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170. How to Be a Fun Teacher Without Losing Control of Your Class · Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies

• 0:36
  Emily: Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today's
• 0:39
  episode, we're sharing three ways to be the fun teacher in
• 0:43
  December without losing control of your class, and sharing a
• 0:46
  teacher approved tip for adding some seasonal surprise and
• 0:49
  delight to your class.
• 0:51
  Heidi: We start our episodes with a morning message, just
• 0:53
  like we used to do at morning meeting in our classrooms. This
• 0:56
  week's morning message is, what do you like to do for teammate
• 0:59
  gifts? Emily, do you have any good ideas?
• 1:02
  Unknown: Well, I don't feel like I have anything revolutionary,
• 1:06
  but I think those cinnamon brooms from Trader Joe's would
• 1:08
  be fun because they could use them at school if the scent
• 1:11
  wasn't too strong, or just enjoy them at home.
• 1:14
  Heidi: Yeah, those have such a perfect seasonal smell.
• 1:17
  Emily: What about you Heidi? Any good ideas?
• 1:19
  Heidi: Well, I kind of hate to admit it, but I tended to forget
• 1:23
  about team gifts, so what I came up with usually wasn't very
• 1:27
  meaningful. My apologies to my former co workers.
• 1:32
  One year though, I bought a bunch of those little like tiny
• 1:34
  plastic teeth necklaces for kids who lost teeth at school, and I
• 1:37
  made and cut out like 100 little tags that said I lost a tooth
• 1:40
  today that could be strung on the necklace. And I was so proud
• 1:44
  of myself, because I thought it was just the perfect, useful
• 1:46
  gift for second grade teachers.
• 1:49
  But it turns out that the necklaces were complete junk,
• 1:51
  and they totally fell apart when the kids wore them like the
• 1:54
  strings would break the little plastic tooth part would
• 1:57
  wouldn't stay shut. Then we had lost teeth all over the school
• 2:01
  in the playground. Yeah, extra apologies to those co workers.
• 2:07
  Unknown: Oh, sad. I do think it's a really good idea. If they
• 2:10
  had worked that would have been probably like an awesome gift
• 2:13
  for your teammates.
• 2:15
  Heidi: For a while, I used to try and like, use packing tape
• 2:17
  to really seal them shut. And I was like, this is not worth it.
• 2:20
  Unknown: No, oh, geez. Well, we do have some answers from our
• 2:24
  community. Anna said that she likes to do homemade cookies
• 2:27
  from her epic baking day, where she makes 10 different kinds of
• 2:31
  cookies. That is epic. Michelle said we always go out to dinner
• 2:35
  together instead of giving each other gifts. I love that.
• 2:37
  Heidi: I love that too because you don't get enough time
• 2:40
  together as a team to just like, be together where you're not
• 2:43
  busy.
• 2:44
  Unknown: Yeah, plus you could be like, let's do that in January,
• 2:46
  when we're less busy and need something to look forward to.
• 2:50
  Heidi: And probably none of us need any more stuff, if we're
• 2:52
  being honest. So dinner out's a win.
• 2:54
  Unknown: True story. Jennifer said, caramel popcorn. Donna
• 2:58
  said, flare pens and a notepad. Katie said, I give cookies and a
• 3:02
  lottery ticket.
• 3:04
  Heidi: But do you have to split it with Katie if you win?
• 3:06
  Unknown: Yeah, that should cut. Yeah. Strings attached with that
• 3:09
  gift. We'd love to hear your ideas for your teammate gifts
• 3:13
  over in our teacher approved Facebook group.
• 3:16
  Emily: As we slide into the holiday season, all of the fun
• 3:20
  seasonal activities you could do with your class are probably
• 3:22
  coming at you from every direction, calling your name.
• 3:26
  Heidi: And I think it can be tempting to feel one of two
• 3:28
  extremes about this. Either you want to go hardcore, all in on
• 3:32
  all of the fun stuff because it's so cute and it's only one
• 3:36
  time a year, or you don't want to do any of it because you
• 3:39
  don't want to mess up your routines and classroom
• 3:41
  management, the kids are going to be hard enough to be hard
• 3:43
  enough to deal with.
• 3:43
  Unknown: But we are here to tell you that it doesn't have to be
• 3:46
  either extreme. There is a way to invite more fun, whether it
• 3:50
  be seasonal or not, into your classroom without losing control
• 3:54
  of your class.
