Substitute Teacher Handbook K-12,   ISBN:9781890563165

Customer Rating: 

If you buy this book used, or cheap, it's a decent read. However, I think if you buy it new you'll regret it.

Overall, the book made a ton of sense to me and gave some great tips about organization, but I found the classroom activities silly and classroom management techniques useless.

I think the activities were silly because most of them involve you going out and buying/xeroxing a bunch of stuff, and high school students in particular will see them as a waste of time. Why would a student want to do more work if he or she knew it was not going to be graded?

I think the classroom management techniques were useless because they make you waaaaaaaaaaay to rigid. First of all, it recommends that you pick 5 rules and when class starts you must relay them to the students and tell them how many warnings they will get before they are in big trouble. Kids often think it's unfair especially if you pick a minor rule (in their eyes), like keeping their hands to themselves or not play fighting, and you keep calling them out on it. Also, few if any teachers/administrators will support you (at least in my area) if you try to write a kid up or send them to the principal's office. When I look back on my early subbing experiences, I feel embarrassed because I took this book too seriously and was overly strict and rigid. This book might have worked well a decade or so back when kids had more fear of consequences and respected all adults in general, but today kids don't really respect subs because administrators rarely do either.

Customer Rating: 

This book was required for a course I took but it has great ideas to help keep the class busy. Includes a whole section of reproducable handouts.

Customer Rating: 

Great book, gives lots of information that would also help the classroom teacher. This book offers advice on how to manage classrooms, alternative activities in case the teacher fails to leave enough work for the class to do, filler activities that activate critical thinking, positive ways to change behavior in the classroom, etc. It also tells the substitute teacher how to create a "sub pack" that can be brought to each assignment, making the sub look professional as well as ensure that substitute teachers have what they need for the day, both personally and professionally. Great advice in many areas!

Customer Rating: 

If you are looking at substitute teaching, this is an excellent guide for every level. It has a great overview of organizational and procedural information (such as what to bring with you, what to ask before you begin your day, and how to instruct students in various situations). If you already have experience teaching, you may find this part repetitive. There are also specific sections dedicated to special education classrooms and classroom management. However, the best part of this guide is the section devoted to comprehensive lesson plans and time filler activities. There is something for every single grade level and nearly every subject (even Music and Art), so if you find yourself subbing for an unfamiliar subject without lesson plans, you'll have something in your toolbox. The nice thing about many of the lesson plans is that you could easily alter them for the overhead or whiteboard so that you don't have to waste a ton of money on copies (some schools are sticklers about making copies). I have had difficulty finding material for middle and high school students that was adaptable and this guide fits the bill perfectly.

Customer Rating: 

I am just starting to Subsititute teach and have read this book and find it to be very useful.