Latest / Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies / 280. 4 Teacher Lessons We Wish We'd Learned Sooner

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280. 4 Teacher Lessons We Wish We'd Learned Sooner · Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies

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  Heidi: This is episode 280 of Teacher Approved.
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  You're listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast helping
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  educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I'm
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  Heidi.
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  Emily: And I'm Emily. We're the creators behind Second Story
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  Window, where we give research-based and
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  teacher-approved strategies that make teaching less stressful and
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  more effective. You can check out the show notes and resources
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  from each episode at secondstorywindow.net.
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  Heidi: We're so glad you're tuning in today. Let's get to
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  the show.
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  Emily: Hey there! Thanks for joining us today. In today's
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  episode, we're doing something a little different because our
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  brand new book is releasing tomorrow, and in honor of that,
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  we are looking back at four things we wish we had known a
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  whole lot earlier in our teaching careers, and we've got
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  a teacher-approved tip to make back-to-school season a little
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  easier.
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  Heidi: But first, let's start with a try it tomorrow, where we
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  share a quick win that you can try in your classroom right
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  away. So, Emily, what is our suggestion for this week?
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  Emily: Okay, this is a good one and it's super easy. So, this
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  week, plan something to look forward to after the back to
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  school chaos settles down. So, it doesn't have to be big. It
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  could just be dinner out with a friend or buying a book that
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  you've been wanting and then tucking it away to read after
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  everything dies down. The first few weeks of school are so
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  intense, and so it helps you to know that something good is is
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  already on the schedule. It's coming later. You've got
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  something to look forward to, even if it's small.
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  Heidi: And the scheduling really is the key to making this work.
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  Even if you have to move your plans around later, at least
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  it's on the calendar. It's kind of like keeping your pieces on
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  the game board, because here's what will happen: otherwise,
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  you're going to get busy and you're going to forget, and then
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  you will be sad. We don't want you to be sad. So pick something
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  today and put it on the calendar.
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  Emily: And if you like this idea or anything else we share here
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  on the podcast, we would appreciate it so much if you
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  just took a second and gave us a five star rating and review on
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  Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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  Heidi: Well, as Emily mentioned, today is our little book's
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  birthday eve, and we are pretty excited. Tomorrow, our little
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  book baby goes out into the world.
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  Emily: I know. I can't believe it. Honestly, it still doesn't
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  feel real, even though we've like held the books in our hands
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  because we started this so long ago. It was November of 2024
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  that we started this. Honestly, even a little before that,
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  because that's when you wrote up that book outline after we
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  talked about that idea.
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  Heidi: That was, like, September. So almost exactly two
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  years ago.
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  Emily: So weird, and you'd think that with all that time, we
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  would have written it way early and had all this extra time to
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  spare. And that is that is not what happened.
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  Heidi: Yeah, yeah, you would think that. But we finished just
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  under the wire, same as always.
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  Emily: Actually, I think the wire had to be pushed back a
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  little bit. If you've listened to us very long, you can
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  probably guess it's because we wanted to include too much
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  information.
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  Heidi: Yeah, some things never change.
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  Emily: Yes, we're perfectionists too, so we had to like go over
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  every sentence a million times.
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  Heidi: I know, and now I'm scared to look because, like, I
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  know as soon as I look at one of these pages, I'm gonna find a
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  typo. I just know it.
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  Emily: Yes, or something that I wish we'd said differently, or
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  whatever. So I haven't read any of it yet. I've just flipped
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  through it to appreciate it.
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  Heidi: I wasn't prepared for how hard it would be to have it in
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  its final evolution, where we can't make any changes. So if
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  you find a typo, no, you did not. Okay?
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  Emily: No, you did not. Never tell us a word about that,
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  please. So our hope is just that this book becomes something
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  teachers can keep coming back to every year for some reminders
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  and a little encouragement from two teachers who have been
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  there.
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  Heidi: Back when we started teaching, we kind of had this
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  thought that there was a perfect system out there, that somewhere
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  in some magic binder or book, or from that teacher down the hall
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  who seemed to have it all together, that somebody had it
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  all figured out, and we spent a lot of time looking for that
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  system.
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  Emily: And I don't even know if we realized that's what we were
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  doing. We were just constantly trying to improve everything we
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  were doing to this like point of perfection by bringing in all
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  these new ideas every time we'd hear something new we wanted to
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  try it.
