Substitute Teacher Toolbox

1. Name Tags. These are adhesive stickers that your students for the day can wear. Write their names on these in the morning before they come in. Hand them out to all and you have just identified each student AND taken attendance. Yay for efficiency! I purchased these  Avery tags at Wal-Mart. There are 50 in a package and were on sale for $1 each. Stock up, you will go through about a pack every two classes you sub for.

2. How will you get your students to keep their tags on all day? (Because trust me, they will not stop playing with them all day) You bribe them with stickers. I tell my class for the day that if they still have their name tag  on at dismissal I will give them a prize. The size of their prize depends on how well they behaved through out the day. This management strategy has worked like a charm.  My prizes consist of stickers, bookmarks, and fun pencils. A lot of these goodies you can find at Target or Wal-Mart in their dollar sections. I went to my local Goodwill and found all of these items for 25 cents to 50 cents a piece. Check your local Goodwill in their office/stationary section. You'll grab some great finds!

3. A clipboard. Seems so simple, but when you enter a classroom you will have a roster, the day's lesson plan, schedule, routines, and plenty other papers to have with you throughout the day. I bring a clipboard so they are always with me no matter where I go. You also look much more put together when walking through the halls of this new school. **(Shout out to my wonderful friend Brianna who made this clipboard for me!)

4. Take the time to make yourself a substitute teaching card. There isn't anything less professional then asking the secretary "Do you have a pen and a post it note? I'll write my information on that." I created my cards on VistaPrint. Very inexpensive and so worth it. I make sure to have my essential information on there so I can just drop it off in the main office of every school I go to and on every desk of a teacher I fill in for.