• 3:55
  Heidi: The key is to treat holiday fun like a spice when
• 3:58
  you're cooking. A little makes all the difference in how your
• 4:02
  dish tastes, but using too much and you will ruin everything
• 4:06
  that you make.
• 4:07
  Unknown: So we have three ideas for how to weave a little
• 4:11
  holiday magic into your teaching for the next few weeks without
• 4:14
  derailing your classroom management goals or getting
• 4:16
  behind in your curriculum.
• 4:18
  Heidi: The first and easiest way to be the fun teacher during the
• 4:22
  holidays is by adding in seasonal themes to your regular
• 4:25
  lessons and routines.
• 4:27
  Unknown: I love doing this in December, especially because it
• 4:30
  increases the novelty just a bit without totally derailing your
• 4:35
  normal routines. A little bit of novelty really can go a long
• 4:38
  way.
• 4:39
  Heidi: I feel like my classroom thrived on our educational
• 4:42
  routines like morning meeting and vocabulary and fluency
• 4:45
  practice and all of that. So I used to look for ways to add in
• 4:49
  the holiday magic to what we were already doing.
• 4:51
  So in morning meeting, for example, I would add a seasonal
• 4:54
  twist to our morning messages, not every day, but some days. So
• 4:57
  one day I might ask, would you rather question, like, would you
• 5:01
  rather string a mile of popcorn garland or wrap 100 presents?
• 5:05
  Oh, I don't know Emily?
• 5:06
  Unknown: For sure a mile of popcorn garland. I hate, you
• 5:09
  know, I hate wrapping presents. Wrapping 100 presents would just
• 5:13
  do me in.
• 5:15
  Heidi: But I think I'd go presents. I know I can wrap
• 5:17
  fast.
• 5:18
  Unknown: Okay well we'd be a good team if we ever had to
• 5:20
  complete both of these challenges.
• 5:22
  Heidi: And on Fridays for a morning message, I like to use
• 5:24
  jokes. So I could use a holiday joke, like, who delivers holiday
• 5:28
  gifts to dogs?
• 5:29
  Unknown: Oh, and it's Santa Paws, if you were wondering. We
• 5:34
  have seasonal morning messages available for first through
• 5:37
  fourth grade if you want an easy way to add in some holiday fun
• 5:41
  into your morning meetings without having to think of it
• 5:43
  all yourself. So we'll link to that in the show notes.
• 5:46
  Heidi: Our morning messages include a couple 100 non
• 5:50
  seasonal thinking questions so you can get everyone's brains
• 5:52
  turning in the morning. But we also have a set of 60 seasonal
• 5:57
  questions for each grade level, and that gives you plenty of
• 6:00
  options to choose from.
• 6:01
  Unknown: You can also add holiday magic to your morning
• 6:04
  meetings by doing a holiday greeting like a snowball fight.
• 6:07
  You can use something soft, like a stuffed snowball, if you have
• 6:10
  one. I actually did, used to have a set of stuff snowballs
• 6:14
  that I use. It was really random how I ended up with them, too,
• 6:18
  but I had this funny set of stuff snowballs, and they were
• 6:22
  perfect for morning meeting games.
• 6:23
  Emily: But you could also just use a balled up pair of socks.
• 6:26
  And then students can toss the snowball to someone in the
• 6:28
  circle and tell them good morning and say their name. And
• 6:32
  you can also make your morning meeting game seasonal by doing
• 6:35
  something like Simon Says, but make it Santa says.
• 6:39
  Heidi: Oh, that sounds like fun. But morning meeting isn't the
• 6:42
  only place to add holiday themes without derailing your class
• 6:45
  routines. One daily learning routine that is perfect to make
• 6:49
  seasonal is a Vocabulary Routine. Now we call our
• 6:52
  vocabulary teaching method the jargon journal.
• 6:55
  Each week we would read a book to the class and choose four
• 6:59
  tier two vocabulary words from the book, and then for the rest
• 7:02
  of the week, students would work on one of those words each day
• 7:06
  to build a deeper understanding of its meaning and use. Making
• 7:09
  this type of routine seasonal is just easy peasy. All you have to
• 7:12
  do is choose a holiday book. Many favorite holiday read aloud
• 7:16
  books have wonderful, rich vocabulary, and that is just
• 7:19
  perfect for this method.
• 7:21
  Unknown: And we have created grab and go units for you to use
• 7:24
  for holiday vocabulary lessons using books like The Polar
• 7:27
  Express, Santa Bruce, Pick a Pine Tree, The Night Before
• 7:31
  Christmas and more. So we will link to our Christmas jargon
• 7:35
  journal units in the show notes. So Heidi, where else can we add
• 7:39
  Christmas into our lessons?
