Latest / Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies / 257. 5 Smart Switch-Ups for May Classroom Management

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257. 5 Smart Switch-Ups for May Classroom Management · Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies

0:00
Heidi: This is episode 257 of Teacher Approved.
0:03
You're listening to teacher approved, the podcast helping
0:09
educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I'm
0:12
Heidi.
0:13
Emily: And I'm Emily. We're the creators behind Second Story
0:16
Window, where we give research-based and teacher
0:19
approved strategies that make teaching less stressful and more
0:22
effective. You can check out the show notes and resources from
0:25
each episode at secondstorywindow.net.
0:27
Heidi: We're so glad you're tuning in today. Let's get to
0:31
the show.
0:31
Emily: Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today's
0:38
episode, we are talking about how to survive that mid-May
0:42
slump, where you can see summer but you can't quite reach it
0:47
yet, and we're sharing a tip for holding the day steady when the
0:50
routine is falling apart.
0:51
Heidi: But first, let's start with a try it tomorrow, where we
0:55
share a quick win that you can try in your classroom right
0:57
away. Emily, what is our suggestion for this week?
1:00
Emily: This week, try complimenting a colleague in
1:03
front of their class. May is the season where teacher burnout
1:07
really starts to bite, and one of the best antidotes to burnout
1:11
is connection. We get so isolated in our own classrooms
1:15
with our own problems, and it's easy to forget that there are
1:18
other adults in the building who totally get it. And really, this
1:22
couldn't be easier. Just the next time you're talking to a
1:25
colleague who has students with them, just say something nice
1:27
about them in front of their class.
1:29
Heidi: My friend Vicki was so good at this. Anytime she popped
1:33
into my classroom, she'd say something like, Do you guys know
1:36
how awesome your teacher is? You are so lucky to be in her class.
1:40
This did two things at once, obviously, like, I loved Vicki
1:43
for it, but it also gave me an opening to praise my class. I'd
1:48
always say something back, like, it's pretty easy to be a good
1:51
teacher when your class is this awesome. I'm so lucky to have
1:53
these kids in my room.
1:55
Emily: Oh, I love that. And then I bet everybody's day was just a
1:58
little bit brighter when she did that. Well, if you like this
2:02
idea or anything else we share here on the podcast, we would
2:04
love it so much if you take a second and give us a five star
2:07
rating on your podcast listening app.
2:09
Okay, so let's talk about why this stretch of May is so
2:13
brutal, because it's not just one thing, it's like three
2:16
things stacked up on top of each other in a trench coat.
2:19
Heidi: Of course it is, and that's why it's so tricky to
2:22
manage. First up, everyone's emotions are all over the map.
2:25
Some kids are crying because they don't want fourth grade to
2:28
end, and other kids are crying because fourth grade isn't
2:30
ending fast enough, and they're fed up. And you're probably
2:33
somewhere in the middle, just trying to hold it all together.
2:36
Emily: And then there's the structure thing. Your Kids
2:39
genuinely need your routines right now because they are so
2:41
dysregulated, but they push back on every single one of them.
2:45
They want to know what's coming next, but they don't actually
2:47
want to do what's coming next.
2:50
Heidi: Yeah, that's a fun puzzle to solve at the end of the year
2:53
when your tank is totally empty.
2:56
Emily: And that's the third piece, their energy is going up,
2:59
yours is going down, and there are still three or more weeks at
3:03
school left, and your calendar looks like it was filled out by
3:05
someone on a dare.
3:07
Heidi: Or maybe by an adrenaline junkie. There are the assemblies
3:11
and dress up days in all of the end of your celebrations.
3:14
Emily: Yep.
3:14
Heidi: Given a choice, no rational person would choose to
3:17
cram this many extras into an already heated situation. It's
3:22
kind of like tossing gasoline onto a fire.
3:25
Emily: I know, I'm always like the parents don't want this
3:27
much, the teachers don't want this much. Why, why does they
3:30
have to be like this? Well, with so much going on, I think
3:34
teachers feel like they have to pick a side either you double
3:37
down on structure and you hold the line on every single rule,
3:40
which, you know just makes the kids push back harder, or you
3:43
let it all go and try to coast through the days, and that
3:47
means, you know, your classroom is in chaos by 10am.
3:50
Heidi: Neither of those approaches work particularly
3:52
well. That's because May is not an all or nothing kind of month.
3:56
You don't have to choose between structure and fun. You just have
4:00
to make sure they're balanced.
4:01
Emily: If you're new here, welcome. We're so glad to have
4:04
you. This might be a new concept if you're new here, but if
4:07
you've been here a while, then you already know that this is
4:09
one of our favorite topics.
4:11
Heidi: Yeah, in fact, we love it so much we just wrote 70,000
4:15
words about it.
4:16
Emily: I mean, you know what? We were like, that's gonna be so
4:18
hard to write such a long book, and we were contracted for a
4:21
60,000 word book, which felt like a lot, but, you know, we
4:24
just had so much to say. We felt like we needed that extra 10,000
4:28
words to say it all.
4:30
Heidi: We tried to cut it back, but there's just so much to say.
4:33
Emily: Every time we cut something, I think we just added
4:35
something else, somewhere else.
4:36
Heidi: So if you need a refresher, a calmly managed
4:42
class requires a balance between two energies, structure and
4:45
spark. That balance shifts depending on where you are in
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the school year. These last few weeks are what we call the home
4:52
stretch. This is the season where rebalancing matters most.
4:57
Too much rigidity right now triggers resistance, but too
4:59
much looseness sends the whole class into free fall.
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Emily: So the trick in this season is to maintain the
5:05
predictability