Welcome to
Teaching Heart's Survival Kit for Guest Teachers - A
Guest Teachers Guide to a Good Day!
I
had a chance to be a guest teacher for about four months
before I got my first job. Many of the subbing jobs I had
helped prepare me for my first teaching job. Each guest
teaching experience gave me the opportunity to see how a
variety of teachers structured their days and set-up
their classrooms. I was exposed to many different
curriculums and many different levels of ability. I
quickly learned what grades I felt comfortable teaching.
I also learned how to be flexible and go with the flow.
Most of the teachers I subbed for prepared easy to
understand lesson plans. Yet, there were always a few
teachers out there that left nothing or would forget to
make a copy of something needed for a lesson or not leave
enough activities for the day. Luckily, I had prepared a
Substitute Teacher bag filled with standard based lessons
for various grades, filler activities for all grades, and
a variety of other materials to ensure my day went
smoothly. I learned while student teaching that student
behavior seems to be best when the students are actively
involved in activities. Behavior problems seem to
increase when the students do not have anything to do or
the structure of the day is poor. While teaching and
subbing I rarely had behavior problems in my classrooms
because students knew my expectations and were always
busy. There wasn't any time to misbehave. So my biggest
secret when it came to subbing was to keep the kids
actively involved in activities. Also, I strongly
feel that all guest teachers need to have some sort of
background in education. I am very annoyed by
states that allow high school graduates, or college
students, or college graduates with no educational
background to be guest teachers. I feel that the
best guest teachers are those who have had an opportunity
to student teach and have had courses related to
teaching. Unfortunately, every state has different
expectations. With a background in education and a
survival kit, you too can be a great guest teacher.
Below you will see my survival kit and you will be able
to read more of my ideas on how to have a great day as a
guest teacher. I have also included helpful links for
guest teachers.
Behavior Management Ideas
 Popcorn Reading Often the
classroom teacher will leave a group reading activity and
tell you to have each child take turns reading. If
you just have the students read a paragraph at a time,
the only students that tend to pay attention is the ones
reading. Thus, I have the students popcorn
read. They love it and I never have behavior
problems during this time. What I do is pick a
student to start reading and when I feel they have read
enough I yell popcorn and then another student's
name. That student starts to read where the last
reader left off. I continue this process throughout
the story. The catch is, if a student does not know
where we are when I say popcorn we start at the beginning
of the story (for longer stories, the beginning of the
page).
Lights Children are often trained to
be quiet when the lights go off. When you need to
get the attention of the class a good idea is to flash or
dim the lights.
Call
them by their names I feel that it is
very important to call on children by their names
when you are subbing. I have noticed that
they tend to listen to you more when you use
their first name. So, I always bring a pack
of name tags with me to class and have the
students wear them. (You can buy them at
drug stores or teacher stores) Before
school starts I look at the roster and make a
name tag for each student. Then, as I am
taking role I have each student come to the front
of the room tell me their name and their favorite
something. Then, I give them their name
tag. The younger students love wearing the
name tags.
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Some Motivation What is the
best way to get kids to stay on task when you aren't the
classroom teacher? Well, if you are a sub there is
only one answer... bribe them! Pack a bag of
goodies (candy, small rewards, and such). Use these
goodies as motivation. Set them out somewhere that
the students can easily see them. Tell the class
how they can earn the goodies (you make up your own
system - depending on the class). I tend to use the
little sticker system seen below. Sometimes you don't
even need to start this till the afternoon. This has
worked very nicely for me!
Buy
a pack of small stickers. Cut the stickers
and place them in a jar. (see below)
Give each student a strip of paper and whenever
you catch them doing something good (staying on
task, answering a question, helping another
student, following along with the lesson...) hand
them a sticker to place on a strip of paper. At
the end of the day count up stickers to see what
students had the best day. I like this idea
because you just hold the little container all
day and hand out stickers without stopping the
activities or making a statement.
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Caught You Being Good Cards Ok,
I know Subbing is not the highest paid profession and
some of you may not like the idea of buying
goodies. Thus, I have an alternative. Make a
set of colorful cards that say I caught you being good
and hand them to students you catch being good.
Once you give one out, the entire class wants one.
I have only done this with the younger population (K-1).
