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Peabody TeachFor teachers and grown-ups

High school sub plans: art

One art plan for every period of a high school day, written for a sub with no art background: five minutes to settle, then “A value scale and three shaded shapes” with pencils and paper, a backup if it runs short, and the last five minutes. Three things a sub never does in this room are on the plan, and the timetable runs 7 periods of 50 minutes.

Checked October 31, 2026. Written for a sub with no specialist skill: everything works on paper, with no equipment. Print it, or save it as a PDF from the generator.

Make the whole day at high school ▸

The lesson, every period

Art: a value scale and three shaded shapes

  1. First 5 minutes, settle. Say who you are and that you're covering art today. Take attendance from the seating chart while students get out a sketchbook or a sheet of paper and a pencil. The task and what is due by the end of the period are on the board.
  2. The main part, about 35 minutes. A value scale and three shaded shapes: Students draw a strip of seven boxes and shade it from white to the darkest the pencil can go. Then they draw a sphere, a cube and a cylinder lit from one side, using the scale for the light side, the shadow side and the shadow on the table. Anyone who finishes draws one object from their desk the same way. You need: pencils and paper.
  3. If it runs short, the room changes or the class needs something calmer: A quiet gallery walk: Students leave today's best drawing on the desk and walk the room in silence, leaving a scrap beside two drawings that says one thing that works. Comments are about the drawing, never the person. You need: today's drawings and scraps of paper.
  4. Last 5 minutes: Pencils and sketchbooks back where they came from, scraps in the recycling, and the drawings collected with the period written on top.
Never, as a sub in this room
  • No paint, clay, glaze, ink or spray fixative, even if the class says they always use them: anything that needs washing up or a safety talk waits for the teacher.
  • No craft knives, no paper cutter and no kiln. Anything that needs cutting waits.
  • Don't open the storeroom, the cabinets or a rack of another class's work unless the plan says to.

Subbing high school

High school runs like middle school, a period at a time, with older students who will test whether the plan is real. Say the plan, the task and when it is due in the first two minutes, and hold to it calmly. Many will work alone if the task is clear.

  • Write the task and what is due by the end of the period on the board before the bell.
  • Phones follow the school's own rule; ask the office what it is before first period.
  • If a class says the teacher lets them, follow the plan and leave it for the teacher to decide.

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