Teacher Tuesday: notes from subs

It's Teacher Tuesday! Yesterday I told you about my daughter who was sick last week. Naturally, I had a substitute in for me for 2 days. Whenever I write sub plans, I always leave a section for the teacher to leave specific feedback about each class: how many letters did the class earn (see my post on my letter system for behavior management), any particularly difficult students, and additional notes. When I see the class next, I discuss their behavior with them to reinforce the expectations I have for any time I am out.

I used to just keep the page with all the notes on my music stand next to my clip board and check them off as I talked to each of the classes. The problem was I would inevitably forget to talk to one or two, and by the following class the discussion was pretty much useless because too much time had gone by. Enter washi tape!

I cut out the notes for each class and stuck them straight onto the seating chart for that class with a piece of washi tape. When that class came in, the notes were right there on the seating chart to remind me to talk to them. After I talked to them, I took it off and tossed it.

In case you don't know about washi tape, the beauty of the stuff is that it leaves no residue, is repositionable, and still sticks like regular tape. So I can stick things onto paper and know that I can take it off again without ripping the paper. I use it for so many things, but this is another great way to use it in a practical way! The system worked perfectly. I remembered to talk to every class, and I never had to worry that I had forgotten which classes I missed.

Do you go over notes from subs with your classes? How do you keep track of them all? Are you as addicted to washi tape as I am?!? Leave a comment :)