1:15 – I want to tell you about the great microwave disaster of 2025. I was out at a conference, came back the next day, and my classroom smelled awful. It turns out the sub had burned a muffin– a muffin– in my microwave, and I mean burned it. Apparently, on the day it happened, my room was so smoky they had to evacuate my classes to the media center. The next day when I got back, It still stank, but at least we could breathe. Now, here’s the thing. That disaster had nothing to do with being unprepared. I had stayed up the night before, making sure everything was perfect for that sub, because that’s what we do, right? We’ll drag ourselves out of bed with 102 degree fever to create those subplans. We’ll work through migraines, through family emergencies, through everything.
2:10 – Because honestly, it’s easier to just show up than to get ready for a sub. If we are out, we genuinely really need to be out. Sometimes we can’t show up. Right now, we’re in the middle of one of the worst flu seasons in years. Last week, two teachers in my department were down with the flu. And when you’re that sick, the last thing you want to be doing at five a m is frantically typing up subplans. Or maybe you get jury duty. Maybe you have a family emergency. Maybe, and this happened to me early in my career, you need surgery and you’re going to be out for two weeks. Today we’re going to talk about being sub ready without the stress. Not one more thing to add to your to do list, sub ready. I’m talking about a system you set up once and then you’re covered. Let’s talk about what makes sub prep so terrible.
3:12 – First the time crunch. You’re either planning this while you’re actively sick or you’re trying to anticipate what you’ll need when you don’t even know when you’ll need it. Second, the guilt. A lot of us feel guilty about being absent, although we shouldn’t. We worry about what administrators will think. We worry about our students falling behind. We worry that the sub won’t be able to handle our difficult classes. And for some of us, we’ve got that one class where we think, there’s no way I can leave these guys with a sub. Third, the aftermath. Even when we do take a day, we come back to chaos. No notes from the sub, kids saying, “but we didn’t do anything.” Work that didn’t get turned in. And now you’re behind and you have to reteach everything.
4:08 – And here’s what I want to acknowledge. There’s this weird culture in teaching where taking a sick day feels like letting everyone down. Like you should just power through. But you know what? That’s not sustainable. And more importantly, that’s not healthy. So let’s talk about how to take care of ourselves and our students without adding to the stress. For just a typical sick day, you wake up, you feel terrible. You’re not going in. Maybe you have a fever. You need three things ready to go. And I mean ready. Like, already saved on your computer. Already in a folder on your desktop, just waiting for you to fill in the blanks.
4:52 – Thing one, the sub letter template. This is your basic form letter that thanks the sub and this is key, specifically asks the sub to leave you feedback about how each class went. I learned this the hard way. If you don’t ask, they generally won’t tell you, but if you specifically request it, most subs will actually leave you notes. The template should include your schedule with room numbers and times, basic classroom management info where students sit, your systems, etc. A specific section that says please leave me a note about how each period went. Thing two, the simple assignment page. This is just a chart with a space for each of your classes where you fill in the materials the sub needs, the instructions for students, where students turn in the work, which let’s be real, they already know where to turn in their work. But you need to let the sub know. And here’s my philosophy on sub assignments. Keep it simple. Do not leave the sub a lecture to deliver. I don’t care how detailed your notes are. They’re not an expert in your subject. Or at least they’re probably not. And it’s not fair to expect them to teach content they don’t know. Instead, think about reading from the textbook with comprehension questions. A short film, fifteen to twenty minutes with a film guide. For history, maybe students create a timeline or a storyboard. For science, a CER paragraph based on a reading. Khan Academy or another platform where someone else is doing the teaching has, you know, a lot of lectures that you can have your students listen to and take notes over for any subject. The sub’s job is classroom management, not content delivery. Make their job as easy as possible. You want them to focus on that classroom management. Thing three, your go to templates. Keep a collection of assignment templates that work for almost any topic. A storyboard template for history, CER paragraph frame for science. Timeline template. Film guide template. These are content neutral. You just swap out the topic and you’re done.
