Sub Binder

Over the summer, I spent a ton of time on Pinterest. It is one of the best places a teacher can go for new ideas. One of the things I found on Pinterest was the idea of a Sub Binder. I created a binder with tabs that I thought were important and I leave it sitting on my desk for a substitute teacher. Here is basically what my binder is:

Before the first tab:

• Welcome letter to the sub
• Classroom management system
• Think sheets
• A seating chart
• A list of all my students with their pictures and names (kids like to play tricks on subs).

Tab 1: Schedules

• The daily schedule
• The specials schedule

Tab 2: Emergency Procedures

• My principal required this of our sub folders, and it is just good sense. Subs need to know what to do in the event of an emergency.

Tab 3: Lesson Plans

• Here I include the lesson plans for the date of my absence.
• I also have sheet protectors for any papers that they will need. I wrote with a sharpie on the front of the 6 or 7 page protectors exactly what subject they would need the papers inside for. 

Tab 4: Emergency Plans

• This section is in case you get ill out of the blue and don't want to be up at the school at 4 in the morning to prepare sub plans. I arranged it exactly like my normal plans, but these plans are generic based on the unit we are studying. In my welcome letter I state that if there are not plans in the Lesson Plans section, then this was an unplanned absence and they should refer to the plans in the Emergency Plans section. 

Tab 5: End of the Day

• This section has a checklist of everything that needs to be completed before the bell rings or before they leave. For example, students are to stack their chairs and mark their days (color the color they ended up on from our clip chart to show their parents). If it is Friday, they will also need their Friday Folders. Things like that. I also have the sub leave me a note to say how the day went (I have a cute template that I got for free on TPT). 

I have gotten several compliments from subs to say how much smoother their day went with my plans and my binder than with other teachers' plans. One sub even wrote a note to my principal to say how impressed she was. It feels awesome to get great recognition from your principal your very first year. 

Lesson: The more prepared you are (with your sub binder in particular) the smoother things will run!

Panic Mode

As a new teacher, Panic Mode is a mode that you will become very familiar with!

I was about a month into school when we had our Literacy First training. Literacy First is basically the model they want us to follow for all of our literacy stuff (and some of our math). It's a very complex program and I am not going to go into great detail about it here (partially because I don't know if I could get in trouble for it).

I had already figured out what I wanted my literacy centers to look like. It was modeled after the teacher that I did my student teaching with. I knew this system worked well and I had an idea of what I wanted to do at each station. When my friend and I arrived at the training and were guided through the GIANT book of information, we were totally flabbergasted. I hadn't necessarily been doing everything wrong, I just wasn't doing the centers that Literacy First suggests you do. I blocked most of the training day out (but throughout the day I had placed sticky notes on important pages). I spent the weekend in my classroom reworking my centers and I was in a total panic mode.

On Monday, my coach came in to talk to me and make sure that I was feeling okay after the training. I told her how I was feeling. She explained to me that we are new teachers. Not everything is going to be perfect the first time. Not only are we new teachers, we are new to the district and to the state. Their standards and models are totally alien to us (and by 'us' and 'we' I mean my friend that moved out from Colorado with me). She said that I should focus on one center at a time until I get it the way that I want it.

Lesson: You will get a lot of models/information about how to teach/run your classroom. Don't panic. You are a new teacher and you will not be expected to implement everything you learn the very next day after learning it. Your administrators know that you are new and will give you time and support to make sure you can get comfortable with new models.

A Minute to Catch My Breath!

Oh my gosh!!! It is already November! I haven't posted anything since before the first day of school!!!!

So much has happened. I barely have a moment to breath, it seems. I think what I have decided, as I think through everything I want to say, is to post multiple posts about each topic I want to cover. I have had two months of school and there is SO much I want to say!

I really hope a new teacher finds this next year!