10 Things High School Substitute Teachers Want You to Know

Many teachers begin their teaching careers by working as substitute teachers. Some retirees sub for a couple days a week to maintain income and continue to interact with students. Subs come come in many different forms, but no matter who we are, here's what we want you to know before we come into your class:

1. Assign work that can be completed in one class period.

   For so many teachers their sub plan is, "Continue work on XYZ project" or "Students may work on assignments for other classes." It is a nice idea that students are going to use the whole class period to work on the long term project, but that's wishful thinking and isn't going to happen. Your substitute sees through you--you were too lazy to make an actual sub plan. We want your sub plan to be a concrete activity that is enough to keep students engaged throughout the class period and will be turned in before they leave. If it is not turned in, there will be negative repercussions. Think worksheets or activities on Google Classroom.

   
   

2. If you say that you'll follow up with a disruptive student, do so in a substantive way.

   Many teachers ask the sub to note which students were especially disruptive. I like this because it suggests that the classroom teacher and I are working as a team to ensure a positive classroom environment. However, if the classroom teacher doesn't follow up with repercussions for bad behavior, noting specific students is wasted effort.

   
   

3. I know so much about you as a teacher and your classroom culture simply by walking into your class.

   You'd be shocked to know what your sub can learn about you after spending 90 seconds in your classroom. We know if you're an engaging teacher, a punitive teacher, or the teacher that only likes the girls (yes, true story). I subbed in an ELA classroom where the teacher had gone to great effort to decorate her classroom. I love this! I love the positive vibes that an attractive, engaging classroom communicates to learners! However, this female teacher had turned her classroom, which was mixed gendered, into a sorority house. Pink frills adorned every bulletin board and the walls were awash with Taylor Swift lyrics. Although I appreciated the effort, I couldn't help but wonder how the male (or non-binary) students felt in her class. Is this really an environment that is welcoming to all? Likewise, I've walked into classrooms where the walls are prison-cell white and the only decoration is the trash can in the corner. The students entered this classroom and immediately slumped in their chairs. Message received: This is where learning comes to die. You don't have to be Marth Stewart to print out some posters that you find online or display student work on a bulletin board.

   
   

4. Your students are going to dish about you.

   Without prompting from your sub, your students are going to tell us if they like you or not. We subs are professionals, so we're going to appropriately punish with anything distasteful or derogatory. With you out of the classroom your students see that as an open invitation to dish about you. They'll tell the sub if you're a hard grader, if you're funny, or someone the students see as a friend. Don't worry, we subs take this all with a grain (or two) of salt. We don't believe everything we read online, and we don't believe everything teenagers tell us. And we are well aware that when you return, the students are going to dish about us--it goes both ways.

5. Even though we make minimum wage, we really care about our job as a sub.

   There are a plethora of reasons why someone is working as a sub, but no matter our impetus for doing the job, we really care about the students. First and foremost, we want to keep them safe. This means physically safe but also safe from bullying or a negative classroom atmosphere. Speaking for myself, I like teenagers and find them to be great fun to get to know. I learn a lot from them, and that makes me a better teacher. I care about doing my best to enact your sub plan and ensure that students have a positive environment in which to work.

   
   

6. Please don't make the day you're absent a "blow off" day for your class.

   One afternoon I was a half-day sub in a music classroom. I met the classroom teacher as she was leaving the building and she said, "There isn't a sub plan. Students can do whatever they want." Maybe this teacher had a medical crisis that prevented her from drafting a proper sub plan, but it was certainly inconvenient (and unprofessional) for me. Students are entitled to learn even if the teacher is away. Admittedly, the quality of learning is much higher when the classroom teacher is present, but the day shouldn't be a complete waste.

   
   

7. We don't know how to use all your tech.

   I use the same amount of tech that most people use in the twenty-first century, but I'm not going to write Java script code or fix your server in my free time. Classrooms have a lot of tech in them today and each school district has different tech. Students can be very helpful with the classroom tech, but their job is to be a learner, not tech support. Many of my fellow subs are retirees who are great teachers but haven't kept up with the tech. So, please don't rely too heavily on the use of technology in your sub plans. As a general rule, think twentieth century--not twenty-first.

   
   

8. Warn us about truly troublesome students.

   You know who I'm talking about--that student who makes you dread your fifth period class because you know how unregulated and disruptive they're going to be. Give your subs a heads up about who to keep an eye on. Better yet, offer some suggestions on how to deal with the student's troublesome behavior.

   
   

9. We may not know all the ins and outs of administrative details.

   Every school is different and many subs work in multiple districts. So, we can't keep up with the minutiae of each school's administrative details. Every school takes attendance slightly differently and has different fire drill protocols. We may want to send a student to the assistant principal's office but have no idea how to write an appropriate form for that to happen. Things are going to slip through the cracks; we're sorry.

   
   

10. Give us some ideas for how to reward student behavior.

    The vast majority of the students that I work with are respectful, helpful, and kind to subs and their fellow classmates. Please let us know how to distinguish these students. Something as simple as subs keeping a list of students who were especially helpful and then the classroom teacher pulling them aside when they return to school to thank them for their positive behavior is enough. Subs want to help you maintain a positive classroom culture. We really do care--see #5.

Have you worked as a sub? What do you think classroom teachers should know about subs? Share your thoughts in the comments below.