• 7:41
  Heidi: Well, I love to make our fluency practice holiday themed.
• 7:45
  Our fluency in a flash, daily digital mini lessons are perfect
• 7:48
  for this. The everyday lessons are non seasonal, but we do have
• 7:52
  seasonal lessons that you can mix in for a fun surprise. It's
• 7:56
  kind of hard to describe what this is on the podcast, but it's
• 7:59
  an interactive and engaging routine, and we will link to our
• 8:02
  fluency in a flash mini lessons in the show notes as well.
• 8:05
  Unknown: I'm still blown away every time I open up one of
• 8:08
  those to either do with my own kids or I've helped do them in
• 8:11
  their classes. The activities are just so well done and so fun
• 8:17
  for the kids. So each day has a meaningful activity that
• 8:20
  promotes the development of important fluency skills, but I
• 8:24
  promise that your kids will be having so much fun they will
• 8:26
  never even realize that it's educational.
• 8:29
  Heidi: Now, of course, you can also make your story problems
• 8:32
  about presents, or play a math game with Gingerbread Man, or
• 8:35
  learn about snowflakes and science and so many other fun
• 8:39
  ideas this time of year, but please know that you don't have
• 8:42
  to add a seasonal twist to everything you do in class just
• 8:45
  because it's a holiday.
• 8:46
  Unknown: Yeah, if every single activity and worksheet they see
• 8:49
  in December has a reindeer on it, it's just not going to have
• 8:52
  the same impact on novelty and engagement as one reindeer
• 8:56
  themed writing activity would have. So look for big impact,
• 9:00
  low effort ways to make your lesson a little more fun, and
• 9:04
  remember that, like with seasoning, a little can go a
• 9:07
  long way.
• 9:08
  Heidi: The second way to be a fun teacher during the holidays
• 9:11
  is by planning a holiday twist to your classroom management
• 9:14
  plan.
• 9:15
  We have shared several times here on the podcast that we are
• 9:18
  normally not big fans of classroom reward systems. They
• 9:22
  can be overused, and they tend to lose their effectiveness
• 9:25
  quickly, which is why we would never suggest using a reward
• 9:29
  system year round. But it turns out that reward systems can be
• 9:33
  incredibly effective short term. So the holidays are the perfect
• 9:38
  time to bust one of those out.
• 9:39
  Unknown: Plus it's a wise idea to enter a chaotic time in the
• 9:42
  classroom like December with a game plan for keeping your
• 9:46
  classroom management under control. Being the fun teacher
• 9:50
  is not so fun when you have to spend a lot of extra time and
• 9:52
  energy dealing with student behavior issues.
• 9:56
  Heidi: Yeah, I used to be so embarrassed that I needed a
• 9:59
  reward system in December to save my sanity, because I had
• 10:03
  read all the books and they said that I should be able to manage
• 10:05
  my students without one. But the reality is that a reward system
• 10:10
  is just a tool.
• 10:11
  Using one doesn't make you a good teacher or a bad teacher,
• 10:14
  and sometimes we need different tools to solve different
• 10:16
  problems. In this case, a reward system is a tool that can
• 10:21
  counter the high excitement and the mixed up routines that come
• 10:25
  with the holiday ramp up season.
• 10:27
  Unknown: You can have your holiday reward system ready to
• 10:30
  go the first day back after Thanksgiving, or you can have it
• 10:34
  prepared and ready for whatever day you find you really need it.
• 10:38
  Either way, you'll be very glad you planned ahead.
• 10:45
  Once they have earned all the letters with their good
• 10:54
  behavior, the class gets their reward like making graham
• 11:00
  cracker gingerbread houses. Oh, no, no, scratch that. Sounds
• 11:04
  like a nightmare. Maybe you could do the ones where you like
• 11:08
  hot glue it to a milk carton. Maybe, I don't know, something
• 11:12
  less sticky.
• 11:13
  Unknown: Something less sticky, something that would be fun for
• 11:16
  you too. Don't pick a reward for the kids that's going to be fun
• 11:19
  for them and miserable for you. Oh, absolutely.
• 11:22
  Emily: Or you could go for a small group reward system. This
• 11:26
  is great for having your rows or tables competing for a reward.
