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The Substitute Teaching Survival Guide, Grades 6-12: Emergency Lesson Plans and Essential Advice
When substitute teachers are assigned to a classroom, they often have no directions, no lessons plans, no information and little hope of success. The Substitute Teaching Survival Guide offers substitute (and regular) teachers of grades 6-12 a welcome resource for planning and implementing a productive day of student learning. The Substitute Teaching Survival Guide is filled with helpful suggestions and tips for maintaining order in the classroom and includes 67 ready-to-use emergency lesson plans for language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science targeted for students in grades 6-12. Written for both the experienced and novice substitute teacher, the book also includes 152 suggestions and a daily outline of activities. The book can also be used by regular classroom teachers and principals who want to plan ahead for classroom absences, or by anyone who has to quickly cover a class.
144 pages, Paperback
First published February 14, 2005
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August 23, 2019
This is from a counselor's perspective and is probably only relevant to people in my field. While I seek work as a school counselor, I'm planning to substitute teach, and so I read this book. The survival has some very handy tips about subbing, but I found a few shortcomings.
First, as a school counselor, I was annoyed with the author's attitude about counselors. We were mentioned twice in the chapter on Discipline. No no no no no! We are not disciplinarians.
Mr. Dellinger mentioned first that if you report uncooperative students in the halls to an administrator or counselor, they might not want to deal with it. Counselors are not disciplinarians and this is a myth we are constantly having to dispel. I was annoyed that this author perpetuates a misunderstanding that kids get in trouble with counseling.
Then later in the chapter, he wrote, "Sometimes, there is nothing for a substitute to do but ride out a bad situation. Advisement periods and activity periods are something counselors, administrators, and those who don't have to monitor them seem to particularly like. Regular teachers and substitutes, who have a room full of screaming kids with nothing to do but play games or whatever, may have a different opinion of the worth of an advisement or activity period." The author seems to suggest that advising periods are a pain, but really, what's the point of this criticism?
Counselor criticisms aside, I wished there was more advice for subs starting on the first day or week of school (I'm covering a Special Ed class for the whole first week). I also would have liked to get some guidance on tips for subbing in additional content areas like PE, ESL, and Special Ed. Finally, I wished that the tips given were evidence-based. He suggested that saying "Ladies and gentleman" to students has a calming effect, but I imagine that works for him, but might not work for someone like me who just wouldn't naturally use those words. I think it's more about respecting the students, and using language that shows respect.
Despite my criticisms, I did find the book useful. I will likely use some of his ideas like keeping a "good student list," and rating each class if that seems like it will be needed, and bringing with me water, a pencil and a sweater. While it may not have everything I wanted, I think the book is worth a skim for anyone starting out as a sub.
First, as a school counselor, I was annoyed with the author's attitude about counselors. We were mentioned twice in the chapter on Discipline. No no no no no! We are not disciplinarians.
Mr. Dellinger mentioned first that if you report uncooperative students in the halls to an administrator or counselor, they might not want to deal with it. Counselors are not disciplinarians and this is a myth we are constantly having to dispel. I was annoyed that this author perpetuates a misunderstanding that kids get in trouble with counseling.
Then later in the chapter, he wrote, "Sometimes, there is nothing for a substitute to do but ride out a bad situation. Advisement periods and activity periods are something counselors, administrators, and those who don't have to monitor them seem to particularly like. Regular teachers and substitutes, who have a room full of screaming kids with nothing to do but play games or whatever, may have a different opinion of the worth of an advisement or activity period." The author seems to suggest that advising periods are a pain, but really, what's the point of this criticism?
Counselor criticisms aside, I wished there was more advice for subs starting on the first day or week of school (I'm covering a Special Ed class for the whole first week). I also would have liked to get some guidance on tips for subbing in additional content areas like PE, ESL, and Special Ed. Finally, I wished that the tips given were evidence-based. He suggested that saying "Ladies and gentleman" to students has a calming effect, but I imagine that works for him, but might not work for someone like me who just wouldn't naturally use those words. I think it's more about respecting the students, and using language that shows respect.
Despite my criticisms, I did find the book useful. I will likely use some of his ideas like keeping a "good student list," and rating each class if that seems like it will be needed, and bringing with me water, a pencil and a sweater. While it may not have everything I wanted, I think the book is worth a skim for anyone starting out as a sub.
Displaying 1 of 1 review