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  Heidi: All the time, yeah.
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  Emily: But the thing is when we couldn't find that we spent so
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  much more energy trying to build it ourselves. But in the
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  meantime, whenever you had a management issue with a kid that
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  didn't go the way you wanted it to, if your lesson flopped, if
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  the piles of papers on your desk were getting so big they're
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  tipping over, we felt like we yet again were proving that we
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  were failing at this.
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  Heidi: And I guess if you really look at it, we technically were
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  failing. Because we were failing at being perfect teachers,
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  because obviously that's impossible. But looking back, I
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  just have so much love for those poor baby teachers who were just
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  leaving it all on the field every day. Because we weren't
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  failing at being effective teachers.
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  Emily: No, or loving ones. Yes, our rooms were cluttery, and we
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  were sometimes scrambling to get our planning done. But we were
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  doing so much right. It's just that it's hard to notice the
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  good that's happening when you're so fixated on reaching
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  some impossible ideal.
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  Heidi: Yeah, and I think we would have said perfection was
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  impossible, but it was just that that job is so hard that it
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  seemed like there had to be big answers we were missing because
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  how can someone keep doing this for 30 years if every day is
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  this demanding?
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  Emily: Right. But eventually we did figure a few things out, and
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  I wish we'd realized so much sooner that instead of chasing
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  the perfect system, we really needed a system that was
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  responsive. That would have saved us so much stress and time
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  and guilt.
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  Heidi: Yeah, and it would have saved us from a lot of
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  work-filled weekends. So that is the philosophy that guided what
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  we put into Structure and Spark, the book. We want to help
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  teachers create the kind of responsive system that helps
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  both teachers and students have their best chances at succeeding
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  every year.
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  Emily: So we put all those tips that we tried and fully tested
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  over the years into the book, so that other teachers can learn
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  those same lessons sooner than we learned them.
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  Heidi: And instead of just doing a rehash of what's in the book,
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  we decided for this episode to zoom out and take a look at four
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  of the big lessons that we have learned over the years.
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  Emily: So these are the ideas that influence the practical
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  tips that we put into the book. So to start with, our first
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  lesson that we wish we had learned earlier is that you need
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  to make systems instead of treating every day like an
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  emergency.
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  Heidi: Oh yeah, if you're spending the whole day triaging
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  which of the demands you're dealing with are most urgent,
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  you're basically living in constant panic.
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  Emily: This is basically where the structure half of Structure
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  and Spark comes in. Of course, the book is more focused on
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  systems for students, but when those systems are in place, it's
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  much easier for you to build your own systems for getting
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  your own stuff done.
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  Heidi: And it definitely helps when you know exactly what needs
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  to get done instead of jumping from emergency to emergency and
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  just crossing your fingers that you've covered your bases. So,
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  Emily, what's one system that you built that helped get you
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  out of that emergency mode?
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  Emily: Well, I do think this is probably cheating, but I would
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  say getting a rock solid morning system, morning routine in
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  place. And the only reason that I say it's cheating is because I
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  never had to scramble to figure out how to do this because I had
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  the benefit of an older sister who had taught the same grade
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  already for, what was it, five years, six years.
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  Heidi: I think five, yeah.
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  Emily: Yeah, so you helped me plan my morning routine from the
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  start with the things you already knew I needed to have
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  and because of that my mornings ran so smoothly. And I know that
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  systems for mornings had a big impact on the rest of each day,
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  and I was able to do what I needed to do in the morning, and
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  it just set us all up on the right foot for a successful day.
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  Heidi: I am very glad that I had something worthwhile to share.
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  It's got to be the teacher in me, but I feel like if I learn
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  something the hard way, I want to tell everybody else about it,
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  so maybe they can have it a little easier, and that's
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  probably why we have a podcast now.
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  Emily: And it's probably why I was just telling you how I'm
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  basically writing a handbook as the PTA president for the one
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  coming behind me because I'm like, why didn't anybody tell me
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  any of this stuff? Okay, Heidi. Besides your morning routine,
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  when did the system help you get out of that emergency mode?
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  Heidi: Well, a big boost for me came when I set up a regular end
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  of day routine on Fridays. So the opposite of Emily, Emily had
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  the morning routine. I've got an end of day routine. But Fridays
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  became a particular hinge point for me. Normally, I would get to
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  Friday afternoon. It'd be 3:30, and I tell myself, I will figure
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  it out later. I'm just too tired to stay and, figure out next
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  week.
