Latest / Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies / 205. Use This One-Hour Teacher Trick to Start the School Year Calm and Ready

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205. Use This One-Hour Teacher Trick to Start the School Year Calm and Ready · Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies

• 0:00
  Heidi: This is episode 205 of Teacher Approved.
• 0:05
  You're listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast helping
• 0:09
  educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I'm
• 0:13
  Heidi.
• 0:13
  Emily: And I'm Emily. We're the creators behind Second Story
• 0:17
  Window, where we give research based and teacher approved
• 0:20
  strategies that make teaching less stressful and more
• 0:22
  effective. You can check out the show notes and resources from
• 0:26
  each episode at secondstorywindow.net.
• 0:29
  Heidi: We're so glad you're tuning in today. Let's get to
• 0:31
  the show.
• 0:36
  Emily: Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today's
• 0:39
  episode, we're talking about how to use just one hour a week this
• 0:43
  summer to start the year ready and rested. And we're sharing a
• 0:48
  teacher approved tip for creating a summer planning
• 0:50
  ritual that actually sticks.
• 0:52
  Heidi: But first, it's time for a try it tomorrow, a favorite
• 0:55
  quick win that you can try in your life right away. Emily,
• 0:58
  what is our suggestion this week?
• 1:00
  Emily: This week, try the five minute Friday flip. Do you like
• 1:04
  the alliteration?
• 1:06
  Heidi: If nothing else, the title is awesome.
• 1:08
  Emily: Every Friday, spend just five minutes flipping through
• 1:11
  your teaching materials, whether that's your teacher binders, a
• 1:14
  curriculum guide, or even your phone's camera roll from this
• 1:17
  past school year. Just flip and notice what catches your eye, no
• 1:21
  pressure to do anything with what you find. Just let your
• 1:23
  brain start making some connections for next year.
• 1:27
  Heidi: I love this because it is gentle prep with zero guilt.
• 1:30
  You're just, you know, planting seeds for future planning,
• 1:34
  without the pressure to have it all figured out right now.
• 1:37
  Emily: If you like this idea or anything else we share here on
• 1:39
  the podcast, would you take a second give us a five star
• 1:42
  rating and review on Apple podcasts?
• 1:45
  Heidi: Over the years, Emily and I have created an extensive
• 1:48
  library of back to school products. To help you find the
• 1:51
  tools that will make the start of your New Year easier, today
• 1:54
  we are spotlighting our editable classroom seating chart maker.
• 1:57
  Tell us more about this, Emily.
• 1:59
  Emily: Oh, we love this product so much. Not only will it help
• 2:03
  you at the start of the year, but it will be such a huge
• 2:06
  support all year long. One of the simplest, most effective
• 2:10
  behavior management tools at your disposal is your classroom
• 2:13
  seating arrangement. If you're intentional about how you assign
• 2:16
  seats, you can minimize or completely eliminate so many
• 2:19
  hassles.
• 2:20
  Heidi: In this product, we walk you step by step through our, I
• 2:23
  want to say patented system.
• 2:25
  Emily: It should be patented.
• 2:28
  Heidi: Trademark, copyright, something. But we walk you
• 2:31
  through our system for strategic seating, and we give you over 90
• 2:34
  different seating arrangements and list the pros and cons of
• 2:38
  each one.
• 2:39
  Emily: And we even include seating options for the carpet,
• 2:41
  so you can help minimize any problems there as well.
• 2:44
  Heidi: Now, since you're not going to know your students at
• 2:47
  the start of the year, the strategy part of assigning seats
• 2:50
  isn't going to help you too much yet, but the desk arrangement
• 2:53
  part can be a huge lifesaver, even in the first few days. So
• 2:58
  the first thing you need to do is choose an arrangement that
• 3:00
  fits your seating options, whether you have desks or tables
• 3:03
  or those weird triangle table thingies, then you need to
• 3:06
  choose an arrangement that will fit your space.
