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When a teacher is unable to come to class, it’s a big problem.

Principals panic at the idea of classes running wild without a teacher.

That’s where you come in to save the day.

Even though you don’t wear a super-suit, you’ve got the teaching skills, the state certification, and the attitude to be the perfect substitute teacher.

You know how to supervise classes big and small, grade tests, and plan lessons.

The only problem? The school principal doesn’t know just how amazing an educator you are.

The best solution? A substitute-teacher resume that wows school administrators with your educational talent.

But just like math class, it’s often easier said than done.

So we’ve crafted an ultimate substitute teacher resume guide with everything you need to know:

• An easy formula to write a resume that will get you 3x the number of interviews.
• Secret tips and advice that will help you stand out from the crowd.
• A sub-teacher resume example that is better than 91% of other resumes.
• What soft and hard skills will show schools that you’ll bring their students to the next level.
• How to write up your experience and education to land your dream job.
• A definitive answer to the question of what should a substitute teacher put on their resume.

Want to skip the theory and get started with your own resume now? Try our resume builder. Choose a template, drag & drop substitute teacher resume bullet points, and autofill the rest. It’s quicker than a multiple-choice pop quiz.

Before we start with all the theory, let’s look at a substitute teacher resume sample that is top of the class.

The following sample resume for a substitute teacher should provide you with some helpful inspiration for your own document

Resume Example

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[Francis Silva]

[Licensed Substitute Teacher]

[4779 Grant Street, 75566, TX | 903-635-0145 | francissilva@gmail.com]

Summary

Substitute teacher with a Texas teaching license and proven skills in K-12 education seeking to further education excellence at Fox Winds High School. Skilled in classroom management, lesson planning, and special education. Received 98% positive feedback from teachers. Frequently commended for the ability to prepare lessons on short notice and to engage students from the first class.

Member of the National Education Association.

Experience

Substitute Teacher

Highland Falls School | Houston, TX 2019 – 2021

• Performed all key teaching duties such as tracking attendance, grading homework, planning lessons, creating projects, and organizing tests.
• Increased student grades by 26% in the 2019 school year after filling in for an entire semester for a teacher that was on maternity leave.
• Attained short-term and long-term substitute teaching objectives for English, Math, and Science subjects in K-12 age groups.
• Consistently commended for classroom management skills, timeliness, and ability to prepare and adhere to original lesson plans.
• Helped coach the middle-school soccer team and tutored special education students.
• Managed classes of 30+ students in 8th and 9th grade on very short notice when instructors were not present due to emergencies or illnesses.
• Communicated student updates and developments to returning teachers.

Education

Bachelor of Science in Education

The University of Texas at Austin | Austin, Texas 2013 – 2016

Achieved 3.8 GPA.

Worked as teacher’s assistant in “Lesson Planning”, graded papers on a weekly basis. Tutored other students in social studies and the arts.
Relevant coursework: curriculum development, special education, instructional technology, and educational psychology.

Skills

• Teaching strategies
• School safety
• Special education
• Classroom management
• Bullying prevention
• Public speaking
• Time management

Certifications

• Texas Teacher Certification
• ALICE School Safety Training Certification

Volunteer Work

Teach rock climbing to teenagers once a week at Stone Claw Climbing.

Monthly K-8 mentor at Orchid Day School, Austin.

Publications

“Teaching in the Era of Remote Learning” The Digital Education Blog.

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Without a well-made curriculum, teaching becomes 10x harder.

The same is true for your substitute teacher resume.

You need a Cliff Notes level structure that ensures your information is well-presented and clearly visible to assistant principals grading your application.

Use a reverse-chronological format to score high on these criteria.

This layout puts your work history first, followed by your education, skills, and additional sections. It’s the most common type of resume used, and it’s always a safe bet.

Let’s take a look at the section order for this type of formatting:

Luckily, we’ve summed it all up for you below, just like in math class.