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  So that meant I either had to work on Saturday or start Monday
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  behind. And a lot of weeks I chose that Monday option, but
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  when I set up a Friday routine, it meant I could start every new
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  week ready to go and not frantically trying to pull the
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  day together. And surprisingly, it also resolved that problem of
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  feeling too tired to stay after school, because I had a finite
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  list of tasks, and most of them could be knocked out pretty
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  quickly. But without that list, it just turned into, Well, I
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  have to stay until I've caught everything up, and you can never
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  do that.
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  Emily: When you know that there's a dedicated time in your
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  schedule for tackling all your different tasks. It does free
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  you up to focus on what's in front of you instead of feeling
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  you have to hop from one thing to the next.
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  Heidi: And not having to start from zero every time you're
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  trying to do something really does make you more productive.
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  Okay, Emily, what is our second lesson that we wish we'd learned
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  sooner?
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  Emily: Okay, this is a biggie. You're not failing at
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  management. You're just not being proactive. Once you've
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  taught for a little while, you get a sense of the ebb and flow
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  of the school year. And when you can predict something, you can
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  plan for it. So, when did you make that shift toward
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  predictive classroom management, Heidi?
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  Heidi: Well, I don't know if there was like a specific aha
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  moment where everything changed all at once. I think it was more
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  just slowly realizing that there were pieces I could put into
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  place that had a really big impact on how the day unfolded,
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  like getting the morning routine down just little bits at a time
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  until I had more of a framework.
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  But one memory that I had was very clear. It was a field trip
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  morning, and I really felt like I was crushing it as a teacher.
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  So on a normal school day, my students arrived over the course
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  of about 30 minutes, and I would just send them out to play on
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  the playground until the bell rings. That morning, I had the
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  good sense to realize that my kids were going to be coming in
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  extra energized, and if I were sending them out to play where
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  they are all already hyped up, they're going to hype each other
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  up. So that morning, I kept everyone in after they arrived.
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  I had calm instrumental music playing, or probably some Enya.
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  I had everyone get their morning work underway, and then I had
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  them work on calming fast finishers while I dismissed each
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  table for a bathroom break, so we weren't rushing. Yes,
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  everyone needs to go, even if you don't feel like it. Being
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  able to just manage all these pieces and keep the energy in
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  the room under control was such an eye opener about how much I
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  could impact the flow of the day and the energy of my class, even
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  when things were at their craziest. Now I have the
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  vocabulary to be able to say that what I was doing was
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  increasing the structure to balance the increased spark. But
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  at the time, I was going on vibes.
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  Emily: But I love that you said you at the time were like, Man,
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  I am killing it! Like I love that you notice it in the moment
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  of like, Dang, I'm doing so good today.
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  Heidi: Well, what about you, Emily? What did you start doing
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  differently once you got better at predicting problems?
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  Emily: Well, the first one that comes to mind for me is turning
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  the kids' desks backwards. Which, if you are a long time
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  listener, you've heard us talk about that a lot of times. You
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  can absolutely predict that if your students can keep things in
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  their desk, there will be some problems, maybe a lot of
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  problems. They will sometimes get distracted by playing with
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  what's inside. I know my children have gotten in trouble
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  for doing that at school at times, and that desk is going to
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  become a mess. So you will have to spend time having them clean
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  it out.
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  And when I had them turn their desks around, I immediately
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  eliminated the problem of students being distracted
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  because they're playing around inside their desks, and I never
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  had to wait to start a lesson because two kids can't find
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  their writing folder somewhere in that black hole of their
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  desks, and I never had to find room in the schedule for monthly
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  desk cleanouts.
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  Now, I do want to say this idea is not going to work for
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  everyone. Maybe you don't have any place to store desk items,
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  so you have to let them store things in their desk, or maybe
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  you just don't like this idea, and that's okay. But the
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  principle here was the discovery that when you think ahead about
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  what's likely going to cause friction or suck time out of
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  your day, or it has done that in the past, then most likely there
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  is something you can do to prevent it, or at least improve
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  it. And we always say that our favorite classroom management
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  tool is to prevent problems before they start.
