Survival guide · for Sample Teacher's room · grade 7-10 · Thursday, Jan 1
Your day with this class
Before the bell
- Find the emergency folder (roster, paper packets) where the teacher said it is.
- Write the website and today's class codes on the board, large.
- Put the seating chart on the desk and keep it there all day.
- Check the device cart: count the Chromebooks so you know how many packets to hand out.
- Stand at the door before the bell.
Expectations (say these first)
- Voices off when an adult is talking.
- Stay in your seat unless you have the pass.
- Do your best work and show it.
Attention signal: Say "1-2-3 eyes on me"; students answer "1-2 eyes on you". Practice it once as a game in the first minute.
The first five minutes
| Say | Do |
|---|---|
| “Good morning. I'm your sub today. Your teacher left a plan and we're following it exactly.” | Smile, name on the board, scan the room. |
| “Three things today: voices off when I'm talking, stay in your seat, do your best work.” | Point to the three lines on the board. |
| “Open your Chromebook, go to the website on the board, and type the code.” | Start the first task within four minutes of the bell. |
Transitions: say it before it happens
- Two minutes before every break: "In one minute we'll stop. When I say go, close your Chromebook, push in your chair, and line up at the door with your hands to yourself. I'll be watching for the quietest table."
Lines that work
- “Our teacher lets us…” → “Maybe so. Today we're following the plan she left.”
- “I'm done.” → “Show me. Then the extension at the bottom of the page.”
- “This is boring / I don't get it.” → “Write down the question for your teacher and try the next one.”
- “Can I go to the bathroom?” → “One at a time with the pass.”
- “(a content question you can't answer)” → “Great question. Write it in the note so your teacher sees it.”
This room
- Bathroom: one at a time with the pass.
- No running in the room.
If a student pushes back (least to most)
- Walk toward it.
- A look.
- A quiet private word.
- Restate the expectation with a choice: "You can work here or at the back table."
- Call the office.
Never
- Leave the room with students in it.
- Show a video or search the internet for material.
- Change the seating chart.
- Use the teacher's computer or accounts.
- Let students out early.
- Take a student's phone by force.
- Touch a student to move them.
- Promise a consequence the teacher hasn't set.
The end of the day
- Write three things in the note box: who was absent, what went well, anything odd.
- Leave the room the way you found it; packets on the teacher's desk.
- Chromebooks back in the cart, plugged in.