Connecting Your Substitutes to Mission and Vision

Why do you go to work in the morning? What puts the wind in your sails each day?

Your school or district surely has a mission and vision, relayed as both high ideals and manageable goals — from “empowering all students equitably” to “increase the graduation rate to 100% in the following school year.” Good leaders know that staff members need the chance to connect to that mission to strive towards it in their work. Full-time teachers are most often given that chance — but what about substitute teachers?

In your district, have substitute teachers been invited to learn, internalize and buy into the school’s mission?

Share your mission-driven goals with substitutes

If a goal is to “increase graduation rate to 100% in the following school year,” every substitute teacher on staff should know this goal and understand how their work contributes to the school’s success — or failure —towards it. When teachers are absent and substitutes enter the classroom, are they prepared and motivated to work toward that goal? Or does your district simply see them as a way to keep students out of trouble until the teacher returns? On average, a teacher is absent for more than 10 days each year, leaving substitutes to take over for at least two weeks of class time. When you help substitutes connect to the goals that have been set, they’ll be able to more meaningfully contribute.

Communicate your milestones for each goal with substitutes

Some goals might be smaller and more immediate than others. For instance, where “empower students equitably” is a lofty ideal, equitable preparation towards student assessment might be a granular method of reaching that goal. In this example:

• How might substitutes be able to help teachers carry out this method?
• Do substitutes know to which accountability measures the teachers they’re supporting are held?
• Do substitutes understand how the lesson plans they’re carrying out support this method?

When you communicate this information to your substitutes, they can do the work across classrooms, subjects, and grades throughout the year with understanding — and feel good about it.

Offer confidence through high expectations

You might think that expecting substitutes to take ownership of your school’s mission could be asking too much — that it would keep them from wanting to work in your district. But in practice, this isn’t the case.

People respond to a challenge. A job with low expectations may be “easy,” but it’s not fulfilling. Substitutes are educators. They want to come alongside the mission of your school. They want purpose in what they do every day. If you bring them onto the team and help them believe in the vision for your school and its students, they’ll rise to the task.