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  Heidi: Yes, absolutely. Prevention is always easier than
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  repair, and with the desk turnaround, like with some
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  seating arrangements, it didn't work for me to have group
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  supplies, so I did let students keep stuff in their desks. But
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  the desks were still turned around; they had to reach, they
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  had to reach over the edge. They were fine. They're kids; they
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  handled it, no problem. There's really so much you can do to
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  minimize problems, even if you can't fully prevent them, if you
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  have a little bit of proactive thinking about it.
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  Emily: Right. The third thing we wish we'd learned sooner was
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  that our job was to be on the student side against the
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  problem, not to make the student the problem. It's like that
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  thing I hear about parenting, where it's like the baby is the
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  problem. We are on the same team, and the baby is the enemy
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  here. We're not fighting with each other about the baby, so
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  it's the same idea. You and the student are on the same side
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  here, and a student who won't pick up a pencil isn't giving
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  you a hard time. They're having a hard time, and so you're on
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  their team to help solve the problem.
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  Heidi: And I found that when you can remove your own reaction
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  from the situation. It really does help you realize that this
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  kid isn't doing this on purpose. Something is making that child
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  feel like they can't do the work, and that's what you're up
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  against. So, Emily, what shifted your thinking about this over
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  time?
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  Emily: Well, honestly, I think it probably took having kids for
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  me to learn this. So, I only got to employ this knowledge in our
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  preschool teaching years, not in second grade. But you know, when
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  your baby cries, it's not because they like crying; it's
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  because something's wrong. And you can safely assume that the
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  same is true for students because most students want to
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  follow the rules and do what they're meant to be doing.
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  Notice I said most. If the kid is struggling to do that, it's
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  either because the work or the expected behavior is too hard
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  for them, or it's that something else is going on that's making
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  it too difficult for them to do what you're asking. Because who
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  knows what happened before they came to school today?
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  So when you get to the root of it, you can help give them the
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  scaffolding they need to get to where you want them to be, or
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  you can help them work through their dysregulation or whatever
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  other problem is making it too hard for them to go with the
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  flow today. Being on the same team as the student against the
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  problem instead of you against the student and their problem is
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  such a huge shift in thinking. What shifted your thinking about
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  that, Heidi?
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  Heidi: Well, unfortunately, I'm in the same boat as you. It took
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  me a really long time to come to this as well, and I think it was
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  when we were teaching preschool, because when a three year old is
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  having a meltdown, it's really easy to understand that the
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  problem might be that they didn't get enough breakfast, or
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  we were asking them to wait longer than their little body
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  could handle. But when I was teaching eight-year-olds, I
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  definitely had the attitude of get it together. No, I was never
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  mean. I wasn't mean or shaming, or I didn't punish. But I was
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  very matter of fact. Like, okay, you're choosing not to do your
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  work right now, so you get to make it up during computers. But
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  knowing what I know now, I think I would have gotten a lot
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  farther if I'd addressed the problem behind the behavior
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  instead of assuming that the child just needed some tough
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  love to get things in line.
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  Emily: Yeah, and all of this comes back to preventing
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  problems where you can. If you fix the reason the student is
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  behaving that way, you have a good chance of minimizing it in
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  the future.
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  Heidi: And plus, being a teacher is so much more enjoyable when
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  you don't see every misbehavior as a challenge to your
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  authority. It keeps your stress level so much lower, and it
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  helps you handle a tough moment in a constructive way instead of
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  getting caught in a power struggle and making things way
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  worse.
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  Emily: Right. Okay. And our last lesson that we wish we had
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  learned earlier in our teaching careers is that your whole life
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  doesn't have to be about teaching for you to be a good
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  teacher, even though it can feel that way some weeks. What's
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  something outside of teaching that you wish you had protected
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  better, Heidi?
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  Heidi: Oh, for sure, it was time off. Like I looked at my
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  holidays and weekends kind of like bonus planning time. Like I
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  worked every single Labor Day my entire teaching career. But you
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  know back then, especially when we were starting, we weren't
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  having these conversations about work-life balance. The messaging
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  was very much that martyr narrative that you are
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  shortchanging your students if you're not sacrificing yourself
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  for your job.
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  But that is such toxic messaging. And I wish that was
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  something I had taken to heart sooner. Actually, this is
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  something I wonder about a lot. Would my life look different
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  now? Would I maybe have not so many health problems if I had
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  prioritized my life back then? But then I look back and I
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  honestly don't know if I could have done much differently in
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  those early years. Like my first year of teaching, I was given a
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  teacher's guide for math, some paper-based 10 blocks, and a
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  reading bazel, and that was all I had to fill all of the content
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  and 180 days of school. Since this was way before teachers pay
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  teachers, and I'm so old. This is even before the internet
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  really had anything on it.
