Whether you're a first-year teacher or a seasoned pro, effective classroom management is a critical piece of any successful classroom. Share what works.
Substitutes
Since I'm now home sick nursing a nasty cold, I thought it would be timely to discuss the issues around subs and classroom management. How do you help subs that come into your classroom?
What have you done that has "hurt" subs working with your class?
Comments (35)
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My second comment: thanks to
My second comment: thanks to all those who sub and commented on their experiences. Gave me some great ideas to make it easier on them.
Ms Hackworth: I really
Ms Hackworth: I really appreciate your comment, because as many great suggestions as there are here, I would love to see more discussion about helping substitute teachers by preparing the students!... and by preparing them I mean something more than introducing a set of punitive and incentive measures designed to control their behavior in the teacher's absence.
I have HUGE respect for substitute teachers--I wouldn't last 5 minutes!--but if I did find myself in that situation, I think I would feel less overwhelmed in an environment wherein students have had daily practice in taking responsibility for their own learning and daily reflection on how their behavior affects others.
This discussion thread caught my attention because Caring School Community, which is being implemented as part of Louisville's CARE initiative, includes a use-anytime "planning/decision-making" class meeting dedicated to preparing for substitutes. Louisville's SEL work, actually, is featured right here in edutopia's Schools That Work series: bit.ly/EduSEL
If a strong, caring classroom community is in place, if the teacher makes her or his expectations clear, and if the students have a substantive, meaningful discussion about how they plan to work with a substitute, I believe that can go a long way towards making substitutes' lives easier.
Kenni Smith
Developmental Studies Center
http://devstu.org
Great point Russell
Russell,
You made an important point for teachers to leave a meaningful lesson plan. I subbed in a 4th grade class and it was obvious that the teacher did not prepare a good lesson. The teacher assigned a math page that the students already did. The students were understandably not in the mood to work the problems and I felt bad for them.
I gave the students some SUPER CHALLENGE problems that were addition and subtraction problems using numbers in the millions. The students were very excited about solving the problems!
Another idea is to tell the students a story about yourself when you were a kid. I always tell this story about when I played little league baseball and students came up to me a year later asking more about it!
Great point Kenni
I think it is of much benefit to have a talk with students prior to having a sub. Let them know your expectations of them and the consequences for misbehaving. When the students are mentally prepared to behave, I think most of them will do exactly that.
Helping subs
What I find is most helpful are 2 things, class seating charts, and emergency plans if none are left. Thankfully most of my teachers leave the plans, but very few use seating charts and this causes a major problem.