[In My Words] 10 Ways to Be an Awesome Substitute Teacher

I have been blessed to have had a job continuously right out of college. I applied for so many schools before I even graduated, sent cover letters and resumes to every.single.principal in the area (public and private elementary schools), and received my first job at the school I had attended growing up, population: small. But this school (this wonderful school that I miss SO much!) opened up so many more doors for me. It was a great first class for my first year of teaching, and helped ease me into the demands of being a teacher. Because of this, I was able to obtain a job in a bigger city in a public school. I taught first grade last year, and second grade this year. In my opinion, second grade is my favorite, but it was a fun challenge to teach first grade. You're SO important in teaching them to read, and it's WONDERFUL when they catch on and it becomes easier for them.

But on to my real topic. Many, many college graduates in the education field are not as blessed as I am. My first year of applying, I was informed that there were over 250 applicants for the Moorhead school district alone. This includes recent graduates, those that are getting back into the field, those that may have been cut and need to find a new position, and those that have been subbing.

So how do you get your foot in the door as a substitute? You keep getting requests for jobs.

And how do you get repeated requests for jobs?  You please the teacher, get on her "good list" (yes there is such a thing), and keep getting asked back and referred to other teachers.

Here is my say on what makes a good substitute teacher, according to what I appreciate and expect for my classroom. The following will probably (not guaranteed) move you to a teacher's "good list", and hopefully be added to other teachers' lists.

Top 10 Ways 

to be an 

Awesome Substitute Teacher

1. Show up on time.
Nothing says teacher material than someone who shows up on time, or best yet, early. As a substitute, you do not know what you are walking into and you do not know what is expected. An organized teacher will usually provide a lesson plan and information (I keep mine in a substitute binder.) You need time to go through this. Which leads to...

2. ... read the material.
Us teachers do not spend 4 hours on lesson plans just to have you "skim over it" or disregard it completely. We meticulously plan out every part of the day, in hopes to ensure that you are not left with your hands up in the air with no idea what to do. We include important information: what to do in an emergency, the kiddos that need extra attention/help, pullout schedule, medical info <--- this stuff is important, and you need time to read it before the students come in.

3. Establish a relationship with the children.
Students figure out real quick if they can walk all over you or not. One way to dissolve this a little bit is to establish a relationship with them right away in the morning. Tell them about yourself. Talk about your family, pets, life. Let them ask questions (after they raise their hand and you call on them.) I've known some teachers that even have an "introductory bag" that they bring to every new classroom. It includes items that they can use to "show and tell" about themselves.

4. Be authoritative. 
As mentioned above, students will figure you out pretty quick. If you nip behavior in the bum right away, it shows that you aren't going to let them walk all over you. If you're really quiet and timid, students will see this and act upon it.

5. Stick to the lesson plan as much as you can.
We get it. We understand that you try your best, and things don't move as smoothly because this isn't your classroom, and isn't your class. You're getting to know the kiddos while teaching while reading the lesson plan at the same time. But we also like when you a) show up early, b) read the lesson plan, and c) stick to it as much as possible. If you miss a section, that's okay. But what frustrates teachers the most is to come back to the classroom and see notes written all over the lesson plan saying, "Oops! Missed this...and this...and this...and this.." Also, like I said, time is a tough component of subbing, but we are also okay if you "run out of time" and stop the project, or if you use a little bit of the next block to finish up. What scares us and when we see something that we know the kids can do taking 3 times as long as usual.

6. Collect paperwork correctly.
When in doubt, have the kiddos turn it in. And make sure their names are on it. Self-explanatory.

7. Tidy up.
Nothing makes me happier than walking into my classroom after a substitute day and seeing that I have minimal tidying up to do. One time, I had a sub that paperclipped each set of papers together, with those incomplete paperclipped in a different pile. She then laid them neatly on my desk, in a pile. It was beautiful. Most kiddos love to clean, too. I use this magic phrase that goes like this, "Alright everyone, before we go out for recess, I need you to clean up 7 things that aren't where they belong!" and BAM our room is clean. Works at any time of the day. Also, to earn brownie points - if you see anything that needs copying (and I usually leave items for prep, with specific directions), do it. Sharpen pencils. Wipe down tables. Clean up garbage.

