Welcome to the All Star Planning podcast. My name is Kelsey, and this is the place where I talk all things teacher lesson plans today, I am talking sub plans. Nobody likes sub plans , nobody likes writing them, nobody likes having to come up with them. Nobody wants to skip work, um because usually it’s more of a headache than it’s actually worth. You usually will spend more time creating sub-plans – it creates more frustration than just going to work, not feeling well.
But going to work, not feeling well is not good for anybody you spread germs. You with germs will just run yourself down because you’re working all day and it’s, it’s just not good for anybody. So when you are sick, I suggest that you take off from work. Now, that’s not always the easiest thing to do. So I am giving you just a few of my sub plan tricks. Some of my hacks, as you may say. Um, they are things that have worked for me. So. This is all based on in-building teaching. Um, That is my primary experience with sub plans. So that’s what we’re going with.
Taking Sick Days
Um, I have taken sick days every single year, and that is because, I get sick quite often. Um, it’s usually just a cold. That’s the way that I work. My body will beat me up. If I get a cold, I, I really get beat up. It’s just kind of the way that it works for me. It’s the way my body is. So I have learned to accept it. I know that I’m going to get a cold within the first six weeks of school. Some years it knocks me out. Other years it doesn’t.
I have also, I don’t know what it is. My body just knows when vacation is coming. So for a Christmas break or spring break usually is the point where my body goes, “oh, okay. Now is the time to get sick.” I’m a working machine. I enjoy working, it just kind of makes me happy. I like going to the school building. Um, That’s why I do this podcast is because I like working, like having projects and things to do. And. That’s the way that I am. Work is my leisure time. As strange as that is. Um, I’m sure there’s like 1% of people who agree with me on that. But regardless, my body gets me sick on vacation. Quite often.
Getting a Doctor’s Note
So, um, the first thing that I would recommend, especially you are early in your career is to get a doctor’s note whenever you can. I know that you don’t always go to the doctor when you have a cold, but I tend to go to the doctor. Because my body tends to get sick, right after, you know. I’m sick on vacation. And then everybody goes back to school and I stay home. And I just don’t want to look like somebody who is trying to extend their vacation. So I get a doctor’s note when I can just to put it on the record that yes, I actually am sick. Um, I am not the type of person to take leisure days. That’s not who I am.
I’m not going to make a comment on people who do that because that’s not my business. Um, but that’s just not me.
Review for Sub Plans
So when it comes to sub plans, There’s a few ways to go about it. The first thing that I tried to do is review. The reason I like to do review is because when I am not in the school building, there is a very small chance that my students are going to have a chemistry teacher who covers the class. It is extremely rare that my students will have a chemistry teacher cover my class, so I don’t run it. I don’t really want to set them up with a lesson that is somewhat requiring a chemistry teacher to be there. Because I have multiple sections. Um, one person is more than likely not going to cover my entire day, unless it’s a permanent sub and we don’t have any chemistry, permanent substitutes in our school right now.
So the first thing that I tried to do is review. I have accumulated a bunch of review assignments over the years so I find it decently easy to just pull a review assignment. I email it to the secretary and she will forward it to whoever needs it.
Using Google Classroom for Sub Plans
And then on occasion I have been known to put something on Google classroom. My school went one to one last year, coincidentally, right in time for school closures. So, um, every kid in my school had a device. So it was very easy for me to just tell the substitute, “Tell the kids to get on Google classroom.” And then I would just put something on there. And usually it was like, watch a video, answer these questions. And it was something that was pretty straightforward.
So on occasion, I come up with a brand new review assignment for the kids. It helps to refresh their memories on things that are already learned, things I’ve already taught them things, hey should already know. And it’s really not any, uh, major brain power because they will have their notes, they have each other. And it’s mostly a smooth thing.
Save Extra Copies for Sub Plans
And the second thing that I will do is save extra copies. So if there is a worksheet or an assignment that I print out, make copies of and I don’t get to it. Or I find that it doesn’t quite fit. right, or maybe the kids aren’t ready for it. Um, I will put a binder clip on those copies, wrap them up in a piece of paper that says “Reavy emergency sub plans. Use for this class, this period, any time after October 15th.” Because I know based on my very strong, reliable curriculum that October 15th, the kids are learning atomic theory. So if I’m absent in January, the kids could very easily do a review activity on atomic theory. And that has been my most effective sub plans.
Have Your Students Help with Sub Plans
Really, what happens Um, I have the Remind app. So I have a few kids that I would trust to go through my drawers. I mean, I trust 99% of them. It’s just this one kid that I know is like a big helper and won’t try to trick the substitute.
Um, I will just text that kid on the remind app and I’ll say, “Hey, I’m out sick today. Could you do me a favor and just pull out a bundle of papers from the drawer. That’s your assignment. You can pick whatever you want.”
I have things that are like, this is for chemistry students after October 15th, this is for chemistry students after December 12th, this is for chemistry students after February 14th. And all of these things, I’ll just have a kid shop through and say, “Hey, what do you guys want to do a color by number? Or do you want to read about. Dmitri Mendeleev?” And they get to pick whatever they want, and I leave it up to them, and I just ask the kid, just let me know what assignment you’re doing. And then in my sub plans, it’s super, super easy.
How I Set Up My Sub Plans
This is how I set them up. Which is a blanket statement for sub plans. So I will just write a letter that I kind of use through the whole year and I send it to whoever needs my sub plans. And it’s saved to my Google Drive and I just change teeny tiny things. So the first thing is. “Dear, whoever, Kelsey Reavy is out sick today. Enter the date. These are the classes that I have scheduled for today.” And then I’ll list them in a grid. So I’ll say, the students. I have a few like reliable students that I have. I pick them like, Four to six weeks after the school year starts after I get to know the personalities of all my kids and I kind of list them. So I’ll say “first period, my reliable kids are Sally, Bob, Joe, and Elizabeth.
