Nov 03 2009
When You Have A Sub…
Alice Mercer, my co-facilitator of the Classroom Management discussion group at Edutopia, is sick at home and has begun a thread on subs and classroom management.
I thought it might be a good opportunity to share my Attitude and Behavior With A Substitute Teacher grading rubric.
I only use it with classes that I’m concerned about. In those classes, a few minutes before the ending bell rings, the sub passes out the rubric. Students grade themselves, and then the sub grades them. It works quite well — subs can grade by “faces” instead of having to try to remember names (you’ll notice on the rubric there’s a caution and way to spot if students don’t put their real name on it), and pushes students to reflect on how they’ve handled themselves.
Yes, yes, I know — I’m a big believer in developing intrinsic motivation, too. I just figure that I miss class so seldom, subs have such a challenging situation anyway, and remembering how I behaved with a sub when I was a student, that using something like this is best for everybody involved.
Join in the discussion at Edutopia and share how you handle sub and classroom management issues….
One response so far
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What a coincidence! You read my mind, don’t you? I have a substitute teacher now because I’m on sick leave (no big deal but cannot teach). I’m going to send by email my students your grading rubric translated into Spanish. Thanks a lot.
As you can imagine I never miss a class, however my sts love me! I warned, adviced, pleaded for good behaviour and attendance in my absence. Some of them have been so nice to email me and they tell me they are behaving well in class. What about the others? I’m a bit worried for the sub so I’m going to ask her to pass the rubric out to the sts.
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