Subs, what is your secret

amother

Mon, Sep 19 2022, 7:26 am

This winter I plan on subbing in a few schools in town. If you are a sub, or was a sub in the past, what is your secret for getting the girls to cooperate?

amother

Lightyellow

Mon, Sep 19 2022, 8:09 am

I subbed high school. I walked in to the class introduces myself, and started teaching. I tried to make it fun, but didn't try too hard. Only things I didn't allow was eating in class and switching seats during the period. Girls were schmoozing but if it wasn't too loud I didn't mind. I told them that I'll be giving them the lesson and since I'm not their teacher it's up to them if they want to listen. Once the lesson was over if there was still time I schmoozed with them, and we actually got to cover some really great topics.
If I did long term subbing I was a bit stricter but at the end of the day it was their responsibility to know the work. I would say about 98% of the classes actually participated in the lessons and knew their work.

amother

Melon

Mon, Sep 19 2022, 11:31 am

Really varies depending on age but I'll share my experience.
I did a bunch of subbing this past year for junior high girls. It was hard. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it doesn't. Don't ever take it personally.
Some things I found helpful - start off the period authoritatively. If you can channel scary, that works, or serious is good also. Don't walk in until everyone is quiet, start with attendance and stop if they start talking. For me I ran things very differently depending if the teacher wanted me to teach/get something done or essentially babysit. If the teacher doesn't mind if it's chilled, so I didn't either. I used incentives a lot if we had to get something done - early recess, a game, girls writing on the board, watch a video (I brought a flash drive with hashkifa videos with me), tell a story, give time to study/work on homework... Communicate with them and lay down expectations - we have to get X and y done today and we can do Z as soon as it's finished.