Any teachers out there??

etakreyob · January 2012

I teach Kindergarten and am already starting to think about maternity leave plans! I plan on going back after Labor Day, so that will be roughly 3 weeks that I plan for. Does anyone have an tips, suggestions, websites, etc that you have done before when you planned? Thanks!

olsentobe · January 2012

I teach 4th grade. My edd is 9/2 so I dont plan on going back till dec, but with my DS I had him in dec and went back in march. The person taking over my class shadowed me for the 2 wks before I left. She knew my routines and stayed with it which I loved. it was a very smooth transition for all those involved.

MNgirl326 · January 2012

Are you going to be on the team that picks your sub? You said that you are going back after Labor Day, so does that mean you wll be started the year or your sub will?

When I was gone, I made a big binder with information and outlines, but i left it up to the sub to come up with the daily lesson plans.

However, I was gone at the end of the year vs the beginning...so I might have done things differently if the sub was responsible for starting the year off right.

ks3pink · January 2012

We do plans by class, one teacher does them for everyone teaching that class (I teach high school). I am thinking my only concern will be entering grades but that is just a formality.

squireremillard · January 2012

The best thing I did was discuss LP with the grade level team and leave very detailed plans for the sub as far as how things generally run in your class. Your team is going to have to be very invovled at first. Since he/she will be starting the year, I'm not sure you have to much to worry about. Hopefully you get someone who has taught or subbed before. It's not like you will know your kids yet either. You should speak with other teachers at your school who have gone on maternity leave and see what they did. Don't re invent the wheel. Best of luck. I teach preK in a private setting, so there isn't much I will do before I leave as I do have an assistant. I did teach in the public school for 5 years and have also subbed. Best of luck.

sourapplemartini · January 2012

olsentobe:
The person taking over my class shadowed me for the 2 wks before I left. She knew my routines and stayed with it which I loved. it was a very smooth transition for all those involved.

I did this as a LT sub and it was great. If you have someone hired before the end of the school year see if they're willing to do that. I've also had a teacher plan the first week for me so I could get in the swing of things, and I planned from there.

etakreyob · January 2012

abartow:
Are you going to be on the team that picks your sub? You said that you are going back after Labor Day, so does that mean you wll be started the year or your sub will?

When I was gone, I made a big binder with information and outlines, but i left it up to the sub to come up with the daily lesson plans.

However, I was gone at the end of the year vs the beginning...so I might have done things differently if the sub was responsible for starting the year off right.

My due date is July 16th. We can take as long as we like, but we get 6 weeks of paid maternity leave, 8 if we have a C-Section. I'll only miss those three weeks if I stick with the 6 week plan, but I will be missing the beginning of school. I think that's what worries me the most because setting those routines in Kindergarten is so important! I'm also worried about having my room ready in time and not having much to do to get ready once the baby is born!

We use pacing guides and things to help us through our lesson plans, and my pod teachers are WONDERFUL, I'm just incredibly detailed and want everything simple and laid out :-) Thanks for all of the advice ladies!!

olsentobe · January 2012

MrsSparklebottom:

We have curriculum guides that lay out our lessons and the supplements we need to use in order, so reading and math are pretty much covered already. I will need to plan out Writing, Science, and any Social Studies my sub will need to do.

My biggest worry is classroom management. I work at a high-poverty, high-ELL/ESL population school, so management is HUGE. Plus this year's 4th graders, whom I will have next year, are kind of out of control. I'm nervous about what my classroom will look like when I get back to school.

I also teach in a high poverty area and it sounds like you are describing our 4th garders from last year, lol. When do you plan on going back???

ktusten · January 2012

I also teach Kindergarten...with my first baby he was born this past April and my student teacher who had been there since January was my maternity sub. Couldn't have been more perfect.

This time around with a due date of early August it will be quite different I am anticipating. I will be gone through the beginning of November so my thoughts are to let the sub do classroom management type things "her way" and not worry so much about MY SPECIFIC routines per say. I know when I come back in November we will be starting all over but that way she is comfortable doing it her way.