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  Emily: No, you were going to the internet to find ideas. You were
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  going to the teacher store to look at the idea books they have
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  there, and hoping there were a few ideas in the book you picked
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  out.
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  Heidi: Or I would spend my Saturdays at the university
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  library because they had in the education section they had
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  copies of textbooks from all these different textbook
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  companies and so I would make copies out of those to find
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  lessons I could teach my students. That was how I spent
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  my weekends.
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  Emily: Yeah, so there probably isn't a lot you could have done
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  given your particular situation, but it is sad to look back and
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  think of the effect that that had on your health and your
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  personal life to have to work that hard all the time.
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  Heidi: Yeah, for my $800 a month.
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  Emily: Yeah, right?
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  Heidi: Well, Emily, what would you tell your first year self
• 19:58
  about work imbalance?
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  Emily: Well, I mean, this is a hard one because, especially in
• 20:04
  your first few years of teaching, it's like if you care
• 20:07
  about doing it well, then this job is going to take over your
• 20:11
  life, all your time and energy, if you let it. And it's hard not
• 20:14
  to let it if you care. And we definitely let it be that way
• 20:19
  for a long time. And to be honest, part of the problem was
• 20:22
  I didn't even mind it that much because I really loved being a
• 20:26
  teacher. I loved working with you to create new systems and
• 20:30
  curriculum for our classes. When we spent all summer doing that,
• 20:32
  we were going back and forth between our classrooms. I was
• 20:34
  having a great time.
• 20:36
  Heidi: It was fun.
• 20:37
  Emily: It's hard when you're genuinely having a great time to
• 20:41
  notice the fact that it made it so we had very little left to
• 20:44
  give to anyone or anything else in our lives, and that is just
• 20:49
  not fair to teachers. You are obviously a whole person who
• 20:53
  deserves to have a thriving life outside of your job, and if
• 20:57
  giving that time to yourself and to your loved ones isn't
• 21:02
  motivation enough, don't forget that old saying about not being
• 21:05
  able to pour from an empty cup. When you eat, sleep, breathe
• 21:10
  teaching, you never get a chance to refill your cup. So in the
• 21:14
  long run, it probably makes you a little bit of a worse teacher
• 21:17
  because you stop being the best version of yourself when you're
• 21:21
  so drained.
• 21:22
  Heidi: 100%.
• 21:23
  Emily: Yes, and at the very least, you need to get motivated
• 21:26
  to give yourself this space and time away from school
• 21:28
  responsibilities so that you can actually be a better teacher.
• 21:32
  But you don't have to earn time away from school because it will
• 21:35
  make you a better teacher. You deserve that time no matter
• 21:37
  what. I feel like we all know that, but do we really know it?
• 21:42
  We need to know it.
• 21:45
  Heidi: And what else makes this such a challenge is that it's
• 21:48
  not like you ever get to the end of your to-do list. There's
• 21:52
  always more that needs to be done. You're always behind
• 21:54
  somewhere, and this job is just going to take and take and take
• 21:58
  until you don't have any more to give. So it really does come
• 22:01
  down to setting boundaries, and then the hardest part, holding
• 22:05
  them. I don't know how to make that easy, but it is definitely
• 22:08
  worth it.
• 22:09
  Emily: But that is why being able to predict what's coming is
• 22:12
  so valuable. That's how you can make sure you're putting time
• 22:15
  and energy where it will make the biggest difference, so that
• 22:18
  you can leave work on time and go enjoy your life.
• 22:22
  Heidi: So, if you take one thing from today, we want you to
• 22:25
  remember that you don't have to be a perfect teacher. The goal
• 22:28
  is just to be a responsive one. And unlike perfection,
• 22:32
  responsiveness is actually something you can achieve.
• 22:35
  Emily: Speaking of which, this is where we tell you where you
• 22:38
  can learn more about our system. Structure and Spark: A Flexible
• 22:43
  Framework for Every Classroom Curveball comes out tomorrow.
