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Peabody TeachFor teachers and grown-ups

High school sub plans: study hall

A study hall plan for a sub, the same for every period of a high school day: settle and say the three rules, keep the routines, run a quiet-work plan (today's is “One goal, then a check”), and offer a backup to anyone with nothing due. The sign-out sheet takes a seat number, never a name. Four things a sub never does 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

Study hall: one goal, then a check

  1. First 5 minutes, settle. Take attendance from the seating chart. Then say the three rules out loud: quiet work, one person out at a time on the sign-out sheet, and phones by the school's own rule.
  2. The routines, said once and kept all period: Seats stay as the chart has them. Anyone who leaves writes their seat number (never a name), where they are going and the time on the sign-out sheet, and the time when they are back. One out at a time unless the school's rule says otherwise, and nobody leaves the building. The sign-out sheet is in this packet.
  3. The quiet-work plan, about 35 minutes. One goal, then a check: Each student writes one thing they will finish this period on a scrap of paper and sets it on the corner of the desk. Walk the room every ten minutes and look, without reading anyone's work aloud. Ten minutes before the end, each student marks their scrap: done, half done or not yet. You need: scrap paper.
  4. Nothing to work on? A ten-minute quickwrite: Write three prompts on the board: a skill you want to learn, the best advice you have been given, a place you would like to see. Students with nothing due write for ten minutes on one. You need: paper. The maze page in this packet is a spare for anyone who finishes.
  5. Last 5 minutes: Check that everyone on the sign-out sheet is back. The sheet goes in the teacher's folder with the note.

📄 a maze

Never, as a sub in this room
  • Never write a student's name on the sign-out sheet: a seat number, or a number in line, only. The seating chart stays in the room.
  • Don't let anyone leave without signing out, go to the parking lot or a car, or leave the building.
  • Don't send groups out to wander the halls; if the library wants students, it sends a pass.
  • Don't log into anything to look up a student's grades or records.

The sheets, on their own pages

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.

More plans

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