How to Make an Easy Emergency Lesson Plan for High School Science

August 31, 2022

Emergency Lesson Plan

Have you been putting off making an emergency lesson plan? I can totally relate. I thought that was just one more thing on my to-do list and besides, couldn’t I just throw something together if I needed to?

So.I.Thought.

Last year my mother-in-law passed away right before Christmas and I was out for several days. And guess what? I did NOT have an emergency lesson plan. I was not in the mental or emotional state to deal with lesson planning. I, fortunately, have the best admin on earth and she said don’t worry-we got it! Had I not have had an amazing support team at work, I would have been up a creek without a paddle.

That is when I FINALLY decided to gather together my teacher emergency lesson plans.

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Ideas for Substitute Lesson Plans

In the grand scheme of things, we know the kids will survive if you have an emergency. So we are not shooting for elaborate lesson planning here. We are trying to have a game plan ready for our students so that it takes the strain off of you and the other staff members you work with. So let’s talk about what to include.

First | Contact Info and Schedule for the Emergency Sub

I made a template that I save on my laptop so that I can just change the information each semester or year. If you teach multiple classes, it is good for you to have the class changes as well as the class and grade of the students. You may also want to include a few trusted students in case you need a helper.

Second | Activities

In my opinion, it would be the easiest for you to have the same activities for all of your classes, regardless of the class and grade. This simplifies your emergency lesson plan and there is no question of which assignment goes with which class. Since I teach Biology and Anatomy, any assignments can somewhat go together for other classes. I provide an article on Botox with questions for my students to answer. Then, I have some graphing exercises that practice identifying variables and analyzing the data. I do not go overboard with the work, but I do want to include enough that students will be working the entire class period.

Third | Copies for your classes

The last thing you want to have to worry about is getting another teacher to make copies for your students. Once you have your rosters, definitely make enough copies for each activity for all of your students.

Overall, the main goal of an emergency lesson plan is to ensure your students are taken care of in your immediate and unexpected absence. It also ensures there will not be an increased burden on the other faculty members in your school or department.

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