• 3:09
  Emily: The last three steps of choosing an arrangement are the
• 3:12
  most crucial but often overlooked. Choose a seating
• 3:15
  arrangement that supports your teaching style. If you do a lot
• 3:18
  of cooperative work, choose an arrangement that lets students
• 3:21
  work together. Also look for an arrangement that minimizes your
• 3:24
  walking. You're on your feet all day. Do yourself a favor, and
• 3:28
  make sure that you can reach each student seat in the minimum
• 3:31
  Heidi: And last of all, and this is the secret sauce, keep as
• 3:31
  number of steps.
• 3:36
  many students as possible, as close to you as possible. The
• 3:40
  number one deterrent for off task behavior is proximity to
• 3:43
  the teacher. So leverage that power as much as you can.
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  Emily: We walk you through all of this in the editable
• 3:50
  classroom seating chart maker, and you can find a link to that
• 3:53
  in the show notes. But if you want more information, make sure
• 3:56
  you go back to Episode 97 where we lay out this strategy in
• 3:59
  detail.
• 4:00
  Heidi: Well, now we are well into summer, and chances are
• 4:03
  good that you've had at least one moment so far where that
• 4:06
  little voice in your head asked, should you be doing something
• 4:09
  for school right now?
• 4:11
  Emily: Oh, yeah, that critical little voice that whispers,
• 4:14
  everyone else is probably picking out their first week
• 4:16
  outfits and color coding their lesson plan binders, and you're
• 4:19
  watching Netflix at 2pm on a Tuesday??
• 4:22
  Heidi: I hate that voice so much.
• 4:24
  Emily: I know it's a jerk.
• 4:25
  Heidi: She gets the better of me more times than I care to admit
• 4:28
  publicly. She's how you know before I know it, I find myself
• 4:33
  elbow deep in prep I didn't plan on doing, and then my summer
• 4:36
  relaxation turns into a guilt ridden productivity spiral. Ah,
• 4:41
  good times.
• 4:42
  Emily: But we're not going to do that anymore. Instead, we're
• 4:46
  going to focus on doing the right things in small, steady
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  steps that protect rest and build readiness. We promise, it
• 4:53
  really is possible to start the year feeling calm and prepared
• 4:55
  without sacrificing your summer sanity.
• 4:58
  Heidi: This week, we are talking about what just one intentional
• 5:01
  hour each week can do for your back to school prep. Gretchen
• 5:05
  Rubin, from the Happier Podcast, which is a podcast that we love,
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  has a great hack that she calls Power Hour. She schedules time
• 5:12
  once a week to power through the tasks that she can't normally
• 5:15
  get herself to deal with.
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  Emily: And because it rhymes, you know, it's valid advice. So
• 5:19
  we are going to take Gretchen's Power Hour idea and turn it into
• 5:22
  teacher Power Hour. Very original, as you can tell, but
• 5:26
  instead of using that time to call the electric company or
• 5:29
  figure out your taxes, we're going to focus on our back to
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  school tasks, and we've got a six step system to help you make
• 5:36
  it happen. We love a system.
• 5:38
  Heidi: The first step is to build a strong foundation by
• 5:41
  clarifying what matters to you. Second, start a list of Power
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  Hour tasks so you don't waste precious minutes trying to
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  figure out what to work on, which is always my downfall.
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  Third, schedule your time. Fourth, and this is the hardest
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  one, protect your time. Make sure you reschedule if another
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  obligation conflicts with your time, and then make yourself
• 6:01
  actually do the work. And that's why that step is the hardest
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  part.
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  Emily: And then comes the fun part. Step five is to celebrate
• 6:09
  your accomplishments, and then all you have to do is step six,
• 6:11
  which is to repeat it next week.
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  Heidi: sound too hard, does it? So pour yourself a lemonade or
• 6:17
  throw on your walking shoes, and let's talk about how to use one
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  hour a week to prep for back to school like the smart, seasoned
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  teacher you are.
