Starting the School Year with a Substitute
No one can plan for medical emergencies or when babies are born. Several times I have been a substitute for the first week or two of school. This particular time, …
The Gift of Thanks
The joy of substituting, every once in a while, you reach someone and help them to understand concepts in review when the teacher leaves work. High school geometry. Multi-step word …
Grammar Geek Turns Algebra Nut
I’ve found that I love demonstrating those long algebra problems on the board for the students when I substitute for math classes. You know the problems. They go all the …
Cluttered Desks, A Substitute’s Nightmare
Substitutes don’t have time to mine the teacher’s desk for classwork or the correct textbooks to use for the lesson plan at hand. Students need to be on task, …
Go Play Outside
A typical mother statement. Whenever the weather was fine–or just not raining–my mother sent us outside to play. And we were happy. At my house, when it is not raining, …
Human Biology
When I substitute for teachers, I love to look around their rooms and learn from the information displayed on bulletin boards and models, magazines and textbooks. I learn so much …
English Class
Grammar. Literature. Essays. Writing devices. Story plots. I am in my own personal Heaven. English class, whether I am diagramming sentences with grade school students or reading complex text with …
High School P. E. Class
It never ceases to amaze me, when I substitute for a high school physical education class, that the students dressed in their gym uniforms, shorts and white tee-shirts, never want …
Finding Assistance with Certain Subjects
Don’t be afraid to ask department heads questions about the material you are asked to present to students either to refresh your own memory or to garner examples on how …