I know my blog title is super corny, but I really have no other ideas considering it's currently 11:35pm and I'm writing this post much later than normal. I subbed for 5th grade today, and while I don't have the time or energy to write about the events of the day the way I did the last time I subbed for 2nd grade, I just had to post the following picture because it just really made me a happy camper this morning!
In the past, I've subbed for teachers who called out last minute because they were ill or their kid was suddenly sick or they had a family emergency. Sometimes that meant that there were minimal or no lesson plans at all, but as long as I have some time before the day starts or a prep in the morning, it's manageable. To some degree, I enjoy the freedom of teaching whichever subjects I prefer as long as someone points out what the class is up to in the textbook or workbook. That means I'd typically choose math and reading/language because those are the subjects I taught in middle school and just really love them the most. Depending on the grade, I also really enjoy science.
However, that's not to say I don't absolutely LOVE it when a teacher is prepared for an absence ahead of time and leaves detailed plans! The 5th grade teacher left her regular lesson plan book that included the Aim, Do Now, and Lesson Steps; but she also included a Substitute Teacher binder that explained what to do for the lessons. In the binder, I also found classroom rules and procedures and which students could help if I needed it (ex. who could help set up the SmartBoard although I avoided that because I didn't want to deal with spending a lot of time figuring it out!). All the needed teacher's editions of the textbooks and worksheets were stacked in order of the day's schedule. The pages even had post-it notes on them so I didn't need to look for the correct page! While the kids were taking a test in the morning, I read through all the material, which was a lot faster than normal because of how organized everything was.
The sheet below was also part of the binder.
I think that that's such a great idea because I too absolutely hate not knowing what goes on in my classroom when I'm out (er, I mean what WENT on in my classroom as I no longer have my own classroom). I do my best to leave detailed notes even when it's not requested because I want the teacher to know as much about the day as possible because it was always reassuring for me. I actually had to get some sheets of looseleaf though because as I wrote to my former colleague, I'm rather neurotic and need a lot of space and lines to write about every period of the day. Since the kids had Spanish during 8th period, I was able to finish jotting down what happened with probably more detail than necessary, haha.
Other than a little bit of rowdiness immediately after returning from recess, the day went smoothly. I am, however, glad that after this week of subbing/proctoring/making up preps, I know I won't be called in next week during Easter break! It'll be nice being able to sleep in without setting an alarm.
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