• 22:47
  Heidi: And that means today is your last chance to pre-order
• 22:51
  and get our bonuses that go with it. Those close at midnight, so
• 22:55
  if you want them, place your pre-order with your favorite
• 22:57
  online bookstore, and then fill out the quick form at
• 23:01
  secondstorywindow.net/book, so we know where to send
• 23:04
  everything, and you can find that link in the show notes.
• 23:08
  Emily: Now for our teacher-approved tip of the
• 23:09
  week, where we share an actionable tip to help you
• 23:12
  elevate what matters and simplify the rest. If this one
• 23:16
  sounds familiar, that's because this is your annual reminder to
• 23:19
  think of next year's back to school while you're prepping for
• 23:22
  this one. So let's hear more about it, Heidi.
• 23:25
  Heidi: Okay, we know that the timing of this makes it sound
• 23:27
  like we're adding one more thing to your overflowing plate, but
• 23:31
  we do have to talk about this right now because right now you
• 23:33
  have a clear perspective that is going to fade very quickly over
• 23:37
  the next few weeks. So take 30 seconds and set up a list,
• 23:41
  whether that's a note in your phone, an email to yourself, or
• 23:44
  a Google Doc. It doesn't matter. You just need somewhere that you
• 23:48
  will remember to look again. And then, as you are prepping all of
• 23:52
  your back to school tasks, write down all of the things that you
• 23:55
  are doing right now that could have been done ahead of time.
• 23:59
  Emily: Yeah. So, drafting your meet the teacher letter is a
• 24:01
  good example because you can write most of that before you
• 24:04
  even know what grade you're teaching, and that means it's
• 24:06
  something you could get out of the way any time between now and
• 24:10
  next year's first day, and that frees up a little time and
• 24:13
  energy for the tasks that can't be done in advance. So, the
• 24:16
  second you catch yourself doing something that didn't need to
• 24:19
  wait, that you could have done sooner, add it to the list.
• 24:22
  Heidi: And then while you are at it, flag anything that someone
• 24:27
  else could have done. Like they probably can't write your meet
• 24:29
  the teacher letter, but cutting out papers is something anyone
• 24:33
  could do for you. And that way, when you have parent helpers in
• 24:36
  May, or if it's state testing and all of the interventionists
• 24:41
  that usually pull kids need something to do, you've got
• 24:44
  tasks that are ready to hand off that are going to get you ready
• 24:47
  for the first day of school.
• 24:49
  Emily: And even if your helpers can't do all of a task, if they
• 24:52
  can get you started, you'll still be ahead of the game. So,
• 24:55
  for example, if you're doing the saving Sam team building
• 24:59
  activity every year, have a helper fill baggies with paper
• 25:02
  clips and bowls ahead of time. Then all you have to do on the
• 25:05
  day is add the gummy worms. So even those small tasks save time
• 25:09
  in the long run.
• 25:11
  Heidi: All right, to wrap up the show, we are sharing what we're
• 25:13
  giving extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your
• 25:15
  extra credit?
• 25:16
  Emily: I'm giving extra credit to the color stack challenge
• 25:20
  game. So I told you about piles recently. This is our other
• 25:24
  favorite game from this year, and it is a game where you pull
• 25:28
  out a base and then you put five tubes on the top of it. So think
• 25:34
  of it like it's up, it's vertical like a Connect Four
• 25:37
  board, but imagine it's just five round pegs basically, but
• 25:41
  they're plastic. And then you've got a collection of these big,
• 25:44
  they're not beads, obviously, but they look like a very, very
• 25:47
  big bead that would go on these tubes.
• 25:50
  So the way it works is you'd pull out a card, and each of you
• 25:54
  set up your board to start the exact same way, so that it's not
• 25:58
  just like if they went on randomly and then someone has a
• 26:00
  bit of an edge because theirs happened to work better with the
• 26:04
  puzzle that needs to be solved. So basically, the idea is you
• 26:08
  want to get all of the little beads of the same color on one
• 26:13
  tube, and there's only enough room for those 10 beads, and
• 26:17
  there's enough tubes that there's two empty, so you kind
• 26:21
  of have a spot you can move things.
• 26:24
  Heidi: I think I've played a game on my phone that's similar.
• 26:26
  It's like a color stack challenge.
• 26:28
  Emily: Yes, exactly.
• 26:30
  Heidi: Okay, I'm with you.