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  Emily: Let's start where we always do by clarifying what
• 6:29
  matters. Before you make a single list or organize a single
• 6:32
  supply, we want you to get clear on your goal. If you joined us
• 6:35
  for our recent webinar, we referred to this goal as your
• 6:38
  readiness anchor.
• 6:40
  Heidi: A readiness anchor is simply the answer to this
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  question, how do you want to feel as you walk into your
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  classroom on your first day back? For now, forget how you
• 6:49
  might feel or what you want to accomplish before then, or how
• 6:52
  you want your classroom to look, just ask yourself how you want
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  to feel.
• 6:57
  Emily: And then this feeling is going to become your North Star.
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  And we cannot stress this enough, it's important to
• 7:03
  actually choose your word, not just think about choosing a
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  word. If you don't name what you want, what happens is you end up
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  chasing every task that crosses your mind, because you have no
• 7:14
  way of knowing which tasks are the ones that actually matter.
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  Heidi: So choose your readiness anchor. Maybe you want to feel
• 7:21
  calm or grounded, maybe you want to feel excited or energized,
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  maybe you want to feel organized or in control. However you want
• 7:28
  to feel is the exact right answer.
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  Emily: Here is why this matters so much. When you know how you
• 7:33
  want to feel, it becomes so much easier to prioritize your prep
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  time. Every decision gets filtered through that goal. For
• 7:40
  example, if your readiness goal is to feel calm, then maybe you
• 7:44
  want to focus on tasks that reduce last minute scrambling,
• 7:47
  like printing your welcome letter, prepping your first day
• 7:50
  slides, or arranging your desks. And maybe you want to use our
• 7:53
  desk arrangement tool to help you with that.
• 7:55
  Heidi: Yeah, that would be handy dandy. But if your readiness
• 7:59
  goal is to feel excited, maybe your prep focuses on your
• 8:02
  favorite parts of teaching, like picking a fun new read aloud, or
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  prepping a first week project that you can't wait to share
• 8:08
  with your students, or planning a classroom theme that gets you
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  pumped to decorate.
• 8:13
  Emily: See the difference? When your tasks align with your why,
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  they stop feeling like chores and start feeling like
• 8:18
  confidence boosters. And we think this is so important that
• 8:23
  we have updated our BTS Success course to start with a whole
• 8:26
  module on teacher recovery and emotional anchoring, because
• 8:30
  everything else is going to flow from there.
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  Heidi: So before you do anything else, pause this podcast and get
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  clear on your readiness anchor. We're serious. This is your
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  homework. Write it down. Put it somewhere that you can see it.
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  Let it guide every choice you make about how to spend your
• 8:45
  summer prep time.
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  Emily: Okay, you got it? Do you have your word? Good. That's
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  step one. Step two is to make your Power Hour task list. This
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  is where you jot down all of the tasks that will contribute to
• 8:57
  your readiness goal. If your goal is to feel balanced, your
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  list will be full of tasks like prepping freezer meals, creating
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  standard operating procedures for repeated tasks and
• 9:08
  streamlining your workflow.
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  Heidi: Ideally, try to use this time to focus on light touch
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  prep. Light touch prep means low time, low effort, high payoff.
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  These are the tasks that in one focused hour can move the needle
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  significantly without draining your summer energy.
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  Emily: On the one hand, you could spend three hours deep
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  cleaning your classroom library, or you could spend one hour
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  creating a digital welcome packet that parents will
• 9:33
  reference all year long. Both are helpful, but one gives you
• 9:36
  way more bang for your buck.
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  Heidi: Here are some examples of light touch prep that pack a
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  punch. Creating templates for things that you know you will
• 9:44
  need, like your weekly newsletter format, your
• 9:46
  substitute plans and your parent communication scripts.
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  Emily: Drafting a first day slide deck with all of your
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  procedures and expectations. You can always tweak it later, but
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  having the bones ready means one less thing to stress about in
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  August, and we have a whole set of Google slides that you can
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  adapt to fit any procedure, and this will save you lots of time.
