Lesson Plan Hell 5

5 thoughts on “Lesson Plan Hell 5”

1. canuk

   August 17, 2012 at 11:52 am

   hey there

   Just a lesson plan query
   and a stalwart decision to address this thing I’VE BEEN DODGING for far too long.

   What sorts of things do folks leave for TOC’s….not sure what you call “substitute teachers” in the states. In Canada they are teachers on call.

   sadly, i have a stack of texts in my room and I give the toc the choice to use my plans or use the text book. Many of them use the text book, cuz it’s “easier” i believe and more familiar. the students are never happy about this choice.

   does anyone have anything they would be willing to share that TOC’s love and are super comfortable with? I have offered things like translations of the story we just completed, or a free write using recent vocab, write a version of the story in partners… anyone willing to share tried and true out there

   speaking of lesson planning hell! ?

   tanks
   lynn

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   1. Robert Harrell

      August 17, 2012 at 12:17 pm

      Never give substitutes a choice! (Yes, we call them “substitute teachers”, “substitutes” and “subs”.) They will always take the easier route and do the thing that makes least sense to you.

      In my situation I have to assume that the substitute knows zero German. That means that the class has to be essentially self sufficient. That can either be easy – my upper levels can self govern – or impossible – my fifth period last year would have dissolved into chaos. As a result, I’m afraid that I often resort to the use of a film for a sub, especially during first semester. However, it is never just entertainment. I have developed video activities for most of my films, and I have a couple of series with episodes that can be prepared, watched and followed up in a class period. We debrief the next day. It helps that I am almost never absent.

      Subs love showing movies because it is the least amount of work they have to do. They hate watching the same movie all day.

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      1. Robert Harrell

         August 17, 2012 at 12:20 pm

         Oh yes, I always want the day with the sub to be slightly less enjoyable than what we do when I am there. More learning takes place when I am in the classroom, so I want students to associate that with “fun”, not the day with the substitute when less learning is taking place.

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   2. Ben Slavic

      August 17, 2012 at 1:36 pm

      If they’ve been properly trained to respect FVR and silent reading time in class, I like to start the class with that, as long as the sub can keep it going, sometimes for the entire class. There is nothing more valuable than reading silently. Nothing. Not PQA. Not stories.

      When that unravels for the sub, I have the kids do a ten minute strictly timed rewrite to hand in. The sub has to make sure that the time is quiet.

      My classes are 43 min. long so that’s about all I can get in on a sub day. There are other things I do, but this is what I mainly try to do as long as the sub can handle getting the class quiet for these two excellent activities.

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   3. skip

      August 17, 2012 at 5:50 pm

      Hey Lynn,

      I personally use sub time to show videos/cultural topics that I do not want to take CI time. We have certain videos that support the culture standard and I usually plan those to coincide with subs.

      My colleague has used material from Chalkboard Productions http://www.chalkboard-productions.com/ Chalkboard Productions develops CI videos (animated). There are activities to go with them… Subs have given them good feedback… You might want to check them out…

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