Substitute Teacher Resume Formatting Tips

Here are the most important formatting guidelines when crafting a substitute teacher resume template:

• Layout: use a reverse-chronological resume format to highlight your experience
• Font: make it 11-12pt for body text and 2-4pts larger for section headings
• Use a recognizable professional typeface such as Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, Georgia, or Times New Roman
• Margins: set a one-inch margin on all four sides of your document. You should leave a good amount of white space at the borders
• Line spacing: use a single line space or 1.15 format throughout all paragraphs 
• Subheadings: add an extra space both before the heading of each section and after it
• File type: save your document as a substitute teacher resume PDF, unless the job ad asks for a different type of formatting
• Dates: use the same date format throughout the resume
• Photo: Only include a photo if the job description asks you to. If you remain unsure, check resume guidelines for the country in which you’re submitting an application

Want more help with formatting your resume? See our guide: “Best Resume Format: Samples for All Types of Resumes”.

You believe education is the key to success.

Your dream is to guide the next generation as it grows right before your very eyes.

But how do you bring this across to recruiters?

With a resume summary or resume objective.

This is an opening paragraph that summarizes 3 to 4 of your proudest accomplishments and skills in a few concise sentences.

It also proves some of your claims with relevant stats and numbers. It’s your chance to get the assistant principal’s attention and to get them to read the rest of your resume.

Substitute Teacher Resume Summary Example

Got years of teaching experience in your school bag?

Use a resume summary.

See the difference?

Yes, the bad example might be a bit over-the-top bad, but you get the idea.

A good substitute teacher resume summary is always tailored to the role, straight-to-the-point, and has at least one quantifiable achievement. Not to mention all those juicy teaching keywords.

How to Write an Entry-Level Substitute Teacher Resume Objective

Don’t have much teaching experience yet? Making a first-time substitute teacher resume?

No worries, we’ve got you covered with a secret study trick:

The resume objective.

This is a short, personalized paragraph that, instead of your teaching history, focuses on your goals and passion for the role.

It, too, includes impressive figures, accomplishments, and relevant skills which can be transferred from past jobs and schooling.

Entry-Level Substitute Teacher Resume Objectives

The first sample for a substitute teacher resume with no experience will get you assigned to detention duty.

The second one is perfect.

It shows the candidate’s commitment to a teaching career and mentions tailored accomplishments from other experiences. Let’s give this sample an A+,

The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the employment of high school teachers will grow by 8% from 2020 to 2030.

About 77,400 openings for high school teachers are projected each year, on average, over the decade.

And that’s just for high school. Imagine the numbers when you take into consideration preschool, middle school, or even college teaching positions.

But higher demand also means higher competition. So, you’ve got to make sure to pack a lunch and give some extra bite to your substitute resume.

Prove your relevant experience with all the key substitute teacher resume responsibilities via an experience section —even if you’re just starting out.

When writing substitute teacher job descriptions for your resume, you’ll need to use a few bullet points to detail your past achievements and duties.

If you don’t have any sub-teaching experience yet, include other jobs you’ve done, or try out a functional resume layout to emphasize your skills instead.

For each job experience, you’ll also need to add relevant sub-teacher skills (scroll down to find a list).

Use powerful action verbs to jumpstart your sentences and engage the reader.

Here are a few you can use:

Action Verbs

Now let’s look at some examples to put this into practice.

Substitute Teacher Resume Examples: Experience

Are your teaching senses tingling?

Can you guess which one of these scored high marks and whose dog ate their homework?

The first example fails to quantify past accomplishments and barely speaks to the candidate’s teaching chops or to the job posting.

On the other hand, the second substitute teacher resume description mixes relevant duties with notable accomplishments.

If you’re making a substitute teacher resume with no experience, try to find ways to relate one of your past work experiences to the job role.

Or scroll down to see how you can show your potential through education and additional sections instead.

Want to skip the boring stuff? Try our resume builder. It’ll make the process 5x faster while making sure you have all the content you need to pass any hiring process with flying colors.

You’re the kind of teacher who wears sunglasses to school because your students are so bright.

But what you need right now is to show how bright YOU are to recruiters.

What’s the best way to do that?

By getting the most out of your education section. There’s more to making a doc that will get you hired than learning how to describe substitute teacher work history.

However, simply jotting down your educational history isn’t enough. You need to take real notes here to pass the test.

You need to add the following:

• School name
• Location of your studies
• Numbered academic accomplishments
• Key information that fits the job posting

Take a look at these two sub teacher resume examples to get the hang of it:

Substitute Teacher Resume Education Section

Luckily, if you’re applying for a substitute teacher position, a high school diploma will often be enough to get hired.

