Quick Substitute Teacher Lesson Plans

Create Engaging Classroom Activities for Emergency Absences

Oct 24, 2008

Ideas for quick, relevant lessons that are easy for a sub to present when the teacher is unexpectedly absent.

When creating plans for substitute teachers it is easy to leave a pile of worksheets. Unfortunately, many students view worksheets as busy work and irrelevant to what they are learning. Keeping emergency plans updated can be difficult, but having a variety of activities that are easy to modify for different units of study can make this easier.

One project that would be easy for a substitute to present requires some card stock or heavy paper, colored pencils or crayons and the student’s text book. Younger students can create a matching game with the current high frequency site words. Older students could create memory cards different science or social studies concepts. A math project might entail creating flash cards of properties or creating a card game for solving equations.

If access to research books or the Internet can be arranged then a mini research project can be given. The topics can be a review from past units or a list from the current one. Depending on the students’ skills with finding information, these topics can be directly related to the lessons or can provide more rigor by having them make connections to something different. For example, if the current topic in science is a study of rocks students could find (and provide references) for eight rocks with different hardness values on the Mohs hardness scale and explain one use for that rock.

Another idea for research is to have students research several people who influenced the current classroom topics. This could include authors of poetry being read as part of class, historical figures or even people who contributed their name to a concept, such as Frederich Mohs. For example, an geometry class could be given a list of names such as Euclid, Eratosthenes, Ptolemy and Pythagorous and asked to determine where and when they lived as well as their primary contribution to geometry.

When leaving a video for a sub to show, teachers should make sure the video is not only relevant to the current lessons but also is presented with support material. Students need to be provided with a video guide to fill in while watching or a topic about which to form an opinion and then write a response once the video is finished.

It takes forethought and planning for teachers to leave relevant and engaging material for a substitute. With a few one or two day engaging ideas that can be modified for different units a teacher can be prepared for those emergencies that might keep him or her from the classroom.

The copyright of the article Quick Substitute Teacher Lesson Plans in Teaching Strategies/Mentorship is owned by Tammy Andrew. Permission to republish Quick Substitute Teacher Lesson Plans in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.