Surprise You're a Substitute!
During my Surprise Lab, I acted as the substitute teacher for a lesson prepared by one of my classmates, Amanda Gagne. Amanda’s lesson was on Wildfires and it seemed very interesting to me. Before this lesson, I had looked through her lesson plan to see what the lesson was about and what was to be said during the lesson. When presenting the lesson, I did not follow her lesson plan exactly so I got a little lost in my delivery but it seemed to work well.
I think that this relates well to what I know about teaching because teaching doesn’t always go the way you think it would. This is especially true if you aren’t prepared for or don’t know the lesson material. The more prepared you are for a lesson or the more you know about the subject the better you will be able to move through the lesson.
One thing that I learned from this experience is to look over the materials left by the teacher of the class that I am substituting for. I did not look through my classmate’s presentation, so I didn’t move through it as I should have. I should have taken a few minutes to look through the presentation, despite the slides being in the lesson plan, to make sure I knew how to move through the presentation.
I will apply this as an Agriscience teacher when I am using presentations of any kind that I did not create. If I am unfamiliar with the presentation then I might have difficulty as I don’t know what I need to say and when. By making sure I know how the presentation flows I will be less likely to make mistakes and more likely to move through the lesson effectively.
What experiences did you have as or with a substitute that influenced your teaching habits?
Abbie, I think this is a great lab and a little jealous I did not have this lab prompt when I was at PSU. I would encourage you to think about the P.O.V. of you writing the sub plans too. What I have started doing is when I am out, I email my classes the same details I give my sub. and link all their work to the email. My students have no excuse then to not know what is going on and my subs. now know they can direct the students there for information. This also allows students absent or come in late/leave early to know exactly what they missed.
ReplyDeleteMy advice with substitutes is expect them to know nothing. Whether it is true or not, it forces you to be over-prepared. I have also found that being over-prepared makes the subs. job easier and when I am out the next time, my absence will get filled quicker. This is important because of the shortage of subs. many schools are experiencing.
Like Katie, I tend to overprepare for a sub. I write very detailed plans including possible student issues, etc. I try to put the resources in Google Classroom so students have access to it, however I try to have a Plan B as well in case the internet goes out. I try to leave activities for subs that require minimal effort on their part as with a shortage of subs, there might be three or four different people coming through my room to cover classes during the day.
ReplyDeleteThe point you make about when you are teaching reviewing materials you didn't make to make sure you are familiar with them is so critical. When I began teaching at my current school, I taught a floral design course. Although I used the materials and lesson plans my colleague who also taught the class created, it was so important for me to read through the material in advance and ask clarifying questions of her so I could deliver a similar experience for the students.