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Peabody TeachFor teachers and grown-ups

High school sub plans: computers and business

One computers or business plan for every period of a high school day, written for a sub with no computers or business background: five minutes to settle, then “A budget on paper” with paper, pencils and a ruler, 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

Computers or business: a budget on paper

  1. First 5 minutes, settle. Say who you are and that you're covering computers or business today. Students sit in their usual seats with the screens off and paper out. Take attendance from the seating chart; the task is on the board.
  2. The main part, about 35 minutes. A budget on paper: Students draw a grid for one month's budget for a made-up student with a made-up part-time job: the pay at the top, then eight costs (phone, food, getting around, savings and so on), with a column for each week. They fill in made-up numbers, add the totals by hand, and write the formula they would type in each total cell of a spreadsheet. Nobody uses their own real money. You need: paper, pencils and a ruler.
  3. If it runs short, the room changes or the class needs something calmer: Jobs that run on computers: Students list five jobs that use computers all day. For one, they write what the work involves, what someone would need to learn to do it, and one question they would ask a person who does it. You need: paper.
  4. Last 5 minutes: Screens stay off, chairs tucked in, and the work collected with the period written on top.
Never, as a sub in this room
  • Never give out, type or use the teacher's login or any password, and never log a student in on someone else's account.
  • Don't install anything, unblock a website, change a computer's settings or plug in anyone's memory stick.
  • If the plan says computers are on, students use their own school accounts, and only for the task the plan names.

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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