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  Check out the link to our tell try tally talk slides in the
• 10:09
  show notes.
• 10:10
  Heidi: Even something as simple as setting up your digital grade
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  book with student names, if you are lucky enough to already have
• 10:15
  your class list. That 10 minutes now can save you 30 minutes
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  later.
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  Emily: The key here is choosing tasks that future you will
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  genuinely thank present you for doing. And the beautiful thing
• 10:25
  is, these are exactly the kind of tasks that fit perfectly into
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  one focused hour.
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  Heidi: Remember, you're not trying to solve every classroom
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  challenge or prep every lesson at this point. The goal is to
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  set yourself up so that you can hit the ground running when it's
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  time to actually get back to work.
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  Emily: Make sure you keep your list of Power Hour tasks
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  somewhere handy. If you have our back to school readiness
• 10:45
  checklists, we recently added a Power Hour list, so you can
• 10:48
  download the updated file and then just copy the Power Hour
• 10:52
  sheet to your existing spreadsheet. If you already have
• 10:54
  them, it's super easy to do that.
• 10:57
  Heidi: If you don't have the back to school readiness
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  checklists, this is your sign to grab them now. There are 50
• 11:03
  pages in there, and knowing us, we'll probably add more to that
• 11:06
  over the summer.
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  Emily: Yeah, by the time this comes out, there might be two
• 11:08
  more pages.
• 11:09
  Heidi: Who knows. But all of these pages help you clarify
• 11:12
  your goals and maximize your time. They are a serious BTS
• 11:16
  lifesaver, and you can find them at the link in the show notes.
• 11:20
  Emily: Power Hour can be a motivating way to tackle some
• 11:22
  meaningful tasks. But as every teacher knows, there are just
• 11:25
  some things that just have to get done, and we can't magic
• 11:28
  wand them away. Labels need to be made, folders need to be
• 11:32
  organized, copies need to be run. All the fun stuff.
• 11:36
  Unfortunately, all that tedious stuff is real and it's not going
• 11:39
  anywhere.
• 11:39
  Heidi: So here is our system for handling the must do tasks
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  without letting them take over your summer. First, make your
• 11:46
  must do list. Get everything out of your head and onto paper. All
• 11:50
  of the copying, labeling, organizing, decorating, whatever
• 11:53
  you know has to happen before students walk through your door.
• 11:57
  Emily: And then group similar tasks together. Make a list of
• 12:00
  all the copies you need to make. Make a list of everything that
• 12:02
  needs a label on it. Make a list of everything you need to finish
• 12:05
  for your wall displays. This is just so much more efficient than
• 12:09
  bouncing between different types of tasks.
• 12:11
  Heidi: Now to actually get those dreaded tasks done, assign each
• 12:16
  batch to one of your weekly summer prep hours. One week
• 12:20
  might be copy all the things, and another week might be label
• 12:23
  and organize supplies.
• 12:25
  Emily: A little pro tip that works with anything, not just
• 12:27
  schoolwork, is to pair it. If it's not your favorite task,
• 12:30
  pair it with a treat. Get your favorite iced drink to sip while
• 12:34
  you stand over the copier. Listen to a fun audio book while
• 12:37
  you're organizing supplies, put on a movie in the background
• 12:40
  while you're cutting out bulletin board letters.
• 12:43
  Heidi: You could even lean into the summeriness of it all and
• 12:46
  sit on the patio while you stuff folders. You don't have to
• 12:49
  suffer through the tedious stuff. Make it as pleasant as
• 12:52
  possible. And remember, it's just one hour a week. You can do
• 12:55
  anything for one hour.
• 12:57
  Emily: And if you want help prioritizing which tasks
• 12:59
  actually matter versus which ones you can skip, we break that
• 13:03
  down in BTS success too, so that you're not wasting time on busy
• 13:06
  work that won't actually help your classroom run smoother. And
• 13:09
  you can find a link to the course in the show notes.
