Classroom Management for Subs

• Greet students at the door. 

• Introduce yourself when class begins. 

• Establish your expectations for both behavior and participation in learning. 

• Give the students a roadmap for what their time with you for the period or the day will look like.  What tasks will they be doing? How should they seek your assistance?  What will be the primary mode of instructional delivery? 

• Avoid speaking negatively about students, other teachers, or about the class or school.  Negativity is almost never appreciated.  The result is often damaging and frequently results in substitute teacher developing a negative reputation and not being invited back.

• Be fair, firm, and consistent 

• Praise in public; criticize in private 

• Do not use sarcasm or other embarrassing methods 

• Do not use “group” punishment 

• Use the positive approach 

• Call attention to a student’s good behavior rather than misbehavior 

• Identify standards and stick to them

When teachers use humor, students feel better about the content, the teacher and even themselves.  Humor is associated with a 40 percentile point gain in instructional effectiveness.  But DO NOT use sarcasm as it can easily be misunderstood, even if you intended for it to be funny.

Remember that each individual student is a person who deserves to be treated with respect regardless of their intellectual abilities, primary language, social training, cultural background, or personal circumstance.  Students respect adults who respect them.

It is extremely important for the teacher not to lose their temper or control of their emotions.  Teachers should model appropriate behavior even under highly stressful situations.  When teachers lose self-control, it becomes more difficult to make proper decisions and to retain the respect of students.  When teachers lose self-control, their behavior often becomes the focus of attention rather than the student’s behavior.

Go to https://classroomscreen.com/.  Create a free basic account.  Utilize the 12 widgets to display on a screen in the room to help manage the classes throughout the day.

Direct eye contact and non-verbal communication are effective classroom management tools, provided that non-verbal communication doesn’t become threatening or intimidating to students.

Establish a refocus signal to get the classes attention after they've been working silently, working in groups, working with a partner, etc.  Here are some examples:

1. Stand up front, hold your hand up, and count backwards from 10 to 1 or even 5 to 1. 

2. Stand up front, hold your hand up, and wait for their undivided attention

3. Say "1,2,3 eyes on me"

4. Clap a pattern and have students clap that same pattern and then give you their attention afterwards.

5. Say, "If you're the one talking, please be the last one to talk for your group/partnership".

6. Give a heads up like "Finish up your conversations/work in 2 minutes."  Then in 2 minutes ask them to give you their attention and wait for them to fall silent.

7. Say "And...falling silent...." and wait for them to do so.

Using different voice inflections in the classroom is appropriate only if it has a legitimate educational purpose, doesn’t result in yelling (which is ineffective and abusive), and doesn’t demean students.

 Remember to take a whistle with you.  A whistle can be extremely valuable when supervising students on the playground, bus waiting areas, lunch supervision, when teaching physical education, etc. 

Letting the entire class know your expectations is key to having a successful educational day. “Establishing standards” should be done as early as possible. Teachers need to be firm, fair, and consistent. Setting reasonable standards and consequences and consistent enforcement of these standards is essential in maintaining a safe and orderly learning environment.

Students need to understand that if they chose to follow or violate classroom expectations, a correlation exists between their choice and the consequence.  Negative student consequences should be logical and in proportion to the seriousness of the violation. Rewards should also be in proportion to the students’ correct choices.  Rewards should have a legitimate educational purpose, and the reward offered should be sufficient enough to motivate students to want to continue making correct choices.

Students, like adults, respond to positive reinforcement better than to sarcasm or use of the negative.  Praising desired behavior is much more effective than punishing undesired behavior.  Preventive discipline is more effective than reactive discipline.

It is more powerful and appropriate to correct students one-on-one at every grade level.  Students who are corrected in front of their peers often respond by acting out even more.  Often the student who is being publicly disciplined will have their peer group rush to their support at the expense of the teacher.  A general guideline at the elementary level is “to correct privately and to praise publicly.”  At the elementary level, it is generally acceptable to praise a particular student in front of other students.  At the middle school and high school levels, individual praise normally needs to be done privately, while group praise is done publicly.  Praise should always be genuine and never contrived.