If you don’t have a college degree, or you’re in the process of completing it, note it. Then, include your high school credentials.

Here’s how:

Notice how they added in some key highlights?

That’s sure to impress recruiters.

On the other hand, if you’ve already got a college degree, skip out on adding your high school diploma.

But don’t write up your college education like this:

While this candidate added some extra info, it’s bland and doesn’t bring much value. We could call that the “old college try”.

Here’s a much better example:

The principal just dropped their copy of “Democracy and Education”.

This example fits the job like a glove, with tailored info and numbered wins that show the applicant’s value.

However, if you’ve got a lot of experience under your belt, you’ll be better off saving space for your work history, and leaving out most of the extra content (apart from the key facts).

Anyway, school recruiters will be looking more at your experience than your academic record.

Just make sure you’ve got the necessary certifications and licenses to be able to teach in your state.

To be a substitute teacher, you sometimes need to be a jack of all trades, but NEVER a master of none.

Principals will be looking for mastery of a variety of specialized teaching skills such as grading, classroom management, and lesson planning.

But it doesn’t stop there.

As you’ll be dealing with young students day-in-day-out, you’ll need a good dose of compassion and leadership, and possibly even some conflict resolution skills.

Even more so, some creativity will be crucial to ensure you can plan engaging lessons when taking over a class.

These are known as soft skills, character traits, and interpersonal abilities that relate to how you work but are not limited to a specific job type.

You’ll be able to find which schools your prospective employer is looking for by reading the job description and searching online.

In the meantime, here’s a list of substitute teacher resume skills for inspiration:

Picture your ideal student.

You know, the one that brings the homework on time and participates in every class.

Not only that, but they also help tutor other students, play a key role in one of the school’s sports teams, and partake in some of the after-school clubs.

In other words, the most promising students are often the complete ones.

Those that balance school with other interests and hobbies, which eventually help them to flourish into well-balanced and passionate human beings.

Well, the same goes for teachers.

You need to show your next school that you’ll be able to teach your students about more than just geometric functions and grammar.

One of the best ways to do this is through additional sections which showcase your complete personality through other “extracurricular” activities you love to do in your free time.

There’s more to crafting the perfect application document than just learning how to put substitute teacher experience on your resume. Read on.

Substitute Teacher Resume Sample “Additional” Sections

Before we dive into additional sections that could get you invited into the Dead Poets Society, let’s look at some bad examples.

Ouch. Adding this to your resume might get you on Saturday detention with the Breakfast Club.

On a substitute teacher resume, everything should speak to your teaching abilities and show how you can bring value to your students.

Let’s look at a more hirable example:

Wow, it’s graduation day for this applicant. This substitute teacher’s resume makes the other look like it’s way down on the learning curve.

Even the soccer team coaching helps, an in-shape teacher is a better example for young students, and it helps show a different kind of teaching skill.

Ready to get some extra credit with some additional sections for your substitute teacher resume? Head on over to our resume builder to start adding them now.

You might think that adding contact info to your resume is a piece of cake.

But don’t go eating it just yet.

Underestimating the importance of this section will keep your answering machine dry. After all, how are principals supposed to contact you if you put the wrong phone number?

Or even worse, if your “professional email” is something along the lines of teachingskillz4you@gmail.com.

That won’t cut it.

Here’s what needs to be included in your contact info section:

• Your full name
• An updated phone number
• A professional email address
• Relevant social media links such as LinkedIn or Twitter

All-in-all, your contact info section should look something like this:

Make sure your social media presence is also squeaky-clean.

You don’t want superintendents finding anything that could be a bad influence on your students.

You already knew how to be an exceptional substitute teacher, but now you know how to put that across in the perfect resume.

You finally have an answer to the question of what to put on a resume for substitute teaching.

Let’s recap the resume-writing strategies that will get you straight A’s:

You’re now ready to jump into the ocean and test the waters of the resume-building process.

You’ll be testing students in no time.

Ready to get started with your resume for a substitute teacher? Use one of our verified resume templates. Add in your info, and autofill the rest in a verified resume format that’s guaranteed to work. We’ll also provide you with expert advice every step of the way. Save time and stress with our free resume builder.