• 13:12
  Heidi: Okay, so you've got your readiness goal. You know what
• 13:14
  light touch prep looks like, and you have your plan for the must
• 13:17
  do tasks. Now comes the really important part—actually making
• 13:22
  it happen.
• 13:23
  Emily: These are steps three and four, schedule it and protect
• 13:26
  it. The secret to making it happen is treating this like any
• 13:29
  other important appointment in your life. Choose your hour.
• 13:33
  Maybe having a set hour each week will work best for you, or
• 13:35
  maybe it's more of a movable feast.
• 13:38
  Heidi: Oh, that sounds exciting. For you, Saturday morning before
• 13:42
  the rest of the house wakes up might work best. Maybe it's
• 13:45
  Tuesday evening after your yoga class, when you're already
• 13:48
  feeling calm and centered. Or maybe you hire a neighborhood
• 13:51
  team to come play with your kids on Wednesday afternoons while
• 13:54
  you escape to a coffee shop for an hour. The specific time
• 13:57
  doesn't matter. What matters is that it's consistent and
• 14:00
  protected. This is a date with future you and future you does
• 14:04
  not want you to stand her up.
• 14:06
  Emily: When you're looking at a blank calendar, it's easy to
• 14:08
  start out with good intentions. Following through, however, is a
• 14:10
  genuine challenge. If you're struggling to put your ideas
• 14:13
  into practice, go back to Episode 55 where we discuss
• 14:17
  another Gretchen Rubin idea, the four tendencies. This helps you
• 14:20
  pinpoint what it takes for you to meet your own inner
• 14:24
  expectations. That way you're leaning on your strengths and
• 14:27
  not your weaknesses.
• 14:29
  Heidi: One thing that might help with follow through is to make
• 14:31
  as many decisions ahead of time as possible. If it helps to have
• 14:35
  a loose structure, try assigning a theme to each week's Power
• 14:38
  Hour. Emily, why don't you share with us the sample plan for how
• 14:41
  you might use your summer hours?
• 14:43
  Emily: Sure. So maybe week one, you're going to set your
• 14:45
  readiness goal and make your must do list. Get clear on what
• 14:49
  you're working toward, and then choose a quick win from your
• 14:51
  list and complete it right away to build that positive momentum.
• 14:55
  Then in week two, prep one light touch task that aligns with your
• 14:59
  readiness goal. So maybe that's making slides for your arrival
• 15:03
  procedure or your dismissal routine, and then batch one
• 15:06
  thing from your tedious tasks list.
• 15:08
  Heidi: And if you want help with those, there are priority lists
• 15:11
  and task batching lists and the Back To School Readiness
• 15:14
  Checklist to help you out.
• 15:16
  Emily: And then in week three, you could plan and prep
• 15:18
  materials for your first day. No matter your readiness anchor
• 15:22
  goal, you're going to need a first day plan.
• 15:24
  Heidi: Week four, draft your communication templates, things
• 15:27
  like your welcome letter, your classroom newsletter format, or
• 15:30
  how to help students at home handouts. Also prepare
• 15:33
  everything that you will need for your meet the teacher open
• 15:36
  house.
• 15:37
  Emily: And then in week five, plan something fun that excites
• 15:39
  you about the new year. Maybe it's a special first day
• 15:41
  activity or a themed unit you've been wanting to try.
• 15:45
  Heidi: That's just five hours, but it's five huge wins, and
• 15:49
  your August self is going to be so relieved. So it's time for
• 15:53
  step five in our Power Hour prep routine, which is to celebrate
• 15:56
  your accomplishments. You're showing up for yourself when it
• 15:59
  would be much easier not to and that is a huge win. Even if you
• 16:04
  didn't check everything off your list during your hour, write
• 16:06
  down what you did get done and give yourself a well deserved
• 16:10
  pat on the back and maybe even a fun little treat, because you
• 16:13
  deserve it.