• 11:30
  You could have a little seasonal board game on the board where
• 11:34
  each team's piece is moving across the board when their
• 11:36
  behavior is good, then the team that gets to the end first gets
• 11:40
  the reward.
• 11:41
  Heidi: Or you could even make it so that each team eventually
• 11:43
  gets the reward whenever they get to the end of the board.
• 11:46
  Unknown: Oh yeah, I love that. And you'd be surprised how
• 11:48
  motivated students can be for the simplest rewards. You could
• 11:52
  have something like getting to use Christmas themed pens during
• 11:56
  a writing activity, and the kids would be totally psyched for
• 11:59
  that.
• 12:00
  Heidi: And they do have really cute Christmas themed pens this
• 12:03
  time of year, especially like fun scented ones. Yes.
• 12:08
  Another option for a reward system is to do an individual
• 12:11
  system. If your class is particularly competitive in a
• 12:16
  way that might cause contention, rewarding students individually
• 12:20
  may be the way to go. You can hand out cute caught you being
• 12:23
  good cards, and then the students can save up their cards
• 12:26
  until they have enough for a set reward, or their cards could be
• 12:30
  entries into a drawing for a prize.
• 12:32
  Unknown: No matter what reward system you decide to try, the
• 12:35
  most important step is to begin with a discussion. You want to
• 12:38
  talk about what choices constitute good behavior, and
• 12:41
  what following directions looks like, sounds like, feels like,
• 12:45
  yes, it seems like common sense. Yes, kids should probably
• 12:49
  already know what behavior is right and wrong.
• 12:51
  Heidi: Now it's probably no surprise that we do have a
• 12:51
  Emily: But you can't assume that they do, and it's hard to hit an
• 12:54
  resource that can help you with your holiday classroom
• 12:55
  invisible target. So your reward system will be extra effective
• 13:00
  if you take the time to discuss the expectations before you begin.
• 13:08
  management as well. Our holiday behavior helps bundle has six
• 13:12
  different reward systems that you can choose from to be a fun
• 13:16
  teacher while also keeping your students in line.
• 13:19
  Unknown: There are reward systems for the whole class,
• 13:21
  groups and individuals. So you can choose the system or
• 13:25
  combination of systems that works best for you. Just be sure
• 13:28
  not to have too much going on at once with your reward systems,
• 13:31
  or it can kind of turn into a big headache for the teacher.
• 13:35
  Heidi: Yeah, that's the real downside of reward systems, is
• 13:37
  having to manage it. Yep, and we talk all about seasonal behavior
• 13:41
  management in episodes 37 and 104 so make sure to check those
• 13:45
  out if you want more of our tips and tricks.
• 13:48
  Unknown: We also have our December teacher survival kit
• 13:51
  that can guide you through how to plan your seasonal reward
• 13:54
  system. That's my favorite part of this survival kit.
• 13:58
  Emily: There are pages in there to help you prep for December
• 14:00
  and the start of January. But there's also a page of guiding
• 14:03
  questions to help you dial into exactly what you need your
• 14:07
  reward system to do for you. So there is a link to the December
• 14:11
  teacher survival kit, you guessed it, in the show notes.
• 14:14
  Heidi: Definitely check out the show notes on this one.
• 14:18
  The third and final suggestion for being the fun teacher in
• 14:21
  December is to sprinkle in some just for fun magic. Of course,
• 14:26
  we need to maximize our time at school, and we don't want to
• 14:28
  waste a whole month doing fun and forgetting the learning, but
• 14:32
  most teachers will be able to find a little time to add in a
• 14:35
  few short activities that are just for the pure enjoyment of
• 14:38
  it.
• 14:39
  Unknown: There are some legitimate reasons to do this
• 14:41
  too. Doing some just for fun activities, build your classroom
• 14:46
  community and class identity. Your students will look back
• 14:49
  fondly on those happy times together.
• 14:52
  Heidi: And plus, it makes teaching fun for you. I'm not
• 14:56
  going to beat around the bush. Teaching is hard. Some days it's
• 15:00
  hard to remember why you entered this profession at all, but
• 15:03
  incorporating some short holiday activities that are just for the
• 15:06
  joy of it can help your job become more enjoyable.
• 15:10
  Unknown: That should not be underestimated, because a
• 15:12
  teacher who enjoys teaching will be more equipped to engage their
• 15:16
  students, teach with more energy and help their students soar.
• 15:21
  And more than that, enjoying teaching is good for your mental
• 15:24
  health, and that is true self care, right there.
