Don’t have your Sub Tub or Sub Binder ready, yet? Girl! You’ve got to get that going! No judgement, I promise, I’ll help!

Now, all of us teachers know that being “out” is often more work than just coming in to teach. This is why having your Emergency Sub Plans pre-made and ready to go is vital. This way, you can show your neighboring teacher where it’s located at the beginning of the year and not stress any more about it! 

Some teachers create elaborate “Emergency Sub Binders”, some create cute, decorated “Emergency Sub Tubs”, and some teachers just put all the things into a manilla folder and call it a day. It doesn’t matter which of those teachers is your teacher-twin or if you fall somewhere in between. There are certain “must-haves” that will make your Emergency Sub days run smoothly. Use the free worksheet below to help plan for Emergency Sub days!

Copies

How many days should I plan? This is a great question because you cannot predict how long you will be absent. I recommend having one set of plans for five consecutive days, one set of plans for 2 consecutive days, plus having 3 to 5 single day plans (nonconsecutive). Don’t panic. Don’t feel like you need to do this all at once! Go ahead and have the 2 consecutive days planned before school starts, so you at least have something. Then, over Winter Break or any other break, put together the others. Obviously, you don’t have to create these during your breaks, but my point is that you can stagger them out some.

Provide answer keys for your subs. This is not required but is definitely a bonus! Students will inevitably ask the sub questions about the content, so the sub will be more comfortable if there is an answer key to reference. Plus, the sub might even grade some of the papers for you!

Please do NOT ask your sub to grade papers, unless you know for 100% that they will have a planning. Sometimes subs are pulled to work in different areas of the school during your planning period, so don’t assume they will have an abundance of extra time to grade papers for you. 

Work for Fast-Finishers

Prepare for “Fast-Finishers”. Make sure you have some work for students to finish early. From experience, my middle school students finish work either really fast with a sub because they aren’t trying or they don’t finish at all because they aren’t trying. So, be prepared for both. It is ALWAYS best practice to consider halving the time you expect it to take, and provide extra work to accommodate the “new” time. For example, if your students typically complete a reading passage and 10-question worksheet in 45 minutes, plan for them finishing it in 20 minutes. If your sub is inexperienced (or even ineffective), it will likely be difficult to come up with something on their own for students to do when they’re finished.

I do NOT recommend “silent reading” as a “fast-finisher” activity for middle school students. From a teacher’s and a substitute’s perspective, independent reading fuels all kinds of issues. One issue is that students will want to use this opportunity for a library trip, a bathroom trip, or any-other-place-I-can-think-of trip. There is no accountability for this activity, so classroom management might become difficult during independent reading. Try to use activities that can be turned in, such as color-by-number, word search, crossword, sudoku, etc. 

Sub Directions

I had the opportunity to be a substitute before I started teaching, so I can speak from experience on this one! I recommend providing the sub with 2 versions of directions: an outline and full-detail. This is especially helpful if the sub is covering multiple days. Things can quickly become chaotic, so having something a sub can use at-a-glance is helpful. The full-detail version is helpful for those moments when students ask detailed questions. 

Class Rosters and Schedules

Of course, you need to include class rosters. If you can print a roster that has student photos, that’s a bonus! Your gradebook may be able to do this for you. This will greatly help the sub! You could also include any allergy or special needs. Be sure to avoid giving out too much information that is protected - only give need-to-know. For example, instead of labeling “Johnny” as EBD, you should note that “Johnny” responds best with a calm voice and takes extra time to get started on his work. Another example would be instead of noting “Jessica’s” learning disability, you should note that “Jessica” may need you to repeat the directions and reword in a new way in order to get started. Be patient with “Jessica” and “Johnny”. 

Also, include your general schedule. Don’t forget to include bathroom schedules and any other relevant information (library, connections/specials, recess, etc.). 

Procedures

Procedures are sometimes overlooked when planning Emergency Sub Lessons. Like I said, I’ve subbed before, and not knowing these procedures makes the day difficult - especially in a middle school classroom! Subs need to know what the procedures are for going to the bathroom between breaks, going to the library, going to the nurse, and any other procedure you can think of! Students like to pull the “but-Mrs.Miller-always-lets-us”, so prepare your sub! 

Questions your sub might ask you, if they could…

• Are students allowed to go to the bathroom during class? Do they need a pass?

• Are there cough drops and Band-Aids in the classroom we can use?

• Where are the nurse passes? Is there a nurse on campus full-time?

• How many students are allowed to go to the library/bathroom at once?

• If a student needs to return to the classroom during lunch or recess, are they allowed?

Seating Charts

Seating charts are ALWAYS helpful for subs - mostly for name recognition. When I subbed, I used that to write positive notes for the teacher. I’d tell the students to make sure they’re in the right seats because I’m writing positive notes about you! I recommend this even if you don’t have a “set” arrangement. If students mostly sit in the same place, use that as your seating chart. Also, note whether or not you enforce the seating chart. If you don’t want the sub to stress it, leave that as a note. Personally, I always stressed it because the one time I didn’t, I had a fight in the classroom! So conversely, if it must be stressed, note that too! 

Don’t forget to update this as you make changes to your seating chart! 

List of Helpful Students and Helpful Teachers

Give the sub 2 or 3 students they can ask for help answering random questions. Also, let the sub know which teacher will be most helpful if they have questions. This should be a teacher close-by. You never know when you’ll have an emergency absence. It might be on a random head lice check day, picture day, or special event day. A helpful neighboring teacher will be a great resource, especially during those days. 

Sub Feedback Form

Give the sub a simple form for them to quickly fill out before leaving for the day. When I subbed, I enjoyed leaving notes for the teacher, but I hated writing a whole novel. For things the sub can quickly check-off, give them that. Then, they can write out the details. If you leave a form, they are more likely to leave feedback than not. 

Classroom Management Tips

Every teacher runs their classroom differently. Every teacher also wants their classroom to run smoothly, even with a substitute. Leave the sub your top 3 to 5 classroom management tips. Keep it simple but powerful.

By “classroom management” tip, I don’t mean a list of consequences. I mean classroom management strategies (proximity; when redirecting, speak directly to the student - not in front of the whole class; use reminders and cues) If you use incentives, include that. If you spell “RECESS” on the board and cross off a letter for x, y, or z, include that. Whatever your general strategies are, write them down. The sub will probably learn a lot from a great teacher like you! 

Be cautious about leaving consequences. We want to empower our subs, but we also have to be careful. Subs almost always have great intentions, but they may not always have a teaching background. They may not always know how to effectively manage a classroom, and they might accidentally escalate the situation. Use your best judgment when leaving consequences. 

Reading Activity Packets for Sub Days

Reading activity packets are PERFECT for sub plans! I have three whole years of Social Studies Reading Activity Packets at your disposal! If you’re already using the reading packets for your grade level during your curriculum, you can choose a reading packet for a different grade level for your sub plans to avoid repeating it. For example, if you are currently using the 6th grade Social Studies Reading Packets in your curriculum, you could choose to use packets from the World War II unit in 5th Grade Social Studies or from an economics unit in 7th grade Social Studies.