• 16:14
  Emily: I read a book called Tiny Habits, where he teaches you how
• 16:17
  to take little, teeny steps towards your goals by making
• 16:20
  these, like, micro habits, and then after you do it, you're
• 16:24
  supposed to celebrate. And so his example was like, if every
• 16:27
  time you wash your hands, you're gonna do five squats, then
• 16:32
  afterwards you should like, give yourself a high five towards the
• 16:35
  mirror, or you should like, do a little dance. And honestly, I
• 16:40
  think psychologically, this might be a good tip. So maybe
• 16:43
  come up with, like, a real little celebration for yourself
• 16:45
  at the end of your power hour. Or, you know, you could give
• 16:48
  yourself a little treat too. That's fine.
• 16:50
  Heidi: And step six is to do it all again. Decide what you want
• 16:53
  to work on next, schedule an hour for each week, and then
• 16:56
  follow through. The beauty of this one hour system is that you
• 16:59
  can adapt it to whatever you need in whatever season of
• 17:02
  summer you're in.
• 17:04
  Emily: If you're in the early weeks of summer break and you
• 17:06
  want to do absolutely nothing school related for a while,
• 17:08
  cool, perfect. Start your one hour routine in a couple weeks.
• 17:12
  If you're headed back to school in a couple weeks and feeling
• 17:14
  behind, also perfect, you still have time to make a huge
• 17:17
  difference. You just might need maybe two or three power hours
• 17:20
  per week. That still gives you plenty of time to enjoy your
• 17:23
  summer and still start the year feeling ready.
• 17:26
  Heidi: So as you're listening, assuming you're not driving,
• 17:29
  open up your calendar and schedule your power hour for
• 17:32
  this week. Make sure you've clarified your readiness goal
• 17:35
  and have a list of essential tasks to help you meet that
• 17:37
  goal. Get everything on the calendar and protect that time.
• 17:41
  Once you're done working, take a minute to celebrate how much you
• 17:44
  got done, and then do it all again next week, and think how
• 17:47
  amazing you'll feel by the time that first day rolls around.
• 17:51
  Emily: We would love to hear about your Power Hour plan. Come
• 17:54
  join the conversation in our Teacher Approved Facebook group.
• 17:57
  Now for our Teacher Approved Tip of the Week, where we share an
• 18:01
  actionable tip to help you elevate what matters and
• 18:03
  simplify the rest. This week's teacher approved tip is create a
• 18:07
  calming planning ritual that signals prep time to your brain.
• 18:11
  So tell us about this, Heidi.
• 18:12
  Heidi: Well, one of the biggest challenges of summer prep is
• 18:14
  that our brains don't automatically switch into work
• 18:17
  mode when we are at home in our pajamas. So we want to create a
• 18:21
  simple ritual that helps signal to your brain that it's time to
• 18:24
  focus. This sounds serious, but I promise it doesn't have to be
• 18:27
  complicated. Maybe it's making a special cup of tea, lighting a
• 18:31
  candle or playing a specific playlist. Maybe it's sitting in
• 18:35
  a particular spot in your house or clearing off a specific
• 18:38
  workspace. The key here is consistency. Use the same ritual
• 18:44
  every time and your brain was going to start associating those
• 18:47
  cues with focused, productive thinking. It's kind of like
• 18:51
  training yourself to get into work mode on command.
• 18:54
  Emily: This may sound like a fluffy little time waster, but
• 18:56
  science backs us up on this. Prepping for a new school year
• 19:00
  can quietly trigger your brain's stress response. You're thinking
• 19:03
  about everything that went wrong last year, what might go wrong
• 19:06
  this year, and how much you have to do. That kind of pressure can
• 19:09
  make your brain feel like it's in danger. And when that
• 19:11
  happens, it shuts down the exact parts that you most need right
• 19:15
  now, the creativity, the focus, the problem solving.