Flower Pot
- Behavior Management Subs need to have lots of forms
of behavior management up their sleeve. A cute
behavior management idea is to take a flower pot to
school with you. Make homemade flowers out of
construction paper and tape them to a straw (stem).
Throughout the day look for children who are
obeying the class rules and are on task--catch them being
good. When you spot a child doing good, put his/her
name on a flower and place the flower in the flower pot.
At the end of the day, count the flowers . Allow
the children with flowers in the pot reach into a prize
bag and take one prize for each flower.
Still
Waters (transitioning from one activity to another)
K-3 There are times when teachers need their
students to be quiet quickly. For instance, when
you are getting ready to go out into the hall and
transition into a new environment. I learned this
simple trick in the school I student taught in from one
of the first grade teachers... 1. First you
need to inform the class of a game called "Still
Waters". Tell the class that you will be
playing this game often and they will know when the game
starts by whenever you say, "1,2,3,3,2,1 Still
Waters has begun. (This should become a regular
routine for your class) 2. When they hear
this statement they are to freeze and not say a word or
move. 3. You will be timing them to see how
long they can stay still as a team. The goal is for
them to break their best record. 4.
You will hold your fist in the air and each time you see
someone move or talk, you put a finger up and stop
when you have all five up. Then check your watch
and give them the number of seconds they lasted.
5. By this time you will have their attention and
can give them directions for the transition...
Math Mania
K-5 Often as a guest teacher I find myself with a
few min. before lunch and I am done with your morning
lessons. Here is a game to play while the students
wait in line to go to lunch! This is a great one
for subs to have handy! 1. Have the students
line up. Have the first student in line choose an
number from 1-10. 2. Announce an
operation. Such as add 2. 3. The
second student in the line adds two to the first students
number. 4. Continue down the line having
each student add 2 to the new total. 5. If they
answer incorrectly the student sits down and the student
behind the "out" student tries to take over
where the other left off. 6. The winner is
the last person standing.
Clap My
Beat 1-5 (K?) One of the best behavior
management techniques I have learned is the one I am
about to share. I learned this from my cooperating
teacher when I student taught. It is great for
getting your class to stop what they are doing and pay
attention. It is so simple and they love it!
I introduce this activity at the start of the day along
with the teacher's rules and my rules. 1.
Inform your class of a new game you will be
playing. Tell the class that whenever you have
something important to say or you want the class to have
their eyes on you, you will clap a beat and they will
mimic the beat you clap. Once you stop clapping
their eyes should be on you and their mouths should be
zipped! 2. For instance, (you - clap, clap,
snap, clap) and (they-clap, clap, snap, clap)
3. You keep clapping beats until you have everyone
clapping with you and eyes on you. Now you can
start a lesson or so on. IDEA: I found that
when I used this it was most effective if as I was making
the beats I would say, "I bet you guys can't do this
one!" They loved the challenge. Also,
it worked best when I would praise the students on how
nicely they clapped along. Especially if there is
one student who always claps along with your beat as soon
as you start. Positively reinforce that student and
others will follow as quickly.
Praise for
good behavior by stating the behavior.
I like the way Zachary, Alissa, & Aiden are sitting
quietly.
Look at how quickly Matt got out his math journal and is
on the page 19.
Oh, my where is the plan book?
You
need to be prepared for anything as a guest teacher and
that means be prepared for no lessons or only a few
lessons. I bring the below activities with me and I
also have developed units to bring along. My goal
is to keep the students busy all of the time. If
the students are busy: you are busy, the day goes faster,
and the students have learned lots form you. Most
importantly, the day was not a waste for you or the
students!
 Start the Day Off Smoothly
Subs move around from grade to grade and school to
school and may not get a chance to get to know the
students. It is important to start the day off on
the right foot and get to know the students a bit before
you jump into teacher mode! Take this list of
questions found below with you to all jobs and write the
questions on the board when you arrive. Then have
each student answer the questions on a piece of
paper. Finally, have all the students share their
answers with you and the class. What is your favorite
animal? What is your favorite color? What's your favorite
TV show? What's you favorite song? What's you favorite
school subject? What do you like to do in your free time?
Hopefully, this will give you a much better understanding
of you students and will make the run smoothly!
