✏️ How to Write Useful Sub Notes (+ TEMPLATE)
If your sub cannot pick up your paper and act, then you need to simplify.
🚌 My teaching career began by substituting teaching. Before ever writing my own lesson plans, I followed sub notes across different grades, subjects, schools, and districts. This post explains my ins and outs for writing easy sub plans.
📷 The Big Picture. Useful sub notes provide instantly readable and recognizable action steps. Even if your sub is not familiar with your room and routines, your notes should keep your classroom moving. The best sub notes read as part-letter, part-reference, part-recipe.
🙄 Bad Sub Notes. In my two years substitute teaching, I remember clearly the sub notes that failed. Why is that? Because I had no idea what to do. Bad sub notes tend to fail for three reasons:
1. Location. The notes themselves were not in prominent places like the teacher’s desk or the podium. Sometimes I’d walk into rooms and not find notes until midway through first hour. That said, if an office secretary printed them and a custodian moved them, well, I get it.
2. Presentation. Sometimes the message disappeared in the noise of formatting. This includes the Microsoft Word defaults without headings or bullet points or references. Presentation absolutely matters when writing!
3. Verbosity. Sometimes I just wanted to know when lunch was or what steps to follow, but the directions themselves lacked organization. Conversational writing was good, but taken to excess actually hid the message itself.
🧭 Workflow. That said, you’d’ve figured that I would’ve entered the classroom with the world’s best sub notes, right? Except I didn’t. I didn’t exactly steal or scan the notes either. (My first smartphone, an Android, had terrible resolution in 2011.) Truth be told, I had perfect attendance in two of my first five years teaching, so writing them was rare.
Looking back, I can’t even find saved sub notes until my third year of teaching. What remains has a clear message, but visually is a mess. There’s really no sweeping story to tell here except for abiding by my own maxim: If you have to write it more than twice, create a template instead. And so one year, reflecting back on my two years subbing before teaching, I outlined a simple template that I’ve used ever since.
💡 Tip! If someone cannot pick up your notes and act, your notes need simplified.
⚙️ How It Works. Sometimes we write sub notes on sunny days with clear minds, while other days we write them under the weather. Sometimes we leave them neatly on desks on top of printed assignments, while other days we rely on co-workers to print and arrange them for us. Regardless, three major things stand out:
1. Easy Location. Create a clearly labeled sub folder for your desk. This includes class rosters, emergency explanations (Think fire drills!), and so on.
2. Easy Formatting. Your page should be visually clean and easy to follow. Lead with vital information like schedules and class descriptions. Use bulleted action steps.
3. Clear Language. Say what you need and nothing more. Form follows function, and messy notes create chaos through confusion.
⭐️ The Template. Despite reading dozens upon dozens of sub notes, I started teaching without them. Writing them—especially when sick—proved more challenging than I thought. This is where templates shine, saving effort when you just want to sleep.
This format begins with a letter, uses a conversational tone, and provides the most important information at a glance. Like a letter, you talk to your audience. Like a reference sheet, information is easy to find. Like a recipe, action steps guide.
Class Heading. What subject(s) and grade(s) do you teach? Your sub should never have to question.
The Schedule. What should they know about each class in one to two sentences? Did you include times for delays, early releases, and convocations?
General Notes. Establish context. What information connects the class itself with today’s class? What are you doing today, big picture? Does anyone need to know when you’re gone?
Announcements. Anticipate student questions and address deadlines. What would you have said to start class? What will be delayed in your absence?
The Steps. What actions steps will your sub follow? What routines does your class include? What little things should they know?
Emergencies. Where should they go for fire drills, tornado drills, lockdowns, and more? Include phone numbers, locations, and so on.
What other factors should you consider?
Work Time. How do you handle work time? Do your students move seats? Do you allow music? Make this clear, or your students will tell tall tales.
Routines. What daily routines do your students follow? Consider scripting them early. If you write with little warning, this helps direct mental energy towards different things.
🤦♂️ No Power! Five years ago I missed a Friday to fly out for a wedding. As I landed, my co-teacher messaged and reported the school lost internet, so my sub plans failed. However, that year I taught my classes some verbal games, so a marker and a white board saved the day.
👶 Long Term Notes. This year my family welcomed our second child just after Halloween and I missed all of November (three and a half weeks). I got extremely lucky: I had the same sub from my firstborn. She knew my routines, expectations, and so on.
Regardless, I wrote a cover letter describing my courses as a whole. This conversational, FAQ format explained the long-term goals behind the daily steps. This saved time when scripting individual days and classes.
Structure. How do you sequence your course? Describe your logic and decision making.
Routine. How do you sequence each class? What routines should they follow?
Major Topics. What topics should they expect over the next however-many weeks?
Hallway Passes. What are your expectations with the hallways?
Aside: Before the baby arrived, I had sub notes on my podium that read, “In case I leave early today for baby.” Goodness, that was a weird one to type!
🤦♂️ Horror Story! Once I left my sub notes on top of a paper assignment. A student messaged through Canvas, reporting the sub said nothing and literally propped their feet on a desk and watched movies on their phone. That student passed out papers and rescued their class. Sometimes your plans fail with the wrong people.
🚨 Post Redundantly. We should post our plans online regardless, but especially so when we’re gone. I’ve lost track of how many times students report subs saying or doing literally nothing. Online plans may silently save the day. But if not, sometimes days with subs are just wasted days.
🥇 The Bottom Line. Life happens. Unless you miss for school reasons, life happening becomes why you miss and why nothing happens in your classroom. At least for a day. Sometimes our students work without us, and other times, the day off becomes a day wasted. Regardless, if we can only worry about what we can control, then we can at least write decent notes. If those notes fail for reasons beyond our power, life goes on.
You know, unless you teach Chemistry and students make chemicals go kaboom.
🆓 Templates. New to teaching? Want something different? Consider starting with or stealing my template!
🤦♂️ Shop Class. One of my first days subbing included a shop class. I was called in after the day started and found students standing on top of desks throwing paper airplanes. Let’s just say that’s the only part of the day I choose to remember!
Resources (Links)
🎁 New to the blog? Check out my recent starter pack as well as a Google Drive Folder with FREE classroom resources! Also, The Honest School Times has your schooling satire.
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