Students need and expect clear direction and predictability.  Clear direction and teacher predictability provides a safer and more secure learning environment for students.  A disciplinary surprise is usually not only ineffective, it often results in the students perceiving the teacher as being unfair and unreasonable.

There is a high correlation between the difficulty of assigned work and student behavior.  If the assigned work is too difficult, students may become frustrated and begin to act out.  If the assigned student work is too easy, students may easily become bored and also begin to act out. T he teacher needs to constantly monitor student learning by walking around the classroom and checking for student understanding.  Assisting students who are having difficulty and adjusting the level of difficulty of the work will go a long way to ensure proper classroom management.  Increasing the difficulty of the work or providing alternative learning assignments to students who have demonstrated mastery of the assignment will help to prevent boredom and classroom disruptions.

There is a direct correlation of distance of the teacher from the student and student behavior.  The closer a teacher is to a student, normally, the better the student’s behavior.  Teachers who walk around the classroom and monitor student conduct usually maintain much better classroom control.

Unoccupied and non-directed student time often results in classroom management difficulties.  Teachers should provide learning activities for students to begin on immediately upon entering the classroom and upon concluding their regular classroom assignments.

Typical elementary and middle school classroom rules include items such as the following: 

• Keep your feet, hands and objects to yourself.

• You may talk when you have raised your hand and been given permission to do so by the teacher.

• Students are to remain in their seats unless given permission to be out of their seats.

• “Put-downs” are not acceptable in the class.

• No student will stop another student from learning. 

Severe violations resulting in instant referrals to the principal’s office include fighting, possession of drugs or weapons, physical threats, constant disruption and defiance, etc.  

Typically, high school student rules will vary from elementary and middle school rules only slightly.  High school students need classroom rules to be stated in such a way that they reflect the increased level of maturity of the students

Unless the educational activity dictates, generally no more than two students should be out of their seats at one time.  Normally, students should not be allowed out of their seats when the teacher is doing large group instruction or is working directly with the student’s assigned group.

Students are expected to get their drinks and to use the restroom during their breaks.  When a student needs to use the restroom during class time, unless unusual circumstances exist, they should not be sent to the restroom with another student.

It may be appropriate to isolate a student from other students, due to a pattern of consistent disruptive behavior.  Remember that the teacher needs to maintain visual contact and the ability to directly supervise all students.

Students who disagree with what the teacher is requiring or doing should be encouraged to discuss those concerns privately with the teacher.  Students should not be allowed to argue with the teacher in front of other students or to publicly challenge the teacher’s authority.

Teachers should never threaten students with consequences that they are unable or unwilling to deliver.  Teachers who make these types of threats are setting themselves up for frustration and failure.  Teachers should clearly spell out consequences of student choices and then be prepared to back up their words by consistently enforcing the consequences.

Students will generally accept fair and reasonable rules and consequences when they know that the teacher is genuinely concerned about their well-being.  Students should not be singled out or used as an example.  When a teacher has had to repeatedly or strongly correct a student, it is important that before the student leaves for the day, that the teacher reinforces with the student that they care about them, believe in them, and sincerely want what is best for them.  Teachers need to role model terms such as please, thank you, excuse me, etc.

Substitute Teachers should conduct themselves as an appropriate authority figure and as student role models.  Teachers should be viewed as caring, dedicated, skillful, sensitive, flexible, and responsive.

It is important to listen carefully to students and to consider their point of view before disciplinary action is taken.  Listening to students is particularly important when there is a situation where the teacher may not have all the information.  The process of listening will not only assist the teacher in making proper decisions, but will often result in a teachable moment for that student.

It is difficult to identify in advance appropriate disciplinary consequences for every circumstance that might arise in a school environment.  Generally, substitute teachers should plan on utilizing the regular classroom teacher’s rules and consequences.  Usual disciplinary consequences include: name on the board, loss of a privilege, loss of free time, a call to the parents/guardian.  A referral to the office usually comes only after other disciplinary strategies have failed to bring about the desired result.