8. Learn how to think on the fly.
This is teacher life. You may think, "As soon as I become a teacher, I won't have to do this." But you do. Every day. When a lesson is too easy or too hard, you have to think on the fly. When you misplaced something (because it happens), you have to think on the fly When art is cancelled on the day you sub (it JUST happened to my sub this Thursday), you have to think on the fly. Another great thing to do is...

9. ... Have a back up plan and use the emergency sub plans.
I know of many subs that actually bring their own ideas with them, in case they need to fill time or they don't understand how to teach a lesson (P.S. I would rather have you teach something else than teach something you do not understand at all...it may be taught wrong). Many bring "fun sheets" and make copies at the beginning of the day. Others bring a book with an activity to go along with it. Want a hint? Children LOVE art.

And last, but not least...

10. Leave feedback.
I LOVE feedback. I love seeing who held it together and who needed extra help. I love knowing what was taught, what was skipped, what went well, what didn't go well. It makes me want to have you back, because you took the time to write something down. A teacher puts in way more time than the 7:25-2:40 time you put in. Better prepare yourself for the future :)

Hope you enjoy!


Love,
Mrs. Larson

Establishing a Positive Environment: Compliment Cubes

One of the areas I really wanted to work on this year was establishing respect and rapport in my classroom. It's pretty easy for me to display these traits, but second graders? Well, they need to be taught. Most second graders act quickly. It's the way their maturity handles it. As they get older, they are able to think more about a situation and naturally see it from different perspectives. For now, we have to provide opportunities for them to explore ways to express feelings every day in a considerate manner.

Enter the compliment cubes! My desire was to open up my littles minds into the power of compliments. Children seek these out. Have you ever seen a child work really hard on a drawing, then seek you out for you to say something about it? Or how about when you only pick three students to share their work, but after you have them put it in their mailbox, two others seek you out to show you how they solved it? Many young children need reassurance that what they are doing is okay - mistakes and all (because that IS okay!) - and that we approve of them and like them as human beings.

I discovered, however, that the compliments that these students liked to give centered around material objects.

I like your blue shoes!
I like your Taylor Swift folder!
Your kitten notebook is so cute!

You know those compliments. The compliments they default to, because it's easy, they mean it, and life is almost always about the toys you have, the price of your clothes, and the animals on your school supplies.

So we started out by having a lesson on compliments. I stated what compliments can be, gave an example, and then they came up with examples so that they could try giving compliments. Here is what we came up with:

If you can't read it, it says:

Compliments:

• How they are acting and how it helps (Thank you for working quietly. It has helped me concentrate.)
• How they are working to succeed (I like how you are reading quietly. I like how hard you are working at math.)
• What they do for you and how it makes you feel. (Thank you for inviting me to play. It makes me happy.)

I really, really wanted my kiddos to express how they feel during this, because it allows the recipient to see how their actions affect others. For example, if Sammy gives Sally (a student who likes to blurt) a compliment such as, "I like how you raised your hand today. It made me feel respected." then Sally is going to think twice about blurting next time. (See? Reverse psychology here.)

But I wanted a way to manage these compliments. More of a way to make sure it happened every day. So I introduced the compliment cubes. They are numbered cubes - sharpie marker which needs to be rewritten every now and then - (my littles have numbers assigned at the beginning of the year...makes EVERYTHING easier) that are placed in a bucket by the door. We established the correct times to grab these cubes, and the rules. As in...once you draw one, you cannot put it back because you don't like the person ;) Most of my students grab them during morning work time, while others might grab them during our Daily 5 or math stations time (where THEY are majorly responsible for their learning. We talked about self-reflecting and seeing if this is a good time to grab a cube or not.) The whole transaction takes MAYBE a minute per child, and usually has a snowball effect. At first I really wanted to control my snowball effect, but then I recognized the importance of establishing this community in my classroom. Usually the "snowball effect" calms down after 2-3 minutes and everyone gets back to work. 

When a student gives someone a compliment, they also give them their cube, and the recipient places their cube on the "tower" of cubes being collected by the whiteboard. I lost my picture, but basically, students just stack their cubes on top of each other. We discussed how we need to "build each other up" every day...hence the tower. Yes, I'm creative, I know :p

I was nervous that this wouldn''t latch on with my students, but the desire to receive compliments spurs the desire to give compliments. I even have a blank cube in there so students can give me compliments (which is the greatest thing, according to them), and I can give a compliment a day too. If I ever see the need to spur on compliments, I grab a cube and give a compliment, and soon a bunch of students are starting it up.

