Maternity Leave

Us Tech Twins have had a very exciting 2017. Samantha had a baby girl this late winter and Nichole is expecting a baby girl this early Fall! We both are thrilled about motherhood and look forward to these beautiful and exciting life changes. Maternity leave is something to look forward to on a personal level but as secondary educators its also stressful because we know a lot of preparation is ahead of us.

​As teachers we want to make sure our students are still receiving a proper education even though we aren’t personally in the classroom to educate them. Long-term subs are great and we understand that once they are in the classroom they are now the teacher. However, us Tech Twins like to provide our long-term subs with all the materials to cover our class with little stress. It can't be easy to walk into a classroom and take over multiple classes, for 6-12 weeks, without any resources and curriculum to help them. That’s why we created the Maternity Leave Bundle for other secondary educators.

We did a lot of research on Maternity Leave and most of the information we found was for Elementary teachers, not Secondary teachers. Therefore, after a lot of research, time, and effort we feel very confident leaving our classes to our long-term subs. We want to share what worked for our planning with fellow secondary educators who too are in the same position as us.

As we all know babies can make a random appearance at anytime, so its best to be prepared. Samantha teaches a total of 6 different preps at her high school. All but 2 of her classes are 9 weeks long. Samantha’s maternity leave fell at the end of the 3rd 9 weeks and the beginning  of the 4th 9 weeks. Because of these circumstances she had to make sure the long-term sub could take over at any point in her 3rd 9 weeks classes and begin her 4th nine week classes. Nichole teaches 4 preps at her school and she has to plan an entire semester worth of materials for all of her classes. This is because her due date falls at a time where she could be gone towards the beginning of the semester or be gone the 2nd half of the semester. Preparing an entire semesters worth of materials allows the long term subs to be able to pick up where ever we left off in our classes. 

Here is what we provided for our long term subs.

1. A video over how we organized our lesson plans for all our classes.
2. Video of what the binders look like when it’s all put together!
3. A binder for every class taught, the following documents are included:
   1. Instructions on how the class works, and what’s included in this folder.
   2. USB Drive with all digital materials.
   3. Class syllabus.
   4. Class objectives outline.
   5. All the course unit plans, lessons, and activities in order.
      1. In the unit plans we have found that leaving very detailed lesson plans really helps the subs be successful. This way they know exactly what is to be taught. This will take some time to prep for all your unit plans but in the long run it will leave you and the sub stress free. 

​ 4. A “Maternity Leave” Binder with the following documents in it:

1. Cover
2. Thank You Page
3.  Long-Term Sub Information
4. Class Schedule
5. Classroom Calendar
6. School Information 
7. Logins & Passwords
8. Grading Information
9. Sub Plans
10. Class Roster/Seating Charts
11. Student Information
12. District Calendar
13. Printers
14. Any other documents you find important for your sub to be successful in your room.

​If you too are going to be taking maternity leave in your near future and are interested in having these materials, you can purchase this bundle by clicking on the tab below. And congratulations to those those expecting!

Maternity Leave Bundle