Substitute Teachers: Preparing for a Guest Teacher

November 7th, 2008 By: Diane Trim in Articles, Classroom Management, Lesson Planning

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The teacher returns to her classroom after a bout of the ‘flu. She’s weak, she’s tired, and her classroom desks are scattered like leaves on the ground. Her head hurt before she saw her classroom, but now it really hurts.

Here’s how to make sure that your guest teacher/substitute teacher has a good experience in your classroom and that you come back to happy kids and an orderly room.

• Prepare. Someone once told me that you’d better prepare for the students, or they’ll prepare for you. Develop a binder or a tote for substitutes to use.
• Student Guides. Select a couple of students for the substitute to rely upon.
• Up-to-date seating chart. Sometimes we move kids to other seats without noting it on our own seating chart. Keep the chart up to date and easy to find.
• Procedures. You don’t have to keep the same lesson plan from day to day, but make sure you have a routine that your class understands. When students come to class, they know what to expect and fall into the class routine without the guest teacher having to prod them.
• Expectations. Explain what kind of behavior you expect from your class when you have a substitute. Help them understand the importance of following the guest teacher’s directions. Make sure they understand that they should respect guests in the classroom and that you will stand behind your guest teacher’s decisions and actions.
• Listen to concerns. Encourage your students to write down their concerns and place a note in your teacher mailbox or send you an e-mail. Often students’ concerns are a result of miscommunication that you can clear up without further conflict.
• Back up your guest teacher. It’s not easy stepping into someone else’s classroom. Let your students know that your guest teacher is you for the day. They need to show the guest teacher respect and understand that you support whatever decisions your guest teacher made the previous day.

Take the time to make sure your guest teacher and your classes have a good day. Then, take two aspirin and go back to bed.

Tags: Classroom Management, flu, guest teacher, substitute teacher

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