Substitute Teacher Tips: Student Organization

Managing your classroom refers to:

• Organizing studentsn • Spacen • Timen • And materials

You want to organize all the above in order to maximize effective teaching and student learning.

Since you are a substitute teacher, the permanent teacher probably has already done quite a bit of organizing of his or her classroom before you ever step inside the door. However, there are times, when this is just not the case. You can’t make any great lasting changes here, but you can attempt to organize your assigned classrooms to help you maximize effective teaching and student learning while you are there and in the absence of their permanent teacher.

If the classroom is not already neat and tidy, you might start with making it neat and tidy for your stay. Arrive early enough to scope out your plan. Remember to mess it back up before you leave or return it to the state it was in when you arrived.

Tips with student organization:

Try using Question of the Day to take attendance. Create a binder with sheets of question for the each day of the month. As your students come into class, have them sign in by answering the question. The teacher helper for that day should be assigned to be sure everyone has signed in. The teacher helper then takes attendance by seeing who did not sign the sheet. This task will also take some preparation before class time in that you will need to have the students’ names written on the sheet and then make a large supply of copies.

Examples of Question of the Day are:

• When is your birthday?
• What is your favorite color?
• What is your favorite movie?
• What is your favorite TV show?
• Do you like reading?
• What is your favorite ice cream?
• How old are you?
• How many brothers do you have?
• How many sisters do you have?
• And so on….

An example of the Question of the Day worksheet is on the web site. Follow the URL in the resource box to find it. If you are interested in taking attendance in this manner, you may copy the worksheet from the web site.

Moose Notebooks

Moose notebooks are organizational binders used to keep student’s work and forms organized. MOOSE stands for Management of Organizational Skills Everyday. The notebook is to help students develop good organizational skills that will benefit them throughout life. The Moose notebook also ensures parents receive all homework assignments, notes, and graded papers. Parents are asked to check the Moose notebook each night with their child. On Friday, students turn in their weekly homework assignment sheet the parents have signed each night. Moose notebooks obviously cannot be used if you are in a classroom only once. These are nice to compile if you are assigned a long term substitute position such as a maternity leave or some other long term leave. You will find more details about organizing a Moose notebook on the web site. Follow the URL in the resource box to find these details.

Bear Books for First Graders

B.E.A.R. stands for “Bring Everything Always Ready.” The Bear Books are actually a hand-made 3-ring binder you can put together to hold everything students and parents need know and keep up with about their children in school. Inside you can place paper to write notes to you, the substitute teacher. Newsletters or calendars of events are also stored in the Bear Books. Bear Books are nice to create for long term assignments. They help students establish good organizational skills their first year of school. These are skills they can carry on throughout their entire life in school.

If you leave the teaching assignment feeling as if you have done very little, you can at least leave feeling as though you left behind “organizational skills” that they will use for a lifetime. Learn more about creating Bear Books when you follow the URL in the resource box to my web site.

This article is FREE to publish with the resource box.nn© 2007 Connie Limon All Rights Reservednnnnn