Pick a
Number 1.) Ask the class to take out a piece of
paper. 2.) Tell them to pick a number between 1-10
and to write it on their paper and to cover their papers
because you don't want to know what the number is.
3.) So that you can talk about their numbers you
are going to assign it the letter value Z. Write Z
on the board. 4.) Observe that their can be 10
different Z's in the room, one for every number from
1-10. Someone has probably chosen 3, 5, and
9. But so you can talk about the everyone's number,
your letting Z stand for everyone's number. 5.)
Tell the class to add nine to their Z. 6.) Next
have them subtract, let's say... 5 7.) Continue
with addition or subtraction combinations for at least
three or four more numbers. For example; add 7,
subtract 8, and add 4. 8.) You should be writing
the individual steps as they occur on the board.
z
9 +9 -5
-5
4
+7 +7
-8 11
+4 -8
3
+4
7 9.) Finally, have them subtract the original
number they choose, their Z. Wait a sufficient
amount of time, and then ask, "how many came up with
seven." 10). Now the kids think you performed
magic and want to know how you did it. ***See if
they can figure it out. Repeat several times! The
Secret Add and subtract the numbers between the
Z's. The number they pick (z) is cancelled out at
the end when you ask for subtraction in the last step.
Try this several times before giving it to a class!!
A Subs
Version of Pictionary Write current movies, books,
cartoon characters, and songs on slips of paper and place
them in a baggies. divide the class into two groups, and
allow one student from Group 1 to come up. Hand him/her a
slip of the pre-made ideas on it. Then have he/she
go to the board and try to draw it. Allow either
group to guess what their classmate is drawing.
Get a folder that has many
pockets. You can purchase one similar to the one
seen here at an Office Store or Walmart. Organize
the folder by filling the first four pockets with
lessons realted to the grades you typically guest
teach in. I always guest taught in grades k-3, as
a result I had one ready to go standard based
lesson in each pocket. All the materials for the
lesson were ready in the pocket. I had about 30
copies of the papers needed. A great place to
find standard lessons that are based on grade
level is on the Teaching Heart CDROMS found at: http://teachingheart.net/primaryteachertimesaver.html
Start off by ordering a seasonal CDROM during the
time you will first start guest teaching.
or go to http://www.themailbox.com
and order a book for each grade level you plan to
teach. I suggest
Best
of The Mailbox Math Grs. 1-3
Any of the Lifesaver Lessons Math Books (they
come in all grades)
Any of the Social Studies Ready-To-Go Lesson
Plans (they come in all grade levels)Another good book to have
would be:
Multilevel Math Fun: Instant Games
& Activities for the Multilevel Classroom :
Grades 1-2
You should also
include some coloring pages all copied and ready
to go; as well as, some word searches or other
fun filler activities!
Plan ahead and your
day will be smooth sailing.
*If you use some of
your copies for a class, be sure to make more
copies at the end of the day using the schools
copy machine. Stick them back in your expanding
file and you are ready to go.
*I also fill one
folder with stickers I can place on papers after
I check them.
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Word Search Pack some of these in your
bag. They are easy to make at www.puzzlemaker.com ! You can
also make mazes here too.
Pick a few of
your favorite read-alouds and pack them in your bag.
Bring an activity along to match the read-aloud. You may
wish to view the Primary Teacher Timesavers For Teaching
Reading & Literature found at http://teachingheart.net/primaryteachertimesaver.html
This is filled with various ideas
for some of the best read-alouds. Just print and use the
activities.
Word
Wizards Think of a word that has to do with something
your students are learning or an up and coming
holiday. Say the words are United States.
Don't tell the class the word yet. First, break the
class into groups of four and explain that you are going
to give them a word or a phrase and they need to make as
many words as they can using only the letters in the word
you are going to give them. Write the word on the
board and let them begin. After a predetermined
time, have the groups turn in their paper. Check
the papers and give the winning group a prize or
privilege!!
Sparkle
(Spelling) I first learned this in a practicum at
Streams Elementary School from a wonderful teacher named;
Ginny Zemaitis. It is a pretty common game and most
students have played it before. Still it works
great! this is how it goes... 1. Have the
students stand in a circle. 2. Pick a
student to start. 3. Give the student a spelling
word. Let's say, "teacher." 4. That
student will say teacher and the next student will say,
"T", and the next student will say,
"E", and the next
student will say, "A", and so on....
