see you next Tuesday.