7:12 – Now let’s talk about the scenario that terrifies every teacher. You need to be out for an extended time and you don’t have much notice. You are very fortunate if you can get through a thirty year teaching career without that happening at least once. See, this happened to me early in my career. I needed surgery, and while I could schedule it between Thanksgiving and Christmas to use winter break for recovery too, I still had to plan for two weeks with a sub while I was brand new at that school. It was torturous to say the least. And that’s when I created what I now call my emergency sub plans. Here’s how the system works. Step one. Create your unit alignment chart. Do this once at the beginning of the year. Make a simple chart that shows unit one, textbook chapters or online reading, plus YouTube videos on these topics. Unit two textbook chapters are online reading plus YouTube videos for these topics. Unit three textbook chapters or online reading plus YouTube videos for these topics. You get the idea. You’re essentially pre matching your curriculum to independent learning resources. And yes, free online textbooks work great for this. Lumen learning Openstax, whatever you’ve got. And by the way, I do have a template for all of this emergency subplan stuff that I will link to in the show notes.
8:46 – Have your five day sequence ready. This is the same structure for every unit. Day one. Students read the chapter and complete a reading guide. The one I created has a before, during, and after reading sections. Day two. Students create a visual. Could be a comic strip extension. Could be illustrations with captions. Day three. Students do a creative project. In my version, they design a book cover and write a pitch letter as if they’re authors. Day four. Students practice thesis writing and essay planning. Day five. Students watch a film related to the topic and complete a film guide, then create practice test questions over the topic they’ve been learning about all week. The beauty of this system? Students are actually keeping up with content. They’re not just watching movies for a week. They’re reading, they’re writing. They’re engaging with the material, and you’ve done the heavy lifting once at the beginning of the year. See, students also have a rubric for this week. Well, two really, one that they fill out for each day to self-assess how they did and one that you fill out when you get back for each student. So that for all of that stuff, if you want, you can just make it one grade so that you’re not putting in a ton of grades all week. But I would make it count a little bit more than just a daily assignment, because it’s kind of a lot. Again, I’ll link to this in the show notes for you. It is a resource that I sell, but it’s a valuable resource.
10:23 – Step three. leave simple instructions. When the emergency happens, you send one email or make one phone call. We’re on unit three, the Reformation. Check the chart in my subfolder. It shows the textbook chapter and videos. Pull out the emergency subplans folder. I keep mine on my desk. Everything else is ready to go. That’s it. That’s all you have to say. Now, I want to address something real quick. Some of you are thinking, oh, come on now, I can’t be out because of this difficult class, this administrative pressure, or maybe this lack of trust you have in subs. I get it, I really, really get it. But here’s what I want you to consider. You can’t pour from an empty cup. If you’re so sick you can barely stand, you’re not teaching well anyway. If you’re dealing with a family emergency and your mind is somewhere else. Your students aren’t getting your best anyway. Having a system in place actually makes it easier to be present when you are there, because you’re not running yourself into the ground. You’re not teaching on empty. Your students do need to learn the skill of independent work. It’s actually good for them to practice following instructions from someone who isn’t you. It’s good for them to be self-directed for a day or a week.
11:54 – And listen, I’m not saying take random days off for fun, although a mental health day here and there is really good for you. But I am saying when life happens and it will, you should be able to handle it without torturing yourself at 5 AM while you’re running a fever. So here’s what I want you to do. This week, create or update your sub letter template. Make a list of your go to simple assignments. Put together a physical or digital subfolder. This month, create your unit alignment chart. Gather or create your content neutral templates. Test your system. Pretend you’re out tomorrow. You think the sub could figure it out? Going forward? Keep your sub folder updated as you move through units. It should take you 30 seconds to update currently on unit four, instead of two hours to create plans from scratch. And by the way, if you want the complete system I use, including all of the templates, the reading guides, the film guides, the editable versions, and print, fillable PDF, and Google Slides, I’ve got that packaged up as a resource. It’s literally everything I just described ready to go. You can find it on my Teachers Pay Teachers store or through the link in the show notes. It’s what I created after that surgery nightmare and it saved me so many times since then.
13:27 – Here’s what I want you to take away from this episode. Being sub ready isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being prepared so that when life happens and life will happen, you can take care of yourself without guilt, without stress, and without working until 2 AM. You deserve to take a sick day when you’re sick. You deserve to handle family emergencies without administrator judgment or self-judgment. You deserve a system that works for you instead of one more thing that works against you. So set it up once. Maintain it with minimal effort and when you need it. And I hope you never need the emergency version. But statistics say you probably will at some point. It’s there. Your sub folder is not a burden. It’s a gift to your future self. Take care of yourself. Your students need you healthy and present more than they need you burned out and dragging yourself in when you’re sick. I’ll talk to you next time. On if teachers ruled the world.
