Office
of Substitute Services
Sub-gestions
Suggestions for Substitutes
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December 2009
"Limitations live only in our minds, but if we use our
imaginations, our possibilities become limitless."
—
Jamie Paolinetti
Prepare for "any old thing" with a SubPack
We often hear that
we need to "be prepared." One might ask, "Be prepared for what?"
Robert Baden-Powell the founder of the Scouting program would
reply: "Why, for any old thing."
Being prepared for
any old thing is sound advice and should be implemented by
substitute teachers. A way substitute teachers can be prepared
for any old thing in the classroom is by putting together a
SubPack.
A SubPack is like an
emergency kit for the classroom. It should contain a variety of
useful and necessary classroom supplies and materials.
The contents of a
SubPack should be organized into four categories:
• Personal and
Professional Items
• Classroom Supplies
• Rewards and
Motivators
• Activity Materials
The specific
contents of your SubPack will be personalized to fit your
teaching style and the grade levels you teach most often.
The following are
some ideas of things to include in your SubPack:
• Clipboard:
Carrying a clipboard provides quick access to a seating chart,
the roll, and anecdotal records, as well as creates a sense of
authority.
• Disposable Gloves
& Plastic Bags: Whenever you encounter blood or bodily
fluids you should wear disposable gloves to help safeguard
against many of today's medical concerns. A plastic bag can be
used in an emergency when you must dispose of items exposed to
blood or bodily fluids.
• Newspaper: A
newspaper can be used as the basis for a story starter, spelling
review, current events discussion, and a host of other
activities.
• Props: A
puppet, magic trick, or even a set of juggling props can capture
students' interest. Props provide great motivation for students
to complete assignments to further participate in, learn more
about, or to see additional prop related activities.
• Tangrams:
Tangrams are geometric shapes that can be used as filler
activities, as well as instructional material to teach shapes
and geometry. Some links to get you started:
Link One
Link Two
• Tickets:
Tickets are a great way to reward students for appropriate
behavior. Students can use tickets to enter an end-of-the-day
drawing or redeem them for special privileges and prizes.
Successful subs
are prepared
The number one trait
of a successful substitute teacher is having a collection of
resources in a SubPack. To be confident and prepared, a good
substitute teacher will enter a classroom with a set of tools,
much like a builder would enter a construction site.
No one wants to
begin a lesson plan and then discover that a simple item, such
as a pair of scissors, cannot be located. Likewise, when a
lesson plan receives a "boring" response from students,
introducing a motivator idea from a SubPack can bring a renewed
enthusiasm for assignments.
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