First Days

In the world of subbing, where do we begin? You have finally graduated university and now you find yourself in a hopeless and unfamiliar realm of subbing.

Things note:

1. You need to know how you sign in to access student attendance. You also will need to know how to make school selections within the system. Both AM and PM attendance are important to be done promptly so that you can ensure that students are where they need to be.

2. In Elementary classrooms you should have some kind of attention grabber. Some examples of this are counting down from 5, clapping and students repeat, 1 2 3 eyes on me, 1 2 eyes on you. Whatever it is that you have had work well for you in the past, give it a try. There are lots of options, sometimes teachers will leave notes indicating which one specifically works for their classroom. Try to make sure it is age appropriate, older students tend to respond less to those catered to younger students.

3. Do you have extra activities ready to go? Commonly, many activities will take less time than planned and students will start becoming board or disruptive if they do not have more activities to do.

4. Should you leave a dayplan? This is an area of great debate amongst subs but you really should. Many districts have expectations that subs leave content and a day plan for the next day. You don't have to over complicate it. Sometimes there are areas in the day where classroom activities have not been complete. You can add them in for the next day. Sometimes teachers have week calendars indicating what they are going to start the next day. This may also suggest things like prep schedule and library schedule times. More importantly though is that you leave some materials and content for the next day. Write it as if you are coming in again for the next day. It can be simple but straight forward.  If you can, print materials with answer keys so that the teacher is able to properly assess the materials. You may need to talk to the school secretary to get the code for the photocopier.