Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Creating a Sub Binder Day 2

Sub Binder Day 2


Let’s start with a true story.


Because I swear I could not make this up.


This past school year we had a very nice man who would occasionally sub at our school. One of the first grade teachers was absent and he filled in for her. She had quickly written down sub plans for the day and next to 11:45 wrote, “Eat my lunch.”


You know, because 11:45 was her scheduled time to go to the teacher’s room and eat her lunch.


Well, this gentleman (who was apparently channeling his inner Amelia Bedelia) took it literally. He went to the classroom fridge, opened the door and found a lunch inside (which incidentally belonged to the classroom aide who was out of the room at the time covering lunch duty and scheduled to eat her delicious home-cooked meal a bit later).


He ate the lunch and wrote a note thanking the teacher for making him a lunch.


Hysterical!


Today we are going to work on the “SCHOOL INFO” section of your substitute teacher binder. You want your binder to be thorough and complete, yet simple to use so that a busy sub can find things easily.


Check with your school to see if there are any specific requirements.


Some schools actually put together this information for you so that it can be passed out to any sub that comes in. If that’s the case, your job today is quite simple.


If not, then here is what I suggest you include:


  • a map of the school (mark: your classroom, the office, the bathroom that they may use, and the teacher’s room). The kids can show the sub where music, gym, etc is. You just want to mark off anything that she may need to find on her own. I also mark where the sub will need to meet the class in the morning.


  • a directory of the staff members that she may need to contact (nurse, principal, secretary, social worker) along with where they are located and their phone extensions


  • a copy of any school-wide rules


  • instructions for emergency lock downs, fire and tornado emergencies and crisis evacuation plans


Create the SCHOOL INFO TAB for your binder and add the above info into that section.


You should be able to complete this section before school starts. If at any time you find there is information that you are unable to include until school starts, simply write down what is missing on a post-it note and place it in the spot the info will eventually go in the binder.


If there is anything else that you feel should be included in the SCHOOL INFO section, leave a comment.




3 comments:

jday129 said...

Thanks for doing this. Sub plans have always been the bane of my existence.
I have tried several things, but nothing has been quite right.
I think the most important thing I forgot is a map- which since my position requires getting student from throughout the building would be really helpful.

Mrs. Cagle's Class said...

As a regular classroom teacher who subbed for several months this past year after I moved, I wish every teacher left such niceties. It really DOES make the day easier.

One thing I always wanted was a bell schedule (for middle/high school teachers) and a class schedule for elementary.

As a teacher, I always tried to leave any procedural school -wide stuff too (such as watching the morning news).

Thanks for this -- I'm putting my binder together this weekend!

Kellee

Anonymous said...

hello...
I just stumbled onto your site a few days ago and I'm hooked! I'm in school for my Masters in elementary education and i will be student teaching this winter. I feel much less panicked and much more excited about teaching thanks to your blog! I love all of your lesson planning ideas, tips for staying organized, and your general experiences in and outside of the classroom. It's nice to hear you enjoying life as a 3rd grade teacher and having a sense of humor at the same time. Thanks so much for creating such an interesting and informative blog for this teacher-in-the-making.