My kiddos don't stop at the compliment cube anymore. They did, at first. But now they are offering compliments even if they don't have the cubes! Their manners are wonderful, their behavior toward each other is so respectful...it's beautiful! I know that I taught them about this, but in the end, it's the kiddo's choice to learn and practice it. Young children are yearning to learn, so remember that you are the prime role model to teach them.

Love,

Mrs. Larson

Be That Light

Whoa, it's been awhile since an update. Have I mentioned that being a teacher sucks away all your time once August hits, and when you do have free time, you use it to come up with cute little things for your classroom that you could put off until you HAD free time? That's the life of a teacher, and it can be very rewarding.

One thing I've noticed - and this is a shout out to all teachers out there - is that attitudes start to change around the beginning of October - about a month after school starts. In September, we all head in with these huge, honest smiles stretched across our face as we meet the bubbly littles that inhabit our room seven hours a day. As the month rolls on, I've noticed these smiles sometimes becoming less honest and more plastered. I find that we stop visiting each other, stop celebrating the wins, and laughing about the "REAALLY?" moments that happen in our day. We become wrapped up in the things that start to bring our attitudes down: stress, kiddos that need extra work, extra work that we need, extra work that is required of us...and we start forgetting about staying strong and happy.

Teachers - my friends, my coworkers, you strangers out there.
Do. Not. Forget. That you are important. Not only to the littles that mess up your room, but to the adults you work with. You are what helps me proceed every day. You are who inspires me. You are as important in shaping my life as you are in shaping your students. Because what you do, what you say, what you believe, what you provide, will always impact me, good and bad.

Do. Not. Forget. That you need to keep yourself happy too. Find a way to de-stress. I run. I knit. I sew. I zone in front of the television while eating a pound of chocolate. But one way that I've found helps me de-stress in the work place is visiting other staff. It could be talking about our personal lives, venting about our school lives, bouncing ideas off each other...either way, that personal interaction is so important.

So don't stop. Don't let that smile become fake. If it does, you'll never  make it out alive. Look for the GOOD in your classroom on those days when everything seems to be going wrong. Because, at the end of the day, the most important thing isn't that Susie didn't know how to add, but that she got to spend time with you, she feels safe and loved, and you fostered a desire for learning. Susie may not know how to add mentally until 5th grade, but you will always provide a step in her learning.

Smile. Smile through it all. Be that light in a child's darkness. Be that light.

Objectives Display

Hello my followers!

Here's another crafty way to decorate with meaning. I have a huge whiteboard and I never use it all up. The kiddos never line up along it to answer questions (they have their own personal whiteboards), and I see some of it as potential displaying.

Last year, I displayed my objectives on the whiteboard, using a magnet clip to hold up a plastic sleeve with a blank paper inserted. It worked well for bringing it to the carpet for display, but my kiddos couldn't read it when they were sitting at their seats.

Check out this year's objective display:

I used colored masking tape from Walmart and punch out letters that I bought at a local teacher store. However, I am sure you can find them online or at other teacher supply stores.  

...as you can tell, I apparently cannot put a piece of tape down in a straight line, but I am also not a waster of materials. I am SUPER excited to use this display this year, because the kiddos will be able to see the objectives from practically anywhere they sit in the room! 

Note: This is a magnetic whiteboard. A janitor warned that the tape might "ruin" the whiteboard by leaving a residue when you take it off, which will not allow a marker to write over it. I thoroughly researched if masking tape was safe on magnetic whiteboards, and results deemed it completely safe. Some people were even using duct tape, which I wouldn't recommend. 

What do you think?

Behavior Management: Class Dojo

Last year, a few teachers used Class Dojo as part of their behavior plan. I wanted to participate, but I also didn't want to take out my personal iPhone and carry it around all day. I don't know - I guess I felt bad because I, well, HAD MY PHONE OUT, and could easily be distracted. It's how it goes.

This year, I purchased an iPad mini for an outrageously good deal of $199 (thank you Target for lowering the price, and thank you Walmart for price match guarantee.) I do use it at home, but my main purpose was to help out in the classroom.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Class Dojo is this amazing website where you can monitor positive and negative behavior of each individual student. Some teachers choose to display it during the whole day, but I do not want to do that. The whole reason I gave up my clip chart was because of the public shaming it provides, plus it wasn't very effective for the students who truly "used" it. Students can receive an activation code so they can edit their avatar at home---

cute little monster thingys, like this:

and parents can also provide their email so that EVERY FRIDAY they receive a detailed report of their child's dojo activity.

