While I should probably be working on the big picture (that is, developing a full English LA curriculum), it's nice to have a small victory every once in a while. My latest mini-project: The Emergency Sub Plan Folder. Something I can legitimately blog about.
I highly recommend having one. At the very least, a seating chart or class list looks great in a sub folder. This probably isn't the smartest thing to announce to a room full of mischievious eighth graders, but in the past I've had to say: "I don't have a class list. Can anyone tell me who is not here today?" Yeah. The ultimate recipe for disaster.
As I develop a folder for my own classroom, I have come across a couple of good resources. Glencoe has a substitue folder checklist in PDF form, as well as forms you can personalize that include emergency procedures and other related information. The NEA has a short article on their web site about pertinent information for substitute folders as well. Be sure to check out their link, S.O.S.--Save Our Substitutes. Mostly because the title cracks me up, but also because it gives more information about what to include in the handy sub folder.
I have been in situations in which I have had no information (the aforementioned lack of a class list). Alternately, I have been in situations in which there is a humongous binder on the teacher's desk marked "substitute" that measures one inch thick. The first example is frustrating and the second is completely overwhelming. The best folders contain the necessary information while also being short, sweet, and to the point.
This mumble jumble probably sounds like a lot of common sense, and it mostly is. However, if I had never been a sub myself, I probably would have a relatively minimal idea of what to include in such a folder. And I probably wouldn't be thinking about sub folders at this very moment (Just in case you were wondering why I might devote an entire post to the subject).
With or without a sub folder, substitute teaching does have its advantages: if you have a less than great day (the students invent new ways to break rules, reach new decibels, and send you home with a migraine, for example), you can go home knowing that you probably won't have the same class again for awhile. Or, on the contrary, you might get a phone call asking for your services for the rest of the week. ;-)
I love these comprehensive lists! Also, I would point out that knowing your sub is far preferable to getting some rand-o to fill in for you. If you can get someone you know (and who knows how to do what you're doing), you won't have to just give up a day of your curriculum. Also, it involves extra work when planning units, but if you can find effective and individual enrichment activities to go with each unit, you can effectively strengthen your students understanding of the subject matter in your absence (even when you don't know the sub). And if you don't have to be gone during that unit, you have some extra credit assignments when you feel like being a push-over.
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