The Substitute Teacher Bag of Tricks

When you first start as a substitute teacher it can be a scary thing. You are going into a classroom full of children to fill in for their regular teacher. Those are big shoes to fill. By taking a few things along with you, your job as the substitute teacher can go smoothly and quick. Invest in a small canvas bag to carry with you and fill it with the following items.

Mad Libs: If you have never heard of Mad Libs then you are in for a treat. These are small books you can find at most retail stores. These books are filled with stories where nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives are filled in with blank lines. Before you or the students read the stories, there is a page where you fill in the blank words. You can go around the room calling on students who raise their hands to give you words. After all the words are filled in, you read the stories. In most cases you and the students will be laughing.

Mad Libs are great for three things when substituting. First, they are educational. In elementary classrooms where students are learning about the parts of speech, Mad Libs is perfect. As I mentioned before, Mad Libs will have you and the students laughing. It is fun for the students. So, when do you use Mad Libs? They are perfect to fill in those moments when the teacher didn't leave enough work or the students are lining up to leave the classroom. Lining up can be a trying time because the students tend to talk during this time and it is hard to get them settled down. By having the students do Mad Libs during those times you will be able to keep the volume level down. Everyone will be quiet because they want to hear the story.