General Cleanliness
Substitutes might find it surprising, but general cleanup is a regular classroom duty! There are usually custodians who help with major messes and who do more detailed cleaning overnight, but school staff are responsible for keeping classrooms clean and tidy.
On the Senya platform, teachers often compliment substitutes who leave a tidy classroom! On the other hand, teachers also remark (and give low ratings) when they come back to a mess of a classroom.
Tips for Classroom Cleanup
Study the room before school begins.
When you first arrive in the classroom, look around the room to see where and how books, materials, devices, papers, etc. are stored.
Note the arrangement of desks or tables in the room. By the end of the day, those desks probably shifted! It helps to know where to straighten everything back up.
Also note areas that might get messy throughout the day—garbage cans, sinks, countertops, and places where materials are kept. Staying on top of those areas can prevent worse messes building up.
Look for any teacher notes about cleanup.
As you review the sub plans for the day, look for any special notes the teacher might have left about cleanup routines. This is often the case for end-of-day routines.
Use supplies wisely.
You may see cleaning supplies in the classroom, but it's important to understand that those may not be for everyday use.
For example, a teacher might have disinfecting wipes in the room but may be frustrated to find that the wipes were used up while they were away. Sometimes schools only provide a limited amount of supplies, and teachers often purchase their own, so it's best to be wise about using those things.
Using a wipe to clean up a student's nosebleed on a desk is probably a good use; giving a wipe to every student to clean their desktop would likely frustrate the teacher.
Enlist student help.
In most classrooms, students are accustomed to helping clean up the classroom, or at least their own messes. Some activities on the sub plans may be messy, and that's okay. As you circulate the room and support students, you may encourage students to clean messes as they go. Or, you may decide that it will be fine to have students do a bigger cleanup at the close of the activity (or at the end of the class).
Positive phrases work best to get student help. For younger students, it helps to be specific. For example, "I need everyone to find 3 things to clean up off the floor and put in the garbage." For older students, you can be more general. For example, "I need everyone to clean around their desk."
But whether students are older or younger, you can also point out specific things to help along students who may not be helping out. For example, "I see a pencil under your desk; let's get that picked up, please." "I see paper scraps left on your desk from the project; let's get those into the garbage, please." And so on.
Easy Cleanup Checklist
Here are some things you might look for at the end of each class or the end of the school day:
- Does the teacher have any specific cleaning tasks to end the class/day?
- Are all school devices returned and plugged in? Are they locked up (end of day)?
- Are all books and materials returned and tidy?
- Have students gotten all their belongings put away in their desks, cubbies, or backpacks?
- Are messes cleaned up off desks, tables, and common areas?
- Are messes and other items picked up off the floor?
- Did garbage all make it into the garbage can?
- Are chairs pushed in? Are they stacked or flipped over on desks for afterschool cleaning (end of day)?
