Substitute Teacher Organization (Part One)

There are lots of ways you can be organized for a substitute teacher but of course there are going to be those times that you wake up in the morning just not feeling well enough to go into work... at this point you have a few options (if you didn't prepare for the day the previous day that is) 1) Email a quick plan and hope the substitute can find everything 2) Head in before school starts to write something up and organize what the substitute will need or 3) leave them to figure it out for themselves. 

As a seasoned substitute teacher I've seen all of those.. and in my few years of teaching I've only ever done the email a plan in (otherwise I've always prepared for a sub the day before... because sometimes you just know tomorrow will not be a great day if you come in).

A way to help you (and your substitute teacher) if you aren't able to prepare in advance is to make a substitute teacher folder. In one of the divisions that I sub in all teachers make one at the beginning of the year and sometimes they are filled in a bit better than others... this one didn't have a lot filled in but she also had a substitute binder in her class so I managed to snag a few pictures because there was so little to cover up). Substitutes pick up the folder at the office when they sign in so they have it right from the get go.

Front of sub folder - important info about the school

inside sub folder - important info about the classroom and students

Anyways, some important parts of the folder would be:

1) Schedule

2) Duty times/places

3) Location of different places

4) Beginning/end of the day routines (like do I have to go pick up the students somewhere?)

5) Student allergies/behaviours

Then there is also a part of the folder to insert pages... typically there will be some info about the school, a class list, and sometimes if the teacher is really prepared some suggestions/pages to copy for student work if needed. I don't think I've ever actually had to use these pages (and it's kind of rare that I'll find them in there anyways) but it's an excellent thing to include just in case you are ever away!