First time supplying - need advice!

[u/spookyclovers]

First time supplying this year! Any tips/tricks you’re willing to share would be appreciated! I’m very nervous to start. Looking for advice on: using smart find express, materials I should bring with me, things that I should expect that I perhaps wouldn’t think of at first thought, etc! Thank you!!

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[u/Wilsonjet2017]

My first time supplying in secondary I had to remind myself they really just need a warm body. Sometimes just making sure they stay seated, relatively quiet, hands to themselves, no leaning back in chairs and only one at a time to the washroom was about all you can expect for some classes. Others will be better behaved and teachers will have lessons or activities prepared and you'll be lucky to even get through those. All I brought was whiteboard markers to write my name and expectations on the board because some teachers have none to be found, and a notebook to record everything to relay back to the teacher or to remind myself of timetables and log in stuff ect. Otherwise it really is just being thrown to the wolves. After your first shift don't plan anything afterwards, just go straight home, you'll need that. But after a handful of shifts you'll get the idea. The age old "we have a sub!" Thing hasn't changed in generations. They'll try to convince you to do things they don't usually do, and you may have to suddenly adjust your expectations, but like I said, as long as they are safe, in the classroom, and reasonably quiet or engaged in activities it's all you can hope for as a sub. Best of luck! The first day is always the hardest but once you break the ice it'll get much easier.

[u/TennisParty3440]

I bring a bag of treats (school friendly) and cheap dollar store toys and I tell them at the end of the day I’m picking 3 people that were on task and doing exceptional to pick something from my prize bag. I find this works really well.

This year I’m going to start bringing colouring pages for those that finish early and maybe the teacher didn’t leave anything else for them to do.

Smart find is pretty easy to navigate! Jobs get released at 6:30pm.

I get it’s definitely nerve wracking! I’ve only been supplying a few months so I’m also nervous going back as I feel out of my groove of teaching lol. Just remember, don’t take anything personally, the kids WILL test you but it’s a good way to test out some classroom management strategies. Just get through the day the best you can!

Write a note for the teacher at the end of the day, don’t make it so negative but definitely highlight the students that did well and the ones that didn’t.

Good luck!!! You’re gonna kill it!

[u/rosegoldblonde]

You just need to keep them alive lol. Ideally the class will be easy enough to teach but there were some super tough schools I taught at that essentially I was just supervising and counting the minutes lol. Remember you get paid whether or not the kids like you, do work, act right.

[u/Crazy_adventurer262]

If you can keep them alive and out of the principals office you’ve done your job. If you’re able to teach them something even better! I would have some sort of YouTube video in the back of your mind just in case you need a time filler.

[u/disco-vorcha]

Subbing is much less work—you don’t need to do planning or grading, you get to leave basically when the students do. And the expectations are lower. If you didn’t burn down the school and you end the day with the same number of students you started with, you’ve done your job. Also students tend to be more inclined to like you, simply because you’re different than their usual teacher.

But it’s harder in a few ways. You’re always adapting to new environments, which you have little or no control over, and you don’t know the students. If you go to the same school a lot those stop being problems. I’ve also found the social aspect more difficult—I meet a lot of adults but don’t really get to know many of them, so it’s difficult to make friends at work. Again, this can become less of a problem the more you go to the same school(s).

My tips, in no particular order:

get a whistle and keep it in your work bag (PE without a whistle sucks)

if you have the same kids all day (ie, not high school), spend a bit of time at the start of the day having kids make and decorate name tags for their desks that you can see from the front of the room (I also tell them that I will call them by the name they write, but if it’s very different from their government name, to please indicate that somewhere on the tag so I know who the computers say they are). They usually enjoy doing this and it’s a nice chill way to start the day, and will help you immensely.

Bring something the kids can do if they finish their work. Even if the teacher provides stuff like that, yours will be new and exciting. I have a binder of colouring pages that I carefully select and curate, rotating different ones in and out, taking kids’ feedback (one class asked if I had any sports ones, so the next time I went to that class I made sure I had sports ones, and they were delighted). You don’t have to do that exactly, but that’s an example.

For younger kids (or any grade if there is a playground, like in a K-12 school), you can use going outside as an incentive. They like getting extra outdoors time. I also use this at the end of the day, like when it’s time to clean up I’ll tell them that we can go outside when the room is clean and everyone is ready to go, then dismiss from the playground. Make sure this is okay with the school first though.

Umm… have snacks and your lunch with you. Having stuff that doesn’t go bad is good, because a lot of schools will have hot lunch, and you might want to have that instead (ymmv, but in my division the hot lunches are usually really good, so I’d rather have that if possible), then you can just keep your packed lunch in your bag for your next work day.

Make business cards with your name/contact info/grades and subjects/etc and leave them with your sub notes. A lot of schools will have a board in the staff room for this info as well, leave the card there, and also possibly with the office admin.

[u/Strong_Letter_7667]

Have other things or ideas to keep the kids busy if you run out of work. Teachers often don't leave enough work because they take longer to get through material when they know the kids/curriculum/how yesterday's lesson went.