Choices for Children: Why and How to Let Students Decide (*) - Alfie KohnThe Guest Teachers Bag of Goodies - Ideas for Substitutes
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Heart's Survival Kit for Guest Teachers
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.
UPDATE - 2015 - After five
years of teaching in my own clasroom (K-3 Resource Room
and Grade 2), and nine years of exclusively working on
Teaching Heart, and then 2 years of Teaching Preschool -
I am back to being a substitute teacher (Grades k-4)
again in hopes of getting my own classroom soon!!! So
with that change comes more subbing ideas for you!!!
Behavior Management Ideas
Whole Brain Teaching - The Scoreboard on the
WBT website states: “The Scoreboard,
described in the “First Steps” menu, is
your initial and primary motivator.& For
K-4th graders, use Smilies and Frownies as your
for older students we’ve found
Teacher vs. Students works wonderfully
well.”& I use smiles and frowns as my
scoreboard when I sub.&
This summer I read Whole Brain Teaching for
Challenging Kids: (and the rest of your class,
Loved it and began researching the benefits of
Whole Brain Teaching!!!& I know that all of
the strategies and resources used in the book
will become part of my future classroom.&
However, there was one part of the system that I
knew I could surely use while subbing to be sure
the kids were motivated and&on task.& I
knew the Whole Brain Scoreboard Techniques was
for me and would work in any classroom I
visited.&& It’s behavior
management on the go!
began using it right away in first, second, and
third.& I have been in Kindergarten many
times this year, &I feel the classes I am in
are all pretty well behaved and motivated and
this techniques was not needed for those
classroom.& Although if I did end up
teaching my own Kindergarten classroom, I would
definitely use this strategy on a modified basis.
have not had one bad class this year and I give
credit to my scoreboards for a stress free
classroom for me!& Let’s be
honest…& subbing is more about behavior
management then anything else.& Often it is
paid babysitting by a certified teacher.& If
you do not have the kids behaving, then learning
does not happen and the substitute teacher is
just wishing the day would end.
substitute you will find that SOME teachers will
leave you the rules to their behavior management
plan… clip chart or other….
I find the majority do not leave me clear
information on how they use their system.& I
use the scoreboard system in all first through
third classes I am in.& If a teacher did
leave clear information on their behavior charts
or plans then I will use their behavior
management plan along with the scoreboard system.
I made them from graphics I
purchased and then laminated them so that I can
just clip them with a magnet to the boards in the
classrooms I teach.& They can be erased
after each class since they are laminated.&
I can also moved the scorecards around the room
when I change positions in the classroom.&
They can come with me as a visual for the kiddos.
use this system in first, second, and third
Basically,
I display the boards and tell the class that we
are going to play a game all day….& The
game is called SMILEY and FROWNIE.& You can
earn&smiles by being on task, being quiet,
and pleasing me.& You earn frowns when
things get too loud or you are not acting as you
would when your regular classroom teacher is here
or if you aren’t making me happy.&
Throughout the day I will look to see if you have
more smiles than frowns.& If you have more
smiles we will stop and play a game or take a
break to dance.& At the end of the day if
you have a larger number of smiles, we will save
the last 10 minutes of the day to have fun
playing a game.
always works fantastically for me.& I have
never had a class that had more frowns than
constantly praise positive behavior with words
and a tally on the smile side.
I love the way you are being quiet and working on
the assignment.
I love the way you all are participating in the
things are not going the way I had hoped, it
usually only takes one frown for the class to
perk up and act the way they should.
Oh no, it is getting loud in here…& I
am giving you a frown.
Table 3 is too busy talking rather than
listening…& I am giving you a frown!
also use it for incentives…
If you are quiet in the hall to music class and I
hardly know you are behind me, I will give you 5
smiles when we return.
If I hear you behind me, I will give you seven
frowns when we return.
(I have never had to give a class 7 frowns…
this works every time)
are many ways you can use this.& Many of the
classes I have on repeat occasions remember the
number of smiles they had the last time they had
me and they try to beat that number.& Also,
classes will often ask me what the most number of
smiles a class has gotten and they try hard to
beat that record.& I always keep a sticky
note of the name of the class that was in the
lead for the number of smiles.& I also keep
a list of classes who earned less than three
frowns for the day.
The link below is a
YOUTUBE&example of the scoreboard being used
in a classroom.
resources and information on
Whole Brain Teaching can be
found at the many link here!&
for more smiles than
has many free scoreboards you can print.& Check some out here!
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.&
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.
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!
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.
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.
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. &
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
Look at how quickly Matt got out his math journal and is
on the page 19.
Oh, my where is the plan book?
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
& & &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 day run smoothly!
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.& F 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&&&&&&&&&
+7&&&&&&& +7
&-8&&&&&&& 11
+4&&&&&&&& -8
&&&&&&&&&&&&&
&&&&&&&&&&&
&&&&&&&&&&&&&
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!!
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.
and order a book for each grade level you plan to
teach. I suggest
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
Multilevel Math Fun: Instant Games
& Activities for the Multilevel Classroom :
Grades 1-2
You should also
include some coloring pages all copied and ready
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.
Carry some
attention grabbers in your bag... I love my yes
button. I will use it during lessons and just
walk around with it and let the kids push it when
they answer a question correctly. They love it
and soon everyone is participating in hopes of
getting a chance to push it. I use my Popers for review
games. They love to try and shoot the balls when
they get an answer correct!
Word Search Pack some of these in your
bag.& They are easy to make at
also make mazes here too.
Since you are
only in one classroom a day at a time... stop the pencil
sharpening madness and carry pre sharpened pencils for
students who loose a pencil are seem to be sharening
their pencil too often. I rarely use these but they are
super nice to have just in case.
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.
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!!
(Spelling) I first learned this in a practicum at
Streams Elementary School from a won
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.
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
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.
- 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.
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.
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
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.
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!!!
have tons of free printables all over Teaching Heart that
would come in handy - start on
the blog and do a search for what seasonal
sheets below are perfect for your sub bag!!!!
word extra practice activities
Journal Pages -
Click Here!
Money Riddles - CLICK
Making Words Activities -
Click Here!
of the day free printable!
Activities - Click
Flip Flop Math Activities - CLICK
Directions - CLICK
a few packs of flash cards and math games in your
bag... I always have dice in my bag with a few
dice games.
Roll, Double, Cover game
can be downloaded
I just laminated it and have enough cards for a
class to play in groups of 2 or 3.
This have been an easy filler many times.
If you would rather a spring
themed one that is a tiny bit more difficult, try
the Rool, Double, Cover +1 ...
Ipod and Mini-Speaker have come in handy for
brain breaks or when in Kindergarten or Special
Education. I have a few movement songs downloaded
that I use in Kindergarten and first grade. Some
second grade classes also welcomed the movement
songs and requested to do one.
I am a big believer in
Read-Alongs for my kids - both great readers (3rd
and 7th graders) and started independently using
Read-Alongs around age 4. I have collected many
stories on CD over the years through the
Scholastic Book orders and as a result I have
them downloaded to my i-pod. I will often play a
story for a whole class and just turn the pages
rather than read the story. They enjoy the change
and the fun music and voices that go along with
the Read-Alouds. These stories have also come in
handy for Special Education as motivators. Often
I can use the stories as a reward.
Of course I read aloud often
too and my bag is filled with my favorite
read-alouds and a chapter book or two for the
older grades.
End of the Day
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.
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!
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
For Guest Teachers
Few Read Alouds to Keep in Your Bag
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