middle schoolers & Substitute Teachers
Getting a substitute teacher… Is it even worth it??
Need to take a day off but afraid your students will destroy everything you’ve built?? I totally get it.
Middle schoolers are savages.
Here is a list of things that I have come back to find after having a sub:
- Cabinet doors ripped off their hinges
- Paper darts, pencils, and glue sticks stuck to the ceiling
- My stash of classroom prizes & candy ransacked
- Windows broken
- Mysterious sticky substance all over the floor
- Graffiti/profanity/nasty drawings on desks & other surfaces
- Paper, pencils, candy wrappers, toys, you name it – all stuffed down the sink
- The classroom pet fish dead
- Erasers, paper, all kinds of stuff in the fish tank (probably what killed it)
- Garbage EVERYWHERE.
- Broken/stolen electronics
- Items scattered below my second story window… Binders, classroom materials, paper airplanes, chip bags… Maybe they were doing a physics experiment?
Sound familiar??
After 6 years teaching junior high, I’ve seen it all.
But after my first year teaching, I decided that if I were going to continue teaching I needed to prioritize my mental health. For me, I knew that meant taking days off when I felt overwhelmed.
So I devised a system. And it worked pretty well so I am sharing it with you all today!
Taking a day off is possible, and needed! Hopefully the free resources I’m giving you today will help make it even more achieveble!
How to Get Middle Schoolers to Behave with a Substitute Teacher
In a nut shell, it all boils down to 2 things: Bribery and competition.
Okay, okay that was a joke. Kind of.
But really…
Giving them extra motivation will go a LONG way.
To that end, here are my 4 keys to setting up a substitute teacher for success:
- Pre-teach behavior expectations to your students.
- Emphasize rewards for good behavior, rather than consequences for poor choices.
- Create an effective sub plan
- FOLLOW THROUGH
Let’s take a closer look at each of these tips!
1. Pre-Teach Sub Expectations
The first key to helping students be successful with a substitute teacher is to clearly establish your expectations BEFORE you take the day off.
Yes, students SHOULD know how to behave. But think back to when you were in school. What’s the first thing you felt when you walked in and found a sub in your teacher’s place?
It’s not that hard to remember feeling something like “YES. We don’t have to work today!!”
So. Expect that.
AND teach them how to push through that feeling. Let them know how much you expect them to get done during the class period.
Explicitly teach behavior expectations for the sub, along with the appropriate rewards and consequences for their choices.
Click here to download the Slides I use for this! Preview below!
2. Rewards & Consequences for Behavior
Focus On Rewards
As you pre-teach your expectations, focus on the REWARDS for good behavior, rather than the consequences for poor choices.
Don’t get me wrong, you absolutely need to discuss consequences as well.
But imagine yourself in a similar situation:
You’re a kid and your mom tells you to clean your room. You don’t do it.
So she chooses a different strategy:
Strategy 1: If you clean you room, then I’ll take you out for ice cream.
Strategy 2: If you don’t clean your room, you’re grounded.
Both are effective, but which strategy leaves you with a grudge?? Obviously #2.
If you choose ONLY strategy 2 with your students, they might work begrudgingly but they probably won’t put in as much effort.
So be sure to emphasize the positive rewards for behaviors you want from your students.
The Key to Rewarding Students For Good Behavior with a Substitute Teacher
To effectively motivate students, you need to create a way to reward students both as individuals and as a whole class.
In my experience, if you give ONLY a class reward (i.e. donuts for the best class), then good students quickly become discouraged if peers make poor choices, so they give up and misbehave too.
Likewise, if you ONLY give rewards to INDIVIDUALS (i.e. candy for students who are on task), then those students who struggle to focus will eventually start distracting others.
The individual reward drives students to stay personally motivated, while the class reward helps keep students accountable to each other. When you utilize both strategies, you will maximize your results.
Sound like too much work? Here’s how I make it work easily in my classroom:
How to Set up Easy Rewards with a Substitute Teacher
In my classroom, I use tickets & a weekly raffle drawing to help motivate students. MORE ON MY REWARDS SYSTEM HERE! So when I have a substitute teacher, I utilize this system to help provide extra motivation.
I don’t want to create extra work or $$ for myself, so I’ve found 3 easy ways to motivate students using my existing rewards system.
- First, I leave a few tickets (and/or candy) for the sub to hand out to on-task students during the day. This is important because students are getting that IMMEDIATE feedback for their positive choices.
