Instruction Without Interruption: How GoGuardian Teacher Keeps Learning on Track When Substitutes Step In

For administrators, every teacher absence poses the same headache: How do you safeguard learning momentum when a substitute has to take over? Continuity — academic and behavioral — is vital. Veteran substitute teacher Torrie Oswald, who serves Colorado’s Weld RE-4 School District, has spent 16 years proving that with the right guardrails, uninterrupted instruction is possible.

In Torrie’s eyes, the internet is a lot like a national park. It’s vast, full of wonder…and full of risk. “I always say it was like dropping the kids off and saying, ‘Go explore! It’s beautiful!’ But they don’t know if there’s a bear around the corner or a cliff ahead,” she said. “Without boundaries, it’s overwhelming. All that access to the world requires guardrails. Too much of a good thing can be dangerous.”

And since 2020, students have had access to a lot. “They used to have computers that remained at school and weren’t used all the time. But after the COVID-19 pandemic, everything went online. That was a major shift,” she recalled.

That’s where tools like GoGuardian Teacher come in. “We’ve gone from paper and textbooks to 25 laptops to monitor,” Torrie said. In larger middle and high school classrooms, that’s no small challenge. Technology, she’s learned, can either create chaos or bring calm.

Her optimistic perspective and adaptability make Torrie an especially insightful voice when it comes to classroom tech. From sixth-grade science to eleventh-grade literature, she’s seen how platforms like GoGuardian Teacher can enable educators to do their jobs more seamlessly and ensure students receive an education tailored to their individual needs.

One might be baffled as to why Torrie pivoted from the corporate world to substitute teaching. “Who becomes a substitute teacher, right? Who chooses that?” she laughed. “I think people must think you’re a glutton for punishment. They picture paper airplanes, chaos… But I find I’m more of a glutton for helping.”

What began as volunteering in her children’s classrooms evolved into a career that has given her a rare, panoramic view of modern education. “I get the privilege of watching kids grow from kindergarten to 12th grade, seeing how they learn and who they become,” she said. “It’s a rare and special glimpse.”

From whack-a-mole to meaningful engagement

Before GoGuardian Teacher, managing student attention was nearly impossible. “It felt more like playing whack-a-mole than actually teaching,” she stated. When students were assigned a research project, for example, Torrie explained that each learner might be on a different website doing different things. Depending on an individual’s motivation and skill level, this could be difficult to manage. “I was constantly leaning over students asking, ‘Are you where you’re supposed to be?’” This is also why GoGuardian Teacher offers the Off Task Alerts feature to automatically detect when a student is deemed to be "off-task" based on the classroom subject.

When Torrie subbed for a sixth-grade science teacher who had GoGuardian Teacher running with customized content for each group of learners, she quickly learned what a valuable tool it is. “The advanced students got ten options. The overwhelmed students got just two or three, tailored to their interests,” Torrie explained. “That freed me up from constantly checking screens and let me spend time actually engaging with students.” Educators can also group students and apply different scenes for each group, too.

The result? “The boundaries made everything feel less overwhelming and allowed the students to feel seen and supported instead of constantly corrected. It was really a game-changer.”

Transformative resources

Torrie shared the story of a sixth-grade student who had recently joined the school late in the year. “It became clear that he’d been allowed to go wherever he wanted on the internet at his previous school. It was likely a coping strategy, since he had some learning disabilities,” she recalled.

Like most students, he wasn’t exactly thrilled when he first encountered GoGuardian Teacher’s guardrails on his school-issued laptop. “He was shocked and unhappy. He often wanted to go home and did leave several times during the first week.” But that all changed when his science teacher used GoGuardian Teacher to curate personalized digital resources for him. “It helped him not feel different from his classmates. He could finally do what the other students were doing in that class, but with links and videos tailored to his specific learning style.”

That structure provided for him changed everything. “He stayed in school. He talked more. He felt included,” Torrie said. “Some people might say, ‘Just let him do what keeps him quiet,’ but when you hold him accountable and show him he’s learning just like everyone else, the confidence boost is huge.”

“It’s so easy for students to look around and think, ‘I can’t do what the others are doing, so I’ll just do something else.’ But in this case, the teacher set high expectations, gave him a safe environment, and he rose to meet that challenge.”

Stability in transition

As a substitute teacher, Torrie must often swoop into classrooms with little warning. “You get handed a Post-it note that says, ‘Hey, so-and-so had to leave…can you head to 8th grade Language Arts? And then after that, Spanish?’ And that’s that.”

She recalled one particular day when she had to jump from a math class to an English class mid-morning. There were no lesson plans — just a scribbled note: “I have GoGuardian Teacher, and here’s a login pass if you want to watch over what they are doing.”

Luckily, the teacher had pre-set a Pear Deck (GoGuardian’s sister product) presentation ready to go as well. “It was a huge relief,” Torrie said. “I didn’t have to scramble to figure out what page they were on or try to remember the finer points of Fahrenheit 451. Everything was right there. I could just engage with the students, lead the conversation, and teach.”

She added, “When you’re not panicking and trying to fill time with busywork, the experience is better for everyone. It makes my job easier. And if the teacher already has something in motion with GoGuardian Teacher, the class doesn’t skip a beat.”

Building student integrity

Beyond structure and engagement, Torrie also sees GoGuardian Teacher as a tool that fosters accountability. “Sometimes their first question walking in is, ‘Do you have GoGuardian on?’ And I’ll say, ‘Well, you just gave yourself away there, buddy,’” she joked.

But she sees that as a positive sign: “It trains them to do the right thing, whether someone’s watching or not. Whether it’s their regular teacher or a sub, they know, ‘I’m supposed to be on task.’”

She likens GoGuardian Teacher to a wrestling ring with flexible ropes: “Kids want to test boundaries when a sub is there. ‘How far can I stretch this before I get redirected?’ GoGuardian Teacher is that guardrail. It says, ‘You can stretch this far, but no further.’ It makes our lives so much easier.”

No substitutes for GoGuardian Teacher

When a teacher is out, a seasoned professional like Torrie Oswald brings her classroom expertise and adaptability, but with GoGuardian Teacher, she also inherits the absent educator’s routines and academic momentum. “When you see the product actually doing what it’s meant to do… It’s really powerful,” Torrie says. Equipped with preset scenes, curated resources, and instant visibility, she can focus on teaching rather than scrambling to recreate structure.

For students, that means continuity without compromise: High standards stay high, expectations stay clear, and the day’s objectives stay on track, so learning never hits pause, whether it’s a longtime classroom teacher or a trusted substitute at the helm.

‍

Want to learn more about how GoGuardian Teacher can change your classrooms? Request a demo today.