Here's the parent letter template I used to write my letter:
 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Class-Dojo-Parent-Letter-Editable-1327185

I also added an area on the bottom for students to bring back with their parent's email address on it, so that I can send out the Friday reports.

GIVING/TAKING AWAY POINTS

The cool thing I like is that you can assign certain things as positives and negatives. For example, you could have positives be things like:

• helping others
• on task
• participating
• persistence
• teamwork
• working hard

and negatives (they use the term "needs work") such as:

• bullying
• disrespect
• no homework
• off task
• talking out of turn
• unprepared

They have pre-made ones, but they also have a "create your own" button, which might be good if there's something you really want to highlight that is happening in your class (good OR bad!) 

You can give/take away points individually, at random, small groups, or whole class.

REWARDS SYSTEM

There are many ways you can use rewards with this program. 

• no rewards, just simple satisfaction :)
• whole class rewards (reach x amount of points, get a prize)
• individual rewards (reach x amount of points, choose a prize)

I've found that I like a mix of material and non-material rewards. There are many ideas on Pinterest, such as dojo dollars, reach x number of points and get this prize, or what I plan on doing:

I'm going to use these coupons I found at Learning with Firsties (dojo themed!) and assign a point value to them. A student can bank in on a certain day of the week at a designated time (undetermined at this time), but once they use their points, I delete them from their avatar. I will be creating a spreadsheet that I will keep by my desk that will easily let me jot down who spent what, and then I will take care of it at the end of the day/during prep. I will hopefully remember to add that to this post later!

I plan on using this idea (note: only links to pin, no website) to record their end-of-the-week total.

WHAT TO DO FOR NEGATIVE BEHAVIOR

There's only so many infractions we can accept before a consequence needs to be given. OR there may be a serious infraction that warrants an immediate response. 

This depends on a) school policy and b) teacher preference.

I took away my clip chart because it gave consequences without me having to think of them. I've learned that consequences are dependent on the actions that earned them. For example, if a kid is caught using paper towels to clog the toilets (true story), then have them write an apology letter to the janitor (in this instance, I had wonderful parents who understood the situation, and the student wrote the letter at home on their own time.)

Another thing I've learned is that there is usually (not always) a hidden reason behind something. Not that it's an excuse, but it helps understand kiddos a bit more. Example: if a student hit someone - well, why did he hit someone? He may have been reacting to something the other kiddo did. 

I had another student who would talk all the time instead of completing their work. So I put them on the cube plan. For every 15 minutes they worked quietly with minimal talking and staying on task, I gave them a cube. Once they received three cubes, they got 5 minutes to do something they liked. In this student's situation, they loved to draw, so I created an art book for them to draw in when they earned it.

In the case of unfinished work due to behaviors, one teacher had them work on it during snack time, while others are allowed to play games and socialize. If by then they still hadn't completed it, they had to use THEIR recess time to do so. 

NOTE on taking away recess: I dislike it. I do. I think children need to be active. But in these lower grades (1-3), it's very difficult to find any of THEIR time to take away to complete the task. I do not want my student to miss out on MY teaching time, because everything is important. Some may argue to send it home, but I've had poor success with that. First graders struggle with the responsibility of taking it home, doing the homework, and bringing it back. They need a parent's help with that. 

If you have any helpful hints or tips on how you handle repeated poor choices, feel free to comment below :)

I haven't used this yet, so please do not think these ideas are foolproof. I'm really excited to use this, however, and I will update on how it goes!

Love,

Mrs. Larson

Student Work Display Area + Bonus

When I moved to my new classroom (yay!) and I got past the AWESOME windows, and the AMPLE cabinet/storage space, and the fact that I have a DOOR...I realized that I do not have a lot of wall space.

We also learned at the end of last year that it's important for students to have a hand in "decorating" the classroom and dictating what gets put up on the walls.

Enter: student work display area

I had this BRILLIANT idea that I wanted the students to choose their own quality work, based on their own judgement of what is quality, and display it in the room for everyone to see. But where was I going to put it? The only open space that could fit 27 works of art was here:

I had run across a pin on Pinterest where the lady tied ribbon vertically around each cupboard, using a clothespin to hold it up, but it wouldn't have provided ample space for each students' work of art. Plus, if they had heavy artwork they would want to display from art, it probably would fall down.

