Emergency Sub Plan Template for Middle School

As a substitute teacher, stepping into an unfamiliar classroom can be both exhilarating and challenging.

Their hope, is to maintain order, engage students, and facilitate meaningful learning in a limited timeframe.

While this can depend on their skills as a teacher – it is also very much dependent on the lesson plan you leave for them.

Having a well-structured plan not only helps substitute teachers navigate the unexpected but also ensures that students receive a productive educational experience, even when their regular teacher is absent.

In this blog post, you will discover a simple and effective lesson structure that will help your substitute and students have a successful day in your absence.

A Basic Lesson Plan Structure for Substitute Teachers

The best way to start, is with a simple structure that will organize the time for your class.

Try to avoid leaving one task for an entire class period – this is an invitation for problems. Students may finish early, get bored or frustrated.

You also want to avoid a complicated lesson where your sub may struggle to understand exactly what they are expected to do. Keeping it simple will make all the difference for your sub.

Looking at the length of your class period, think about dividing it into 15 to 20 minute chunks.

This is generally enough time to complete a task, review it, and then move on. It keeps students engaged and avoids frustration if a task is too challenging.

You’ll want to include an introductory activity, then a main activity that focuses on content/skills and then a wrap-up activity.

Keep reading to see how I developed my Emergency Lesson Plans for my ancient history class which include these three segments – with an option for a fourth if needed.

The First 15 Minutes of Class Time

Your lesson begins the minute students walk into the classroom. Hopefully you have already established a procedure for students. If you haven’t, then read this blog post – and I mean, like right now. You are making teaching harder than it has to be if you do not have this procedure in place!

Okay, back to it the topic at hand.

There is no reason why your students should not be following the same structure and procedure for entering the classroom when you aren’t there.

This introductory activity has many different names: Bell Ringer, Warm-Up, Do-Now… call it what you like, but they all serve the same purpose.

They get your students working right away.

For your Emergency Sub Plans, you want this activity to be extra practice of something your students have seen before. Do not pick something brand new – your substitute needs this time to take care of attendance and anything else that may pop up.

For my ancient history class, I like to have this activity focus on map skills, using a world map. These are skills students have seen before, and can always use more practice.

After the 15 minutes of work time, your sub can go over the answers with students easily, and correct any misconceptions or go over any small items that students may have forgotten about.

The Main Activity for Your Emergency Lesson Plans

You want your main activity to be content focused and meaningful. Sound like a tall order to fill?

In some ways yes, but it’s actually easier than you think.

The first part of this main activity is an extension of the Warm-Up. Only this part is a little more in depth and includes using a map of the current unit of study.

One of the most underrated skills in learning new content, is vocabulary. Every unit of every subject area, has key vocabulary. Even if it’s not called vocabulary – trust me, it’s there.

Understanding key vocabulary makes it easier to comprehend complex content. Can you tell I’m passionate about vocabulary? Check out this blog post to learn more.

In case you haven’t guessed yet, the next part of this main activity is practicing key vocabulary for the current unit of study. The best part here is that it doesn’t matter how far into the unit you’ve gotten because practicing vocabulary is always helpful for review and helpful in preparing for future lessons.

This main activity should take on average, 20 minutes. You can even leave instructions for your sub to have students work independently for the first 10 minutes and then work with a partner to finish the activity for the next 10 minutes.

Or, have students work using only their brain for the first 10 minutes and then utilize textbooks and/or their student notebooks to finish the activity for the next 10 minutes.

The Last 10 Minutes of Class Time

Another common class procedure is to have an Exit Ticket for students to complete. This exit ticket can serve many purposes.

For your Emergency Sub Plans, you want the exit ticket to be a way for students to reflect on the work they completed during class.

What went well? What do students feel they need more practice with?

These answers can give you an idea of where your students are at, and how the lesson went in your absence.

Optional Activity For Your Sub Plans

Perhaps your class period is longer than 55 minutes. Or you need an extra activity that can be given as homework. Maybe you need something that can be extended out another day. Or maybe you just like having more activities than needed – just in case.

Either way, having an optional activity can be great to have on hand.

For my ancient history class, I like this activity to be a bit more open-ended. Which means, a writing exercise that is focused on a main idea.

Why is this current civilization important for us to study? What were their achievements or contributions to mankind?

These prompts are a great way to reinforce main concepts and get students thinking about the bigger picture. But of course, providing some structure for this activity is key for your students to find success.