Google Docs to take the stress out of the sub plan!

Let's be honest with ourselves for a moment.  Every teacher has had that day they weren't planning on missing.  After all, life just has a way of happening.  From personal or family illness to the frozen pipe that finally busted, there is naturally a time we can't make it in to teach our class.  And that's when the panic sets in . . . "How am I going to get sub plans completed and to the sub?"

Sure, most teachers have that teammate or back up person that will help them out.  But even that seems to have that edge of not wanting to bother the other person or be a burden.

Once again, GAFE has given me a solution to make life less stressful.  And once again, this is going to be a blog post that doesn't go overly deep into the SAMR model or blows your mind in its creativity.  However, the practicality of this idea made it worth sharing.

I have created a Google Doc.  This is the doc I will use every time I have an unexpected sub.  I went into the share setting of my doc and created a link. This is a pretty standard way of sharing a doc with multiple people but here is a screenshot to confirm to what I am referring:

I also made certain I changed the setting to anyone with a link can view.

On my sub-folder, I have a section which gives this link to my sub. They just have to type in the link in the browser, and they have access to my sub plans.  So now, if there is ever a day I am unable to make it in to work, I can type the sub plans on my document wherever I happen to be (yes I've had to type sub plans from an ER room).  The sub can access the document on the computer in my classroom and I don't have to stress about getting the plans there, emailing them to a colleague, or one of the other back up plans I used to have.

It's important to note in order for this strategy to work, one has to be in the habit of leaving your sub-folder in an easy to find place on a daily basis.  I actually leave my sub folder right on my desk every day when I leave because, well, you just never know!

If anyone reading this has an even better idea, please share!  But to date, this is the most convenient approach I have found.