5. Finally a student will say "R" and the
next student will say "sparkle" and sit down on
the floor. 6. The next person will start the new word and
it will go down the line in the same manner. 7.
Repeat these steps until there is only one person
standing - they are the winner! NOTE: if a student
says an incorrect letter during the game, they must sit
down and the word is started again by the next person.
What
State - Geography 1.) Display a large US map.
2.) Have the students line up behind it. 3.)
The first two students should stand in front of the map.
4.) The teacher should then name a state. 5.)
The first of the two students to point to it wins the
round and remains standing. 6.) The next student in
line replaces the player who then returns to the end of
the line.
Where
Have You Gone Vowel? 1.) Write several short
vowel words on the board. Omit the vowels.
2.) Ask the class to think of vowels that would
make the word complete. 3.) Have student volunteers
come to the board to make the word complete.
Place
- Value Scramble 1.) Write three #'s on the
board. 2.) Ask students to rearrange the numerals to make
the lowest possible number, the highest possible number,
a number with the largest number in the tens place, and
other, similar placements. 3.) Complete the
activity by asking students to help you in arranging the
resulting numbers in order.
Spelling
Detectives 1.) Write the weekly spelling words
in random order on the chalk board and tell the class to
study the words carefully for one minuet. 2.) Tell
the students to put their heads down - no looking!
3.) Erase one of the words and rewrite it - this
time spell it wrong. 4.) As the class has their
heads down say, "Oh my, something looks wrong - all
spelling detectives raise your heads and see if you can
tell me what word is not spelled correctly."
5.) After 30 seconds, call on a volunteer to tell
you the word and how it should be spelled. If the
child answers correctly reward the class a point.
If the child does not answer correctly, identify the word
and give yourself 1 point. 6.) Repeat Steps.
Math 7 up Play
7 up but before the child guesses who picked them, they
must answer a
math question.
Play
Math Battleship 1.) Put a grid on the board
1-5 on the bottom and a-z along
the side. 2.) Secretly place battleships on your
paper. 3.) have two children go to the board and
play rock, scissors, paper and the winner gets to answer
a math
problem. If he is right, he gets to put on X on the
board and you let him
know if he hit your battleship. If he is wrong, the
other child gets to try.
Bring
some fun extra things the students can do when their work
is done. At the elementary level I bring
"fun sheets" for the students. Fun sheets can
be pictures to color, dot-to-dots,word searches, mazes,
or something else along that line. At the upper levels I
bring word puzzles and magazines. If you are the creative
type or have taught in the past another fun thing to
bring is file folder games or take-it-to-your-seat
centers. We have many centers in our CDRROMs and packets
that you could print to keep in your bag. Try one of our
Seasonal Packet... A Great one for winter is It's Cold
Outside... Buy this baby and print it out and have it in
your Sub bag! It will be heaven sent!!!
Click here to order
and learn more or click the link below for many more
files to choose from!!!
http://www.teachingheart.net/primaryteachertimesaver.html
Need to Fill
up five minutes? Try:
http://www.teachnet.com/powertools/take5/index.html
The
End of the Day
Make sure
the classroom looks as it did when you got there. Put all
teacher resource books back where you found them. Put all
supplies neatly back where you found them.
Correct all
papers that were handed in. If you gave a spelling test,
simpily correct the test by placing a check next to the
word missed. Then in the right hand corner of the paper,
write the number correct out of the number of questions
given. If there were 20 spelling words and they got 18
right, you would write 18/20 at the top of the paper. The
classroom teacher can then easily record the results in
their plan book.
Write a
detailed note to the teacher. If a computer is available,
type the note up. You may even wish to make your own
stationary with your name & contact information on
it. Make sure you state all that you finished and
anything you did not get to. Make a note of any behavior
problems. Also note the names of students that did a
great job!
If you
enjoyed your time in the classroom and would like to come
back leave your buisness card so that the teacher can
contact you again. A great idea is to print your cards on
magnetic paper so that the teacher will never misplace
it.
Resource
Books For Guest Teachers
A
Few Read Alouds to Keep in Your Bag
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you need some activity sheets that are hands-on
fo you to keep in you sub bag? Then get our
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