Reading a sub plan fast

1 You have ten minutes

Most substitutes don't get the plan the night before. You arrive, sign in at the office, find the room, and there on the desk is a folder, a stack of papers or a single sheet. The bell rings soon. You can't read every word carefully, and you don't need to. You need to know enough to start the day safely and run the first block well.

The trick is to read in a set order, the same way every time. The order puts safety and the first hour ahead of the afternoon's lessons, which you can read later during a quiet moment, at lunch or during a planning period.

1. The schedule: what happens today, and when.
2. Emergency information: drills, exits and medical needs.
3. Who to ask: a nearby teacher and the office.
4. Routines: attention signal, bathroom, attendance, lining up.
5. Helpers: students who can answer questions.
6. The first lesson in detail; the rest at a glance.

Keep a pen in your hand. Underline times, circle anything you need to find, and put a question mark next to anything that's unclear. The marks become your list of things to ask before the bell.

2 The parts every plan has

Sub plans look very different from room to room, but almost all of them have the same parts. Sometimes they are labeled; sometimes they are mixed into one long page. Knowing the parts lets you find them quickly, wherever they are.

The schedule

Times, subjects, specials, lunch, recess and dismissal. Look for anything that changes today: an assembly, a duty, a different lunch time. If the class leaves the room for a special, note who picks them up and when.

Lessons

What each block covers, what materials to use and where they are, and what finished work looks like. Look for what early finishers do.

Routines

The attention signal, the bathroom rule, how attendance is taken and sent, how the class lines up and how papers are turned in.

Helpers and who to ask

Students who know the routines, a nearby teacher who has agreed to help, and the office's number or extension.

Emergency information

Where the exit route and drill procedures are, where the class list for drills is kept, and where to find medical and allergy information. This is the part you hope not to use and must know anyway.

The sub plan template is a good picture of what a full plan holds. If you read a few plans laid out that way, you'll start to spot the same parts in any plan, however it is written.

3 Where teachers hide the important line

Teachers write sub plans in a hurry, often late at night or early in the morning. The most important line in the plan is not always at the top. It is often tucked into the middle of a paragraph about something else, written in passing, as if you already knew.

• In the dismissal section: a child who goes home a different way today, or a child who must not leave with anyone but a named adult.
• In the lunch or snack section: a food allergy, or a child who eats somewhere else.
• In the schedule: a student who leaves at a set time for another teacher or a service.
• In a margin note or sticky note: a duty you didn't know you had, such as bus or recess duty.
• At the very end: “Please don't let anyone leave the room without a buddy,” or a similar rule the class depends on.

Read dismissal, lunch and the end of the plan every time, even when you're short on time. Those three spots are where the line that matters most often hides.

If something you read worries you, such as a medical note you don't understand, ask the office or the nurse before the students arrive. Don't wait until it matters.

4 When parts are missing

Plenty of plans have gaps. Some are missing a schedule, some a seating chart, some the lessons themselves. A missing part is not a disaster, but it is something to fix before the bell, not at the moment you need it.

• No schedule: ask the office for the bell schedule and the class's specials and lunch times. The teacher next door usually knows the day.
• No seating chart: make one as you take attendance. Ask students to write their first name on a sheet in seat order.
• No routines: ask the teacher next door, the aide, or a helper student how the class lines up, asks for the bathroom and gets quiet.
• No emergency information: ask the office where the drill procedure and class list are kept. Never start the day without knowing your exit route.
• No lessons: have a backup ready. A ready-made sub plan for the grade, a read-aloud and a few sub day activities will carry a whole day.

If the plan is missing entirely, use the sub plan generator to print a whole day's plan for the grade in a few minutes, and tell the office you are running your own plan. The guide to sub plans shows what a full plan holds, so you know what to build.

When you fill a gap, write it down for the teacher. Telling them what was missing, kindly, helps them leave a better plan next time.

5 Asking before the bell

Your question marks from the first read become a short list of things to ask. Take them to the right person before the students arrive. There's usually time for two or three quick questions, and the answers save you from guessing later.

The office is the place for anything about safety, attendance, dismissal and school rules. The teacher next door is the place for anything about the class: routines, where things are, which students can help. An aide or a co-teacher, if the room has one, often knows the most of all.

What to sayHi, I'm subbing next door today. I have two quick questions about the class: how do they line up, and do you know who picks them up from music?

Keep your questions short and specific. People are busy in the morning, and a clear question gets a clear answer. Thank them, and remember who helped. If you're back in that school, they're the person to look for.

If something still isn't clear when the bell rings, choose the safe default: keep the class together, follow the schedule as best you know it, and call the office for anything that involves a student's safety or how a child goes home.

6 What to look for at each grade

The parts of a plan are the same at every grade, but which part matters most changes with the age of the class. Knowing where the weight falls tells you which page to read twice.

Kindergarten and first grade

Read the routines and dismissal most carefully. Young children's days are built on the bathroom, snack, lining up, the carpet and going home, and the lessons are short. Look for the attention signal, the bathroom rule, where snack is kept, any food allergies, and exactly how each child goes home. If the plan has a rest time, find out what children who don't sleep may do.

Second through fifth grade

Read the schedule and the lessons most carefully. Students can work on their own for longer stretches, so the plan often leans on independent work, and the gaps show up when the work runs short. Check what early finishers do in every block, where finished papers go, and which students are the helpers. Look for pull-outs, where a student leaves at a set time.

Middle school

Read the bell schedule, the seating charts and the phone rule first. You'll see five or six classes, so stack the work by period and check that every period has a chart. Look for a duty you might have during passing time or lunch, and for an advisory or homeroom period that runs differently from the rest of the day.

The sub plans by grade show what a complete plan looks like at each level, which makes it easier to see what's missing from the one on the desk.

7 Reading the rest during the day

Once the day is moving, you'll have short windows to read the rest of the plan: while students work quietly, during specials, at lunch, during a planning period. Use each one to look ahead to the next block or two.

• Before each new block, read its section of the plan again, and find the materials.
• Check what early finishers do for that block, and have it ready before you start.
• Look ahead to transitions: who picks the class up, where they go, when they come back.
• Reread dismissal at lunch, and again an hour before the end of the day.

Stack materials in the order you'll use them, with a sticky note on each pile naming the block. When the next block starts, the pile is on top, and you don't have to search while thirty students watch.

Make notes as you go for the note to the teacher: what worked, what didn't get done, which students were helpful. A note written during the day is more accurate and much quicker than one written from memory after the bell.