As for lesson plans we block plan in May for the next year so she will just be creating her own lesson plans off of those with my team's help.

I would have her shadow me for the last two weeks of school to get to see my classroom in action but truthfully even if they find someone in May for my position, it will change several times over the summer as those people get hired for permanant positions so what is the point?

mommabear7182 · January 2012

7th grade teacher here

Haven't thought about plans yet though.

MNgirl326 · January 2012

etakreyob:
abartow:

Are you going to be on the team that picks your sub? You said that you are going back after Labor Day, so does that mean you wll be started the year or your sub will?

When I was gone, I made a big binder with information and outlines, but i left it up to the sub to come up with the daily lesson plans.

However, I was gone at the end of the year vs the beginning...so I might have done things differently if the sub was responsible for starting the year off right.

My due date is July 16th. We can take as long as we like, but we get 6 weeks of paid maternity leave, 8 if we have a C-Section. I'll only miss those three weeks if I stick with the 6 week plan, but I will be missing the beginning of school. I think that's what worries me the most because setting those routines in Kindergarten is so important! I'm also worried about having my room ready in time and not having much to do to get ready once the baby is born!

We use pacing guides and things to help us through our lesson plans, and my pod teachers are WONDERFUL, I'm just incredibly detailed and want everything simple and laid out :-) Thanks for all of the advice ladies!!

So, make sure you are on the hiring team. Bug your principal about getting the sub hired before school gets out. Then once the person is hired, spend lots of time talking to them about what you expect for routines. If you hire someone who has some experiance, you really shouldn't have a problem. I would just make sure that you don't hire a fresh out of the box graduate.

You could also leave in your binder, step by step, routines and procedures you would like to be taught.

Finally, if you don't already have it, which I am sure you do, I would get your hands on the First Six Weeks of School by the Responsive Classroom publishers. I would make some copies of the pages for your sub and also put them in your binder.

I had quite a few LTS positions before getting hired as a teacher, and the best plans I got were ones that had information but also gave me the freedom to teach the day to day at my pace.

oprastr · January 2012

I'm a music teacher due August 30th. I am planning on going back Dec. 1 but haven't made anything official with my district yet. I will be in a bit of a predicament because there is no gurantee that they will be able to find a music sub. I plan on leaving a big binder with routines etc. because I need things running smoothly when I get back in order to prepare for a concert in a short amount of time. I am hoping that my school custodian (who is awesome by the way) will let me just leave my room set up at the end of this year so I don't have to worry about having a classroom set-up for a sub.

sammiesjd414 · January 2012

I agree with the above poster:

I had quite a few LTS positions before getting hired as a teacher, and the best plans I got were ones that had information but also gave me the freedom to teach the day to day at my pace.

For my first LTS position, the teacher showed me her binders and materials, then listed out the remaining units and subjects that needed to be covered. I then had some freedom, but wasn't left hanging. If your sub is hired before the end of the school year, I would encourage him or her to come visit your classroom this spring. The sub needs to have some freedom in routines etc, but I think it is important to make sure you set the same boundaries and have similar structure, or else the transition will be harder for you and the students.

mshaw17 · January 2012

I also teach 4th grade. Make sure the first thing you do is read over your contract thoroughly, and if you are in a union, meet with a rep.

amykins1283 · January 2012

I had to write approximately 6 weeks of lesson plans when I went out (also kindergarten). It was the end of the year so I just planned a lot of really simple review/1st grade preview activities. I also made a table in Powerpoint that could contain a whole weeks lesson plan on one page so I didn't have tons of pages for the sub to look through. I included a class list, a specials schedule and class schedule, a list of helpful people in the building, and notes on any of my problematic or special needs students as well as a schedule of pull out for ESOL and Resource. I also gathered materials for the lessons and put them into labeled gallon Ziploc baggies and stored them in file folders in a small plastic file box.

I also had a paraprofessional who could run the class with her eyes closed. That helped a ton!

erbear · January 2012

I was out 9 weeks of the school year. My sub came in 2 weeks before my due date to shadow and see how everything worked. I left her detailed lesson plans, handouts, etc. in binders.

I teach 8th.

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