thinkhard.SI

Prompt repository Teaching & training

Write plans for a substitute teacher

You need a day's plans a substitute can follow without you there.

Registry no.
EDU-012
Collection
Teaching & training
Laid out for
Any chat model
Score
10 out of 10
Blanks to fill
6
Added

Teaching & trainingAny chat

The prompt

Score 10 of 10, Excellent

Use it when You need a day's plans a substitute can follow without you there.

  • {{date}}
  • {{schedule}}
  • {{lesson_content}}
  • {{routines}}
  • {{student_support}}
  • {{emergency_info}}
Full prompt and why it works
Prompt
Write plans for a substitute teacher covering my classes on {{date}}. The substitute has never been in my classroom and may not know the subject, so they should be able to run the whole day from this document alone and read the key parts in ten minutes before the first class.

Schedule (times, classes, rooms):
"""
{{schedule}}
"""

What each class should do, and where the materials are:
"""
{{lesson_content}}
"""

Routines (attendance, bathroom passes, devices, dismissal):
"""
{{routines}}
"""

Students who need specific support, written as instructions the substitute must follow:
"""
{{student_support}}
"""

Emergency procedures and who to contact (a nearby teacher, the office):
"""
{{emergency_info}}
"""

Format, with headings:
1. At a glance: contacts, where things are, and the three most important things to know.
2. Schedule: a table with the columns Time, Class, Room, What students do, Materials and where they are.
3. One section per class: numbered steps with timings, the exact instructions to read aloud to students in quotation marks, what to collect, and a task for early finishers.
4. Routines.
5. Student support: only what the substitute needs to act on, with first names, on its own page marked confidential so it stays with the substitute rather than on a desk.
6. Emergency procedures.
7. A short end-of-day note for the substitute to fill in: what was finished, absences, any problems, and students who were helpful.

Keep the whole document under 1,200 words, in short sentences that are easy to scan.

Rules:
- Use only the information above. Do not invent room numbers, names, phone extensions, procedures or medical instructions.
- Plan activities a non-specialist can run. If a lesson needs subject expertise to teach new content, turn it into practice or review of the material given, and tell me you did.
- For any activity that needs devices, include a paper backup if the materials allow; if they do not, flag it.

If anything a substitute needs is missing, such as the fire exit route or where a key is kept, do not guess: write [TEACHER TO ADD: what is needed] in its place, and list all of these at the end.

Variables

{{date}}
The day or days the substitute covers.
{{schedule}}
Each period or block with its time, class and room.
{{lesson_content}}
What each class should do, and where the materials, copies and answer keys are.
{{routines}}
How you take attendance, handle passes and devices, and dismiss students.
{{student_support}}
Only what the substitute must act on, such as medical plans or seating needs, with first names. Write "none" if there is nothing.
{{emergency_info}}
Emergency procedures, the nearest teacher to ask, and how to reach the office.

Why it works

  • What good looks like. The plans must work for someone who has never seen your room and has ten minutes to read them, which forces the key facts to the top.
  • What to avoid. No invented room numbers, extensions or medical instructions, and lessons that need a specialist become practice a substitute can run.
  • If unsure. Anything missing becomes a [TEACHER TO ADD] line and goes on one list, so you can fill the gaps before you leave.

How to use it

  1. Press Fill in variables and type your details into each blank. What you type stays in this browser.
  2. Copy the filled prompt into the AI tool you already use, such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, or open it in the Grader or the Prompt Tester here.
  3. Before you rely on it, try it on three or four real examples. The Prompt Tester runs them all at once and shows which ones go wrong.