It’s easy to forget that cold and flu season is upon us when it’s still 95 degrees outside. Nevertheless, winter is coming and, along with it, the dreaded Teacher Absence.

In my early teaching years, my sub folder sucked. I filled out the single sheet that the office lady gave me at pre-service training, then pretty much prayed I never had to be gone. I didn’t have kids of my own to nurse through whatever catastrophic virus Mother Nature served up back then. If I got sick, I just dragged myself to school, put in a VHS tape, and waited for the 3:20pm bell. As any teacher will tell you, it’s more work to be gone than to just come to school.

Even so, there were times–usually something gastrointestinal–when I couldn’t come to work. It usually went badly, but everyone survived. When I moved into special education, I had to step up my game. A lot. If you are a special education teacher, and particularly a behavior teacher, you need to foresee as many possible problems as you can prior to needing to be absent. Trust me, there will be enough unforeseen dumpster fires to muck up the works; no need to set anything ablaze ahead of time.

15-ish years in, and my sub folder is ON POINT. I could describe all its handy features for you here, but it’ll be better if you check it out for yourself. We have different bell schedules for different days of the week, so my sub folder has special sections for each type of day (Traditional, Odd Block, and Even Block).

Take 5 minutes to check out my sub folder notes, then come back…

Okay.

Let me summarize some common thoughts my colleagues have expressed about my sub folder:

1. “I can’t ever be as organized as you.” (Yes, you can.)
2. “That’s too much work.” (But only the first year; every year after is a couple of tiny edits.)
3. “OMG. Don’t you have hobbies?” (No. Special education is my only hobby.)
4. “Subs aren’t stupid. They’ll figure it out!” (Why do that to them, though…?)
5. “I’m SPED. My co-teachers will handle it.” (They have enough to do without having to sort out your sub.)

Don’t make a bunch of lame excuses! Get your sub folder in order NOW, before you succumb to the Barfing, Pooping Plague. Nobody wants to visualize you scrambling to send out your current co-teaching schedule via iPad from your toilet. A little bit of prep work now means you can pray for a merciful death on the bathroom floor in peace later.

Happy hand washing, and welcome back to school!