• 15:28
  Heidi: A great way to sprinkle in this, just for fun holiday
• 15:31
  magic is with brain breaks. I tended to not use brain breaks
• 15:35
  every day. I kind of saved them for just when we needed them,
• 15:38
  but in December, I probably needed them every single day.
• 15:41
  Because, let's be honest, students need a break every day,
• 15:45
  especially in December.
• 15:47
  Unknown: You can use brain breaks to laugh, get out
• 15:49
  wiggles, warm students up for thinking, or get more grounded.
• 15:52
  And we have printable brain breaks that are perfect for
• 15:55
  this. You can choose the type of brain break you need in the
• 15:58
  moment and just read it off the card. You don't have to fuss
• 16:01
  with your projector or try and get a video to load or anything
• 16:05
  like that.
• 16:06
  Heidi: These can really be so helpful, especially at a time of
• 16:09
  year when focus is short and you need more breaks. Just in our
• 16:13
  December brain break pack, we have 60 brain breaks in three
• 16:17
  different categories. So if you need to boost that focus, choose
• 16:20
  one of the refocus activities, like the calming cocoa mindful
• 16:24
  movement activity.
• 16:26
  So you get the kids settled, and then you tell them, pretend
• 16:29
  you're standing at the stove stirring a big pot of hot
• 16:32
  chocolate. The liquid is hot and bubbly. Use a large spoon to
• 16:37
  slowly stir. Now stir with the other hand, feel the warm steam
• 16:43
  on your face, take in a big, deep breath and spoon some into
• 16:48
  your mug. Now sprinkle some marshmallows on top and take a
• 16:51
  big drink, yum.
• 16:53
  Unknown: I feel calmer already. We also have refresh brain
• 16:57
  breaks to help get everyone back on track and recharge brain
• 17:01
  breaks to help get the wiggles out. These can be a huge
• 17:04
  lifesaver. So we'll link to our Christmas brain breaks in the
• 17:07
  show notes if you want to take a look.
• 17:09
  Heidi: Another way we love to add in fun is with festive
• 17:12
  breaks. These are short seasonal activities that you can pull out
• 17:16
  whenever you want without requiring any prep. They're
• 17:19
  print and go activities like holiday Tic Tac Toe, roll and
• 17:22
  draw a gingerbread house and so many more. Having these copied
• 17:27
  and ready to just grab at a moment's notice will be a huge
• 17:30
  relief when you need them.
• 17:32
  Unknown: All you have to do is decide which activities you want
• 17:35
  to do and decide how you want students to choose the
• 17:37
  activities. Then when it's time for some festive fun, have a
• 17:41
  student pick one of the picture cards, turn it over and see what
• 17:44
  activity to do. So it's easy peasy, and also a sneaky way to
• 17:48
  get in a little pocket of prep if you listen to last week's
• 17:50
  episode.
• 17:51
  Heidi: So definitely check the show notes for a link to our
• 17:54
  Christmas festive breaks and find the link to Episode 169
• 17:58
  where we talk all about the pockets of prep.
• 18:00
  Unknown: It's easier than you think to be the fun teacher in
• 18:03
  December without losing control of your class or getting behind
• 18:06
  in your curriculum. The ways to be the fun teacher are make your
• 18:10
  learning seasonal, add a holiday twist to your reward system, and
• 18:14
  sprinkle in some just for fun holiday activities.
• 18:17
  Heidi: We would love to hear how you plan for fun in December.
• 18:20
  Come fill us in on all of the details in our teacher approved
• 18:23
  Facebook group.
• 18:25
  Unknown: Now let's talk about this week's teacher approved
• 18:27
  tip. Each week we leave you with a small, actionable tip that you
• 18:31
  can apply in your classroom today. This week's teacher
• 18:34
  approved tip is, get those lucky ducks. What is this all about
• 18:38
  Heidi: Well as we mentioned, sprinkling seasonal fun into
• 18:38
  Heidi?
• 18:39
  your class is a great way to make things festive without
• 18:40
  having to lose complete control. One way to add a little festive
• 18:42
  surprise and delay is to choose a lucky duck for the day.
• 18:44
  We have talked about this idea before, but I saw the cute
• 18:50
  Christmas duckies at Target, and I just wanted to make sure
• 18:57
  everyone had a good reminder if they wanted to do this. So if
• 19:00
  there are enough school days between now and winter break
• 19:03
  that you could spotlight each of your students on one day, you
• 19:06
  may want to give this a try.
