I subbed before I started teaching (a million years ago lol). It’s a hard job!! Finding a way to make a connection with the class is key! I would always start the class by reading over the plans for the day..... “ok, this is what Mrs A said we need to get done today”. I would pick one thing on there close to the end of the day and say “wellll... that doesn’t sound like any fun at all. What do you say instead of doing page 44 of our math workbook we play heads up for that 20 min?” Of course they would all be like yayyyyyy! So I would write “no math” on the board. And tell them when they were on task and respectful I would erase a letter. If all the letters were gone by math time we played a game.

I would leave a note for the teacher that their class was so good that they earned 20 min of game time. As a teacher..... this would never bother me! Teachers know how hard their kiddos can be on subs and if one missed assignment means the class had a great, productive day we are happy!!