Substitute Policy

Effective Substitute Practices

Prepare a Substitute Folder 

By the end of the first week of class (submit to office manager) all teachers must have a substitute folder on file. You will be provided with a folder, and below are the elements which should be placed in it.  Each time you are absent, or when the semester changes, you must update the folder.  This is an important professional responsibility that will help ensure that our students receive consistent instruction even when one of us has to be out. 

Please include the following in your substitute teacher folder:

• A list of your students and their emergency numbers

• Your daily schedule

• Your Syllabus, Big Idea Template and Lesson Plans for 5 Days using the classroom textbook

• Your daily procedures (arrival, dismissal attendance, class routine and rules, etc.)  Don’t forget to include, hallway and bathroom rules, and computer rules.

• Names of your Attendance Manager, Homework Manager, Class Secretary, and any other classroom positions you have.

• Classroom management plan, including discipline referral forms.

• If you team teach or switch classes with another staff member, be sure to include that schedule, as well. 

• Teaching Assistants & Special Education Staff—You also need to have a schedule listing who you work with, times you have specific students, and your plans for each area or student.

• Health concerns for your students

• Include a seating chart.

• Note whether or not you want the sub to correct papers that have been done in your class.  Let them know how you want this handled.  (They are told in the substitute orientation session that they are to correct papers unless they are told otherwise.)

• Any other information that you think would be helpful for a substitute entering your classroom.

Always communicate substitute instructions in the ways that follow:

-       Insert substitute instructions into your substitute folder and emails. 

-       Email your plans to your SLC administrator and substitute manager. 

        HS--Alice.Doctor@dc.gov, MS--Dora.Lemus@dc.gov 

-       Email a neighboring colleague in the event there is any confusion.   

Update your substitute folder for planned absences. 

Maintain a generic and universally relevant assignment in your substitute folder at all times for unplanned/ emergency absences.

Always leave a substitute an assignment from a textbook

Using the textbook clarifies expectations and the scope of work, and increase the likelihood that the assignment can be well managed and completed.  In rare cases a substitute can be coached and supported into helping you continue instruction without a break in your curriculum.  More often than not, a substitute lacks the context of your work, or the relationship with your students needed to do what you do, exactly as you would do it.  Textbooks help support the completion of work at grade level, on standard.