So I came up with a brilliant idea.

I collected the following supplies:

• scrapbook paper (I used solid bright colors)
• rustic twine (there's another name for this, but I don't remember)
• clothespins
• masking tape

I found the scrapbook, masking tape, and clothespins at Walmart. It'll total you about $8 for all of it. I also had the twine leftover from my wedding, but I know I purchased it at Hobby Lobby for a small price.

the scrapbook paper I found at Walmart

I first hung up the paper using masking tape loops on the back. I didn't want the tape to show. I also used masking tape because it's easier to remove from the cabinet doors than scotch tape. Note: you will not be using this paper to hold anything up. It's for decoration only.

Then I took my twine and measured out how much I needed to make it HORIZONTALLY around the door, for each square. I then pre-cut all of my twine so that the process would go faster. 

I tied it within the first two inches of the paper and added a clothespin in the middle. Because it's twine, it also has grip, so I tested moving it up further and it held its place with paper weight added. 

It took me maybe a total of 30 minutes to do all 27 squares. Here's the [almost] finished product:

I still have to add names, but since it's still two weeks before training week, I don't have my full class list. They will be attached separately, in case the name needs to be removed (for example: a student moving, or a new student.) 

I love the color it adds to the room - and they get to decide what goes up there! Woot!

BONUS POST!

As I wrote earlier, I will not have any desks in my room. I needed a way for students to store their notebooks and folders. Because I've already spent quite a bit of my own money on my classroom this year, I wanted a budget friendly way to handle this. So I went and purchased 4 different colored crates, along with colorful hanging files (for a grand total of $20). Students will be assigned to a crate, which will make transition time easier. I spread the crates out so there won't be a huge stampede to just.one.crate. (See last picture of display area above.) I'm also going to use these groups in other areas. For example, I could say, "Blue group, please line up for specials." Or, I could use them for dismissal time too. I'm super excited! 

P.S. I have a super plan in place for their actual school supplies. Unfortunately, it will be arriving after school starts, so look for a future post on that!

Love,

Mrs. Larson

Old Posts from Old Blog

I have quite a few AWESOME projects that I posted on my old blog when I taught third grade. I just couldn't let them disappear, so I've linked them up to this post.

Imagination and Free Painting Time:

http://missjabel.blogspot.com/2013/05/free-paint.html

Googly Eyes Art

http://missjabel.blogspot.com/2013/05/googly-eyes-art.html

Watercolor & Crayon Resist

http://missjabel.blogspot.com/2013/04/watercolor-crayon-resist.html

Unique Flowers - Human Dignity

http://missjabel.blogspot.com/2013/04/unique-flowers.html

Love Posters - Human Dignity

http://missjabel.blogspot.com/2013/04/love-posters.html

Snow Bears Art

http://missjabel.blogspot.com/2013/01/art-snow-bears.html

Dogzilla Movie Posters

http://missjabel.blogspot.com/2012/12/dogzilla-movie.html

Turkeys In Disguise

http://missjabel.blogspot.com/2012/11/turkeys-in-disguise.html

New Room, New Grade, New Me

At the end of last year, I found out that I would be moving rooms. YAAAAAAAY! Seriously. Some of you teachers out there might be concerned, but let me explain.

I was in a room with no windows and no doors. It had a hallway going through the back of it that could not be blocked off due to fire routes, BUT other students were not allowed to use it except for a fire drill. It worked pretty well. My only complaints were that there were days I didn't get to see the sun (yay MN winters), and the noise level during transitions from other classes would reverberate into our classroom.

So now I am in a classroom that has a full wall of windows and a door. I'm super excited. PLUS I found out that I am teaching second grade this year (up from 1st!) This makes it the third grade I've taught in three years (third grade, then first, now second.) I consider myself very experienced.

We have a new curriculum that makes me grin from ear to ear. Our district has adopted Benchmark Literacy, which plays along well with Daily 5. It's very structured (as in plans laid out), and has abundant materials for various levels of students in the classroom.

Posts to look for: (I do this so I know what to write about next time)
- NEW classroom layout/organization/decorating (hint: I will not have desks this year :o)
- Daily 5 information and ideas (this is where the new me comes into place....along with the new layout!)


Blessings,
Mrs. Larson