Teacher Maternity Leave
I will admit to being overwhelmed with the idea of leaving my students alone with a substitute for a long period. I have never missed more than a week in thirteen years of teaching. However, I wanted to share my journey of what I have done last school year to prepare my students and what I am doing this school year. You can read here if you want to know how I prepared to be a first-time mom.
Full disclosure, I work at a 1:1 school where 98% of my students have a laptop. I don’t want to leave a million copies for a substitute teacher, so I purposely created a classroom environment that requires technology with as few copies as possible. Students’ parents are called if they don’t get a laptop. My school also allows laptop fees to be waived with parents filling out a form so there is no issue of equity. The two percent who still don’t have a laptop are new to me or don’t attend school regularly. This school year, any student without a laptop is required to download the Canvas app (current LMS system).
I have always used an interactive notebook except for 2020-2021 with hybrid teaching. I went back to it and had no regrets. However, 99% of my assignments are on the computer. Last year students were required to do a warmup that is a google form or Kahoot for retrieval practice. I This year everything is on Canvas. I don’t make copies of assignments because they are on the learning management system (LMS) my district uses. There are zero arguments about when an assignment was turned in. I also make all of my notes in google slides so I can use Peardeck. I left the Peardeck on the LMS so absent student can get their notes.
I was lucky to secure a long-term substitute last year, so my students were able to see the same person each day last year. The students were familiar with her because she does long-term sub jobs on our campus. I was able to show her my classroom procedures before I went on break. Unfortunately, she is unable to be my substitute this year. However, my AP is pretty certain I will be able to have another long-term substitute dedicated to my campus this year.
Honestly, how did it go? It was mostly as positive as it could be. I didn’t have extremely high hopes, and I knew there would be some confusion. Somehow my students were given packets to do when all their work should have been online. Some students used the packet to not do their work online. (My department chair is aware of the issue, and we are preparing for that to not happen this time.) 80% of my students were failing when I returned. However, I was able to get 90% to pass when I returned because everything was online, and easy for them to find them. Since I teach a state-tested subject, I was able to go over what my students missed before the test. I was very blessed with a very easy-going group of students last year, and they gave the substitute no problems.
Since my maternity leave this year will fall the month before state testing, I’m hoping to teach all the state standards before I go on leave. My students will be doing review packets and review games before state testing. Since I have already incorporated review games throughout the year, I’m hoping they will do them. I’m not concerned about my passing rate because I’m hoping to have all their grades done before I go on leave. If I’m forced to take an earlier leave, I will take a breath and remember it will be fine in the end.
Here’s my list of recommendations if you need to go on maternity leave in the middle or end of the school year.
Keep your expectations realistic. I knew all my students wouldn’t do their work when I was gone. Make sure you have a plan for your grade book. Students should know their grades will reflect the work they do or don’t do when you are gone.
Train your students to be independent workers. Each day students should have to work on something by themselves. Group work is great when a teacher is there to monitor, but limit it before your maternity leave. I had laptops, so I made sure students knew where to find their work on the computer each day.
Be prepared for the worst-case scenario. I always had two weeks of emergency papers ready for my students starting at week 35. (I had no complications that would lead me to believe I would leave any earlier. If your situation is different start at week 30.)
Label your copies with dates. Put those copies in a designated area so subs and administration know what your kids are supposed to be doing.
Meet with your long-term substitute if possible. Have them see your classroom routines. This will make the transition go smoothly as possible.
Relax. You aren’t the first or last teacher to go on maternity leave! Your responsibility to your family always comes first.
