WARNING! This website is no longer actively maintained. It is an archive of 2 years work by Doug Belshaw who now blogs at dougbelshaw.com...
This week, as some of your are aware, has been my first week as a supply teacher. Although it’s early days there’s some advice I’d like to pass on about what I consider to be good practice… 
As far as I see it, a good supply teacher needs to practice the 5 P’s:
- Preparation
- Punctuality
- Proactive discipline
- Praise
- Publicity
Preparation: the very nature of supply work means that you need to be flexible. For example, I was told I would be covering History for four out of five days this week, but I ended up covering Art, Geography, History and invigilating exams. Make sure you’ve got something up your sleeve that pupils can be getting on with whilst you sort out what to do for the main body of the lesson. Whiteboard-based starters (e.g. ‘odd-one-out’ relating to the topic) are useful. Also look at free resources on the Internet for ideas (e.g. Chalkface have a selection of try-before-you-buy worksheets). Try to get in the classroom before pupils arrive so you can, to some extent, make it ‘your domain’. It always helps if you can have put your name, the date and the title of the lesson on the board!
Punctuality: it goes without saying that schools want to know where you are. Although it’s tempting to roll in as close to 9am as possible, it’s only polite and courteous to endeavour to be there earlier. Also, punctuality for lessons is important as it can avoid potential discipline problems with pupils.
Proactive discipline: pupils need to know what their boundaries are as, although there’ll be school-wide expectations, there are obviously differences between individual teachers. Showing from the start that you mean business (if necessary by singling one pupil out) can lead to a much more productive lesson. The usual teaching tricks of positioning oneself in the correct place in the classroom, making sure pupils stay on task by checking they understand what to do, etc. all apply. Make sure you have checked before the start of the lesson where you can ‘park’ any pupils persistently disrupting the lesson.
Praise: if you’re being strong on what not to do (i.e. discipline) you’ve also got to be strong on what pupils should be doing (i.e. praise). I’ve got a ‘Mr Belshaw says well done’ stamp from SuperStickers.com which pupils (especially at KS3) love. Using these to reward good answers to questions, finishing a block of work, etc. can give pupils something to work towards, and therefore get them ‘onboard’.
Publicity: as a supply teacher you’ve got to sell yourself - you’re effectively a freelance teacher constantly on the lookout for work. Being polite and pleasant to staff at the school obviously helps your cause in being asked back, but there’s a couple of other things you can do. Firstly, provide feedback for each lesson on a customised feedback form with your name at the bottom. Make it look professional and give details of what the pupils did, any problems you had but also what the pupils did well. Secondly, if you have a free lesson or some spare time throughout the day, ask the Head of Department/Faculty if there’s any way you can help. Large brownie points tend to accrue for this… 
Popularity: 4% [?]