“These students have been contacted either via email or through the Remind app. These students are going to pick an assignment from, the leftovers drawer or the review drawer, the emergency sub plan store, whatever I label it that year. Students are expected to turn in their assignment, to the turn and bin at the end of class.”That’s pretty much it. I just change the date, the names of the students. And as I go throughout the year, I just add leftover copies to this turn in bin (sub plans drawer).
Using Tricky Assignments Twice
Sometimes I just find stuff and I think, wow, it would be really good for the kids to do this a second time. So if I’m doing something on. Let’s say it’s intermolecular forces. That’s a topic that’s kind of difficult for some of my kids. So I will do a worksheet with them in December. Then it turns out the day we’re just kind of okay on it. I will take it back to the copy room and make an entire extra set of copies and save them for them to review it again in March or April when I’m sick. It’s kinda what I do. Um, just because they did it four months ago doesn’t mean they can never do it again. Um, and also if it’s something that you’ve already taught, something that you’ve already walked them through. It’s super easy.
Long Term Sub Plans
The issue with sub plans is when you are going to be absent for a long time. So, um, I was absent for a family emergency. I was out for an entire week and that was hard. So what I did then, I kind of scrambled. That was, that was my worst sub plans experience ever. Um, cause there was a lot going on in the background, but really what happened…
I found a giant review packet. And I said, this is what the kids are doing for five days. I probably shouldn’t have done that. But all things considered, that’s what happened. Um, as far as I’m concerned, family will always come first. My job will always come second. That was a very big family emergency. So I just relied on that. That’s what I did for my chemistry students. And then at the same time I was teaching physics. Which is again, an entirely different story, but the physics kids were given a bunch of reading comprehensions on different scientists.
Let the Kids do Some Easier and More Frivolous Things
I honestly went to teachers pay teachers and I put in…I don’t remember what I searched. But whatever it was, I got some results for reading comprehensions on scientists. So that’s what they did for a week. They learned about five different scientists. And when I came back, We jumped right back into things. Um, I think that it’s very important that when you are at school, that you are at school. Working hard doing your best. So I kind of save these silly lighthearted, reading comprehension, color by numbers for when I’m not there.
Use Technology if You Can
So in addition to finding just basic reading comprehensions, there are a lot of things that you can just give your students that are kind of a plug and play. So if you are in a one-to-one school or a school with devices or a place where you can schedule them to get into a computer lab, or there’s a laptop cart or something, um, you could always do a current event. You can just have kids research, a current event.
You can very easily assign things in different platforms. For instance, my very first school they were a member of some reading program. It would like, match the kids based on their Lexile levels. And then they would get, uh, a reading comprehension thing that was done online. And it was really just like the teacher had to assign it, and the computer did most of the work. Um, I was also at my first school, we were subscribed to some digital science lab thing. I did that once or twice for sub-plans.
Use Teacher Curated Resources on Digital Platforms
After the 2019 2020 school year, I think more schools and districts and upper admin are realizing the importance and convenience of technology. Cause some schools and districts were very far behind. But we, we all know that, teachers know how helpful all of this technology can be. It can also be a big pain. But with this added technology, some things become far easier. So it’s very simple in a lot of cases to just assign something that was. Online, for instance, a bunch of these programs come with pre-made stuff or teachers can make things and kind of add them to the library and then different teachers can. Use the same assignment across the entire country, the whole world, whatever it is.
Teaching is Hard Enough as it is
And I think that that is awesome because… We need to look out for each other because teaching is hard. Especially when you get up at four in the morning and you feel sick and you can’t go to work. And now you think, Oh, I have to write sub plans, and it’s basically the middle of the night and you’re not feeling well. And that’s not a fun time for anybody. So anything that we can do to support each other. And to provide convenience to each other, especially when we’re feeling crappy is helpful. Regardless of what you do realize that your sub plans are not supposed to dominate your entire sick day. And it is important that you try to plan whatever you can so that your sub plans aren’t stressful.
So, what I recommend is finding a few review activities that you can kind of tag to a calendar and say, these things can be used after this date. As in the kids have already learned everything that they need to complete the activity. And you can direct your substitute to a particular drawer or binder or cabinet, and they can just shop through whatever you have there.
Sick Days and Teacher Pacing
And then when it comes to curriculum, you’re just going to have to push everything back a day or two until you’re back at school. I hate doing that. It really stinks. To have everything planned and then have to push everything forward a day or two or three. Or an entire week, but things happen. And that’s part of the reason why I tell you to only schedule or think that you’re going to teach for 150 days because at 180 is not going to happen.
You will be sick. You will be asked to go on a field trip. Uh, your kid will be sick. Something’s going to happen where you can’t come to school or you just don’t have a teaching day. So plan for one 50 instead of one 80. There was a podcast episode on that. I will link it in the show notes. If you’re watching this on YouTube, I will link it in the video description box. And, um, that’s it. So subscribe to the podcast. So you don’t miss episodes My teaching tips. My planning tips, new episodes come out every Tuesday.
And if you haven’t already please sign up for the All Star Planning Introductory masterclass. It is where I show you how the five pieces of the All Star Planning curriculum come together so that you have a strong, reliable curriculum, and you will know exactly what you are teaching. And when. So it’ll be very easy for you to assign clumps of review work and give it a date. Because your calendar will roughly be planned out. You can find that masterclass at plan.kelseyreavy.com. I will link it in the show notes again. If you’re watching on YouTube, I will link it in the video description box. And that is all. I’ll see you next time. Bye.
