Substitute Teaching: A Handbook for Hassle-Free Subbing

by Barbara Pronin

The book that tells everything you need to know for a successful and rewarding part-time career:

What a sub does
How to qualify (it's easier than you think)
What you'll earn
How to ensure you'll work as much as you want, and where and when you want
The four keys to good subbing

Plus: A sub's bag of tricks-a wealth of brainteasers, puzzles, games, instant arts and crafts, creative play, indoor sports for rainy days, and ways to use your own special talents to keep students productively-and happily-occupied.

Genres: Nonfiction

241 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1983

About the author

Barbara Pronin, whose work has been praised by best-selling authors Mary Higgins Clark and Tony Hillerman, and Faye Kellerman, s the author of eight mysteries, including three as Barbara Nickolae, and a WW II novel, Winter's End, which won the 2025 Gold Medal for Best Adult Novel (IPPY Award) from the Independent Publishers Book Awards. A former actress, probation officer, journalist and substitute teacher, she is a fan of dark chocolate, the Dodgers, Greek sunsets and African elephants. When she isn't writing, which isn't often, she can probably be found struggling painfully at the piano.

Reviews

[Deann Doolittle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little outdated but I did get a few helpful tips.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is actually the second time I'm reading this. I read it for the first time back in 05 when I was substitute teaching right out of college.

I suspect I felt the same way when I read this before, but this book is really all about the K-5 teacher. Most of the book is spent discussing games/time fillers appropriate for younger kids. I know the author subs at the grammar school level so it makes sense. It's just not what I'm really doing (I sub younger grades occasionally but mostly at the high school level). Pronin also talks a lot about what to do if there are no plans, or very vague plans left by the teacher. That also doesn't happen to me a lot; every time I sub, there are always plans. Sometimes there are even too many plans for us to get through, so I can't imagine spending time on an art project that I made up. There were other general sections, like how to get started in subbing and some self-evaluation, that were more helpful.

High school was barely touched on in this book and there weren't a lot of strategies for how to handle the older kids. I'm not sure how I got this book in the first place, it was probably random and I didn't know it would focus so much on elementary teachers. I enjoy the younger kids but it's a lot of work to juggle the day with the same kids, different subjects verses different kids, same subject in high school. I'll be on the hunt for a book (if it exists) on high school subbing.

Also interesting was that this book was written in the 80s. Many things have changed since then, like the rate of pay per day, and getting so much of our info from the Internet. It's too bad this author didn't write an updated version of this book. I wonder if she is still subbing.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm going through a program that will allow me to sub as a guest teacher, and this book helped me be more confident that I'll be able to do the job well. Some of the information is outdated (I doubt I'll ever need to run a 16mm projector), but much of it I expect will be useful even in a 21st-century classroom.