- Second, I have the substitute teacher choose the “top 3” students from each class and write their names down in the sub report. When I come back, those 3 students get to choose a prize from my prize bin.
No raffle drawing, no tickets at all, just straight up prizes for those kids. It’s the easiest way to win because the win doesn’t depend on a lucky ticket!
Sometimes the sub leaves 5 names, so I give a prize to all 5. Sometimes the sub couldn’t pick just 3 and says the whole class was awesome. If that happens, I draw extra names from the raffle tickets.
- Third, I have the substitute teacher choose a “best class of the day” and that class gets an extra raffle drawing with 3 to 5 students winning.
Sometimes the sub sits a the desk on their phone the whole day and doesn’t give me the information that I need. When that happens, I pull an extra couple of tickets for each class.
Like I said Before, BRIBERY and COMPETITION.
3. Create an Effective Sub Plan
When you set your students up for success, it gives them the opportunity to be successful.
I’ve had a lot of subs thank me for my plans over the years, and these are the main reasons:
- A good sub plan keeps students busy, but NOT with busy work!
Sounds like a conundrum, but it’s critical!
What happens to students if they finish everything you assigned within the first 10 minutes of class? And what will happen if students are given work that they know is just a filler??
They will get bored. And bored kids get creative. And sometimes that creativity can get pretty naughty.
So keep them busy with meaningful work!
2. A good sub plan includes time blocks/pacing. Leave specific time limits for each activity, and change it up every 15 to 20 minutes. Leave a timer for your substitute. See examples on my sub plan template!
3. A good sub plan gives students choices & flexibility. Maybe they choose between different review topics, pick 2 out of 3 paper assignments, or choose between digital vs paper formats! However you want to set it up, adding some flexibility will go a long way in helping students stay on task.
Another teacher in my building covered for me once and after, I received an email that said “Your sub plan was the best I’ve ever seen. Will you share it?”
Today I respond again, YES I WILL SHARE! I hope it will help you have success too.
Click the button below to download the template! It is completely editable so just update as necessary each time you create a new plan!
Easy & Engaging Sub Plan Resources:
WOKE UP SICK AND ONLY HAVE A FEW MINUTES TO THROW TOGETHER A SUB PLAN??
Here is a list of my favorite resources for last minute plans (and also not last minute lesson plans):
- Nearpod – A huge library of student-paced interactive slides. It will make your life 1000% easier and better!!! You can also make your own slides or copy existing lessons & edit them to your needs.
- Quizizz – Another huge library of interactive, fun quiz games for any subject. Recently, they have added “Lessons” as well, which are quizzes with embedded slides.
- Quizlet – Digital flashcards and practice quizzes.
- ThingLink – Interactive 3D exploration.
- EdPuzzle – A library of educational YouTube videos that have added questions periodically throughout the video.
- UEN Student Interactives – Educational games for different grade levels & subjects. So many great options here and they are so fun!
- For Science: pHet Simulations & Khan Academy – higher level science (and math) lessons
4. Follow through
Finally, follow through on all your rewards & consequences.
If you told students that they would get a piece of candy for every paper they turned in, then you better walk back in that door with a giant bag of candy.
If you don’t follow through, your students will learn very quickly that your words are sometimes meaningless.
So be careful not to make promises you can’t keep! *guilty*
“Yeah, I’ll have your grades updated by tonight!”
“Maybe you can sit by a friend tomorrow if you work really hard today…”
“I might bring donuts for the best class!”
Yeah that crap ain’t gonna cut it.
In the wise words of Master Yoda…
Do or Do not.
Consistently follow through and you will find that getting a substitute teacher gets easier as the year goes on.
A Final Word - Grading Student Work After a Sub
Just don’t.
Seriously, reward kids who completed work when they had the sub and call it good.
Or pick one of the self-grading options like Nearpod or Quizziz and just input the score.
You do NOT need to grade everything that students turn in. EVER. But especially with a sub.
Get ready for more of my thoughts on this topic in my new post Grading Tricks for Efficient Teachers, coming soon!
Success with a substitute teacher
In summary, to successfully motivate students to behave with a substitute teacher, you must do these 4 things:
- Pre-teach your behavior expectations
- Reward students for positive choices, both individually and as a whole class.
- Provide effective sub plans that keep students busy with meaningful activities, allow for pacing, and flexibility.
- Follow through.
Follow these 4 tips and you will be able to rest easy on your days off! And hopefully take them more frequently!
Thanks for the article!