- Tuesday 26 July 2016
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Relief teaching is hard work. The students may be unfamiliar to you just as you are unfamiliar to them and, of course, they will take advantage of you if they can. Use the day as a chance to show off your relief-teaching prowess!
These tips may make your relief teaching days easier:
- Have a relief-teaching bag or box packed with things to use during the day including the following:
- a collection of stories to read to young children or a chapter novel for older students
- theme packs with activities for each key learning area because quite often the classroom teacher will not have left you any work for the class to go on with
- a repertoire of songs and action rhymes as attention-grabbers for young students
- games, brain teasers and brain breaks for older students.
- Be prepared and have a back-up plan in case the classroom teacher hasn't provided a lesson plan, and have a bag full of numeracy or literacy-related games, in case you find yourself with a group of disengaged or early-finishing students.
- Arrive early, particularly if it's a new school, to find your classroom and familiarise yourself with its setup, photocopy any worksheets you need, and to find out what playground duty roster you are on.
- Establish contacts and relationships with staff and teachers—you never know what this could lead to!
- Discuss or reinforce the classroom rules in the morning, as soon as the children arrive. No matter what you teach, the main battle is effective behaviour management—show them who's boss!
- Set up your own reward system for the day and add to it constantly. Alternatively you can use the teacher's if you know it. Many schools use ClassDojo and it is very effective.
- Ensure any work you give the students is marked before the day finishes. Leave a report for the regular teacher detailing how each student has performed.
- To get relief teaching work in the first place, dress in your best professional outfit and drop off a resume in person at every school you want to work at. It's all about establishing contacts and relationships.
- Relax and enjoy your time with the students. One of the advantages of relief teaching is the absence of pressure of having to constantly assess the students, so have some fun with them and take the time to get to know them. Don't forget to bring your personality!
For extra support, ideas, and networking in general, check out the following Facebook groups/pages:
- Relief teaching ideas community
- Surviving casual teaching
- Casual Relief teachers
- RTI Daily casual teaching listings
Check out the range of relief teaching resources available from R.I.C.—including quizzes, early finisher activities, relief teacher packs and more!