• 26:31
  Emily: Once you guys have your boards set up the same way with
• 26:33
  the starting, then you're both racing to see who can get all of
• 26:36
  their colors sorted the quickest. And the rule is, you
• 26:40
  can only put one color on top of a bead of the same color, or you
• 26:45
  could put it on an empty tube. That's the only place you can
• 26:48
  move. So if you have three pinks in a row and there's a enough
• 26:51
  room on another tube that has a pink, you could move that over
• 26:54
  there. But you couldn't move it just to get it out of the way
• 26:57
  and put it on some greens just to move it.
• 26:59
  Heidi: Yeah.
• 27:00
  Emily: So mostly I can beat my kids at this, except my teenager
• 27:03
  is way better at it than me, and it makes me so mad. I always
• 27:06
  want another rematch, and then she beats me again. So it comes
• 27:11
  with two of the stands. I think I might buy another set because
• 27:14
  it's it's only like $15. It's pretty affordable. I think I
• 27:17
  might buy another set so that all four of us can play at the
• 27:20
  same time.
• 27:21
  Heidi: That sounds like a fun game.
• 27:23
  Emily: They even have a travel size one that I keep in my
• 27:25
  analog bag to just like solo play, and I don't have to rush
• 27:28
  because nobody's beating me. But it's pretty cleverly designed,
• 27:32
  where you like slide the pegs out the bottom, shake up the the
• 27:36
  container, and then slide them back in, and that mixes it up
• 27:41
  for you, so it's kind of fun.
• 27:43
  Heidi: Well, I'm gonna get that for my analog bag. That sounds
• 27:46
  really good.
• 27:46
  Emily: It's cute.
• 27:48
  Heidi: Because I know I've liked playing that game on my phone,
• 27:51
  but then you're on a phone, so.
• 27:53
  Emily: Yes, exactly. And the game that I used to play that on
• 27:58
  had so many ads, and I was not gonna pay for an app like that.
• 28:02
  I'd rather just do it with my hands anyway. It's much more
• 28:05
  fun, so definitely get that. What are you giving extra credit
• 28:09
  to, Heidi?
• 28:12
  Heidi: This is easier to explain because it is a game, but this
• 28:15
  is a phone game. But it feels analog, because it it doesn't
• 28:19
  have a timer. It's just very gentle. It's called yarn fever,
• 28:24
  and I know I've seen tons of versions of this in the ads I
• 28:28
  get served online. I just picked this one at random, but so far
• 28:32
  I've really liked it. The ads only pop up at the end of a
• 28:36
  round, and then that's my signal to be done. So I don't play
• 28:40
  multiple rounds in a row because I don't want to sit through
• 28:42
  that. So that's actually been really good for me.
• 28:45
  So the idea is you have like a 3d image. Let's say it's a teddy
• 28:49
  bear, and then you have two boxes of spools in certain
• 28:55
  colors. So maybe you have blue and pink, and the teddy bear is
• 28:59
  in all these different colors. So you tap the pink on the teddy
• 29:02
  bear, and that corner of the teddy bear, like the yarn,
• 29:05
  travels to the spool. So you have to fill the three spools,
• 29:08
  and then that basket's taken out, and you get a new color. So
• 29:10
  the idea is to unravel all of the yarn that is making up this
• 29:14
  picture. So it's very calming. There's not a timer. I just like
• 29:19
  to be able to tap. It really has been a nice little unwind, if
• 29:23
  you got to be on your phone.
• 29:24
  Emily: Okay. All right, I'm going to try yarn fever, and
• 29:27
  then afterwards, when I hit the ad, I'll put my phone away and
• 29:30
  I'll do my travel color stack challenge.
• 29:32
  Heidi: There you go. Sounds like a win. What an evening!
• 29:36
  Emily: Hey, we know how to live around here.
• 29:39
  Heidi: Well, that is it for today's episode. Remember that
• 29:43
  pre-order bonuses for Structure and Spark close tonight at
• 29:46
  midnight. So after you order, head to
• 29:48
  secondstorywindow.net/book and fill out a quick form so that we
• 29:52
  can be sure to get you those bonuses.
• 29:56
  We hope you enjoyed this episode of Teacher Approved. I'm Heidi.
• 30:00
  Emily: And I'm Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow
• 30:03
  or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss an
• 30:06
  episode.
• 30:06
  Heidi: You can connect with us and other teachers in the
• 30:09
  Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.
• 30:12
  Bye for now.
• 30:13
  Emily: Bye.