• 19:18
  Heidi: And that's where a short calming ritual comes in. By
• 19:21
  taking a few minutes to breathe deeply, ground yourself, and
• 19:24
  reconnect with your purpose, you're activating the
• 19:26
  parasympathetic nervous system, and that's the part of your body
• 19:29
  that says, hey, you're safe, you've got this.
• 19:32
  Emily: This ritual isn't just aimed at creating a nice
• 19:34
  feeling. It's about training your brain to treat planning
• 19:37
  time as a space of confidence and clarity, not panic or
• 19:41
  perfectionism. Spending five precious minutes of your hour to
• 19:44
  start peacefully will help you be much more productive during
• 19:47
  the rest of that hour.
• 19:49
  Heidi: And when your hour is up, consider having a closing ritual
• 19:51
  too. Close the laptop, blow out the candle, put away your
• 19:55
  supplies. This helps your brain transition back to summer mode,
• 19:58
  and it prevents that, I'm always thinking about school, feeling
• 20:01
  that can tend to creep in.
• 20:03
  Emily: And throw in your mini celebration too. I want you to
• 20:05
  be having a mini dance party at the end of your power hour.
• 20:09
  Heidi: To wrap up the show, we are sharing what we're giving
• 20:11
  extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your extra
• 20:13
  credit?
• 20:14
  Emily: credit to the book Zero Days by Ruth Ware. It's about a
• 20:18
  woman who's in a race against time to find the person who
• 20:21
  murdered her husband and clear her name as the main suspect.
• 20:25
  Heidi: Oh, wow.
• 20:26
  Emily: Yes. It's really engaging, super fast paced
• 20:28
  thriller, and it's perfect for when you just want to get sucked
• 20:35
  into a book, which I recently did, so I blew through it in
• 20:36
  just a few days.
• 20:37
  Heidi: Well, that sounds like a perfect summer read.
• 20:37
  Emily: What are you giving extra credit to, Heidi?
• 20:38
  Heidi: I'm giving extra credit to you, Emily.
• 20:41
  Emily: Me??
• 20:42
  Heidi: We recently had our Teacher Summer Talk Summit, and
• 20:47
  it was so wonderful. And Emily crushed it. She has put so much
• 20:53
  work into this. I know on the user end, it probably doesn't
• 20:56
  seem like that much went into it, because you're just like,
• 20:59
  well, I listened to it. And there was some cute stuff on
• 21:01
  Facebook and Instagram, but that was months of work. She has
• 21:06
  worked so hard. So many late nights. You know, she'll be
• 21:08
  texting me at midnight, still at her computer. So all the extra
• 21:12
  credit for that, Emily. Good job, and Melanie and Sara and
• 21:15
  everyone else that helped along the way, and all of the tech
• 21:18
  nightmares. Oh, it was so much work, but she did an amazing
• 21:22
  job. It was a stellar event, and it was so fun. And I think
• 21:25
  teachers got so much out of it. So hopefully all of you joined
• 21:28
  us there as well.
• 21:29
  Emily: Yes, I loved that. It was a really great experience, even
• 21:32
  if I did have to work really hard, but I learned a lot, and
• 21:35
  hopefully next year will be easier.
• 21:37
  Heidi: Fingers crossed.
• 21:38
  That is it for today's episode. Remember, start with just one
• 21:42
  hour a week and your readiness goal. Make summer prep work for
• 21:46
  you, not against you.
• 21:47
  Emily: And don't forget our teacher approved tip for
• 21:49
  creating a summer planning ritual. And if you're looking
• 21:52
  for more structured support in your planning, check out BTS
• 21:55
  Success at the link in the show notes.
• 21:59
  Heidi: We hope you enjoyed this episode of Teacher Approved. I'm
• 22:02
  Heidi.
• 22:03
  Emily: And I'm Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow
• 22:06
  or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss an
• 22:09
  episode.
• 22:10
  Heidi: You can connect with us and other teachers in the
• 22:12
  Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.
• 22:15
  Bye for now.
• 22:16
  Emily: Bye.