Simplify substitute planning with IXL

Educator Insights, In the Classroom

Sheila Berger brings nearly a decade of educational experience to her role as a Professional Learning Specialist. Sheila has worked in Arizona and Illinois as both a classroom teacher and an instructional coach for grades Pre-K all the way to 12th grade, with a focus on supporting ELL students, new teacher induction programs, and curriculum development.

Keep your class on track while you’re away with an IXL substitute plan! IXL takes the heavy lifting out of preparing for your absences, streamlines substitute duties, and makes it easy to catch up on students’ progress once you’ve returned. 

Broken down into three simple stages, you’ll have everything you need to maintain class momentum on your days off. 

Table of contents:

Before you leave: Plan for your absence

Select students’ skills

Keep your students working toward your learning goals on sub days by assigning IXL skills! Just click the star button next to each skill, and the skills will show up on students’ personal dashboards. 

It’s also a good idea to share your list of skill assignments with your sub, including the three-character skill IDs. That way, your sub can easily circulate and check that students are working on the correct material.

When choosing which skills to assign, IXL has a variety of ready-made resources that you can leverage on your days off:

  • IXL skill plans: Perfectly aligned to your textbooks and state standards, IXL’s skill plans give you the exact skills you need to support your curriculum. Try assigning a few reinforcement skills to fit in extra practice on key concepts.
  • IXL action plans: If your students use the IXL LevelUp™ Diagnostic or IXL Flex Diagnostic to pinpoint their knowledge levels, have them work on skills from their IXL action plans. These plans contain personalized skill recommendations to help each student grow from where they are and close learning gaps.
  • Recommendations wall: For extra ownership over their learning, let students choose skills from their Recommendations wall. Like a personalized playlist, every skill recommendation is based on their recent IXL practice to target their trouble spots, introduce them to new topics, and more!

Set class expectations

After selecting skills, share a slide deck or print out a list of student goals for your substitute to follow and reference while you’re away.

For example, if you want your students to reach a SmartScore of 80, or proficiency, during skill practice, explain the goal and note that your sub should look for the blue proficiency ribbon on students’ screens.

By establishing class expectations, your sub will have clear objectives to maximize learning and keep students actively engaged!

While you’re out: Support your sub, empower your students

Share teaching tools

Provide your sub with a list of IXL’s instructional resources that they can lean on if students get stuck during skill practice.

Here are a few ideas to blend substitute support with student self-remediation:

  • Step-by-step answer explanations: When students miss a question, they receive a detailed walkthrough of the exact problem they got wrong. Subs can help students navigate these explanations to facilitate student understanding and work out the correct answer together.
  • In-skill recommendations: If a student is struggling with the concept in a particular skill, subs can direct students to the in-skill recommendations at the bottom of the page. Working on these foundational skills will help the student fill their knowledge gap!
  • Video tutorials: Available for many math and ELA skills, video tutorials are a great tool to support independent practice. Subs can encourage students to watch these expert-led instructional videos to learn strategies for the exact skill they’re working through.

Promote student accountability

Empower students to take ownership of their learning by having your sub incorporate a “3, 2, 1” reflection at the end of IXL work time. Students can complete this activity on paper or digitally in three easy steps:

  • 3: Students list three things they learned during their skill practice.
  • 2: Students identify two areas they found challenging and might need additional practice on.
  • 1: Students write one question they have about a topic they studied.

Plus, this reflection is a handy resource for you to review once you return!

When you’re back: Get up to speed quickly

Review detailed reporting

IXL Analytics gives you comprehensive reporting in an easy-to-digest format, enabling you to quickly catch up on students’ progress while you were gone.

For the fastest overview, navigate to the Students Quickview report, and use the “Date Range” filter to view student data for the timeframe that you were absent. At the top of the report, you’ll get a detailed, classwide summary of what students worked on, plus you can check on each individual student’s progress in the “Students” list below. 

Bonus idea: Celebrate student success

Based on students’ IXL practice and 3, 2, 1 reflections, take time to acknowledge your students’ achievements while you were away! This positive reinforcement can motivate continued engagement in their learning.

With an IXL substitute plan in place, you can confidently step away from your classroom knowing that you, your sub, and your students have everything you need for a successful school day. 

For more ways IXL can support you and your class, explore IXL’s Teacher Resources!