• 19:08
  All you need is a duck and then a few fun ideas. So each
• 19:11
  morning, the deck arrives on a new student's desk, and that
• 19:14
  student is the lucky duck of the day. Maybe they get to have a
• 19:18
  holiday decoration on their desk, or they get to use a fancy
• 19:21
  pen for their work that day. You could add as many fun privileges
• 19:25
  as you can manage. And with all the fun seasonal stuff out
• 19:28
  there, you could really go wild with this one.
• 19:31
  Unknown: Oh yeah, I'm thinking of, like, all the different
• 19:33
  Christmasy things that they could get to do on their lucky
• 19:35
  duck day. Or, like, maybe they could wear a Santa hat. Like, it
• 19:39
  could be so fun.
• 19:40
  Heidi: That's so cute. And if you don't have enough school
• 19:43
  days to do one a day, you could get two cute ducks from Target
• 19:46
  and do two kids a day.
• 19:47
  Unknown: That's true, Lucky ducks, plural. I've seen some
• 19:51
  teachers online who do a lucky duck of the day all year, and
• 19:55
  there's nothing wrong with that, if it works for you. But if you
• 19:57
  don't need this as part of your regular classroom management,
• 20:00
  adding a special activity like this once or twice a year makes
• 20:03
  school feel magical. The rarity of the experience makes it feel
• 20:07
  like such a treat, which is why surprise and delight is so
• 20:10
  powerful.
• 20:12
  Heidi: To wrap up the show, we're sharing what we're giving
• 20:14
  extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your extra
• 20:17
  credit?
• 20:18
  Unknown: I'm giving extra credit to holiday rom com books. So
• 20:22
  last year, you and I put together a list of our favorite
• 20:25
  holiday rom com books to share, and I wanted to do this as my
• 20:29
  extra credit again, just so I could share that link again, so
• 20:33
  I'll link it in the show notes. Remember, show notes are gonna
• 20:35
  be crazy this week. You gotta check them out.
• 20:37
  Emily: I'm just getting into my holiday rom com reading this
• 20:39
  year, so I don't have a new one to recommend yet, but I did just
• 20:43
  download Christmas With a Crank by Courtney Walsh, and it's free
• 20:47
  on Kindle Unlimited. I've read another one of her, so I think I
• 20:50
  will like it. I've got high hopes for it anyway. So if I
• 20:53
  like it, I will add it to the list.
• 20:56
  Heidi: Well, that has been on my TV read list, so now I can just
• 20:59
  wait for you to tell me if it's worthwhile.
• 21:01
  Unknown: I'll be the guinea pig. What's your extra credit Heidi?
• 21:04
  Heidi: Well my extra credit is also going to a book this week.
• 21:07
  I just finished the audiobook of Miranda Hearts I Haven't Been
• 21:11
  Entirely Honest With You, and it was so good.
• 21:14
  I know Miranda from her sitcom on the BBC, which was also
• 21:18
  called Miranda. Oh, it was so good. I loved it. And she played
• 21:21
  Chummy on Call the Midwife, which maybe more people know,
• 21:24
  and I loved her on both of those. But then she just kind of
• 21:26
  disappeared for a long time. And I thought, well, maybe she's
• 21:29
  doing more behind the scenes stuff. I, you know, just didn't
• 21:32
  hear from her.
• 21:33
  And sadly, it turns out that she was basically house bound
• 21:36
  because of a chronic illness, and that is kind of the topic of
• 21:39
  the book. But it's more than just a memoir of her illness,
• 21:43
  though it's it's more like a deep discussion about how to be
• 21:46
  a human in spite of the horrors that keep persisting in all of
• 21:50
  their forms.
• 21:51
  So in the book, she shares 10 key lessons. She calls them her
• 21:54
  treasures that she learned and how they helped her heal, not
• 21:58
  just physically, but also mentally and spiritually and in
• 22:01
  all facets of her life. This is one of the few books that I have
• 22:04
  finished, and then wanted to restart right away. I listened
• 22:07
  to the audiobook because Miranda is so fun, but I think I need to
• 22:10
  get the print version now, because there were just so many
• 22:13
  aha moments that I want to be able to reference. So I will put
• 22:15
  a link to that with everything else in the show notes.
• 22:19
  Emily: Show gotes gonna be popping this week.
• 22:23
  Heidi: That is it for today's episode. Try our three ways to
• 22:26
  be the fun teacher in December without losing control of your
• 22:29
  class. And don't forget our teacher approved tip for adding
• 22:33
  some seasonal surprise and delight to your class.