School district nationwide are being challenged to fill classroom vacancies with qualified substitute teachers. Qualified substitutes are needed in classrooms when teachers are absent for health reasons but also for in-district meetings or professional development. The substitute teacher shortage has gotten increasingly worse over the last few years. Most substitute positions offer low pay, no health benefits, no training or mentoring and do not offer consistent work. However, the recent positive economy has also impacted the number of available substitute teachers, since they are finding other higher paying jobs.
However, the need to ensure students are learning and staying on track is important. Studies have shown that students do not perform as well when the regular teacher is absent. So, for the substitute teachers that have a passion for teaching and enjoy being a substitute teacher, Thank you for your service. I hope you find the resources listed below helpful to make your substituting a little easier.
4 Resources to Support Substitute Teachers
- Education World: Substitute Survival: Tools You Can Use – Yes, you are supposed to use the lesson plans left for you. But, if you are done early OR it is not going well, this site will be extremely helpful. The survival kits outlined gives you lesson activities, songs, games and templates to survive any experience.
- Scholastic: Substitute Teacher Resources and Tips – This site, supported on the Scholastic website provides advice, tips and resources to make substitute teaching easier. The post is written from the perspective of a classroom teacher. The author makes a great case to explain how important substitute teachers are.
- Teachervision: Substitute Teacher Resources – Site includes lesson planning kits that provide activities for elementary and intermediate students. Site includes printables.
- We Are Teachers: 50 Tips, Tricks and ideas for Substitute Teachers – Yep, there are 50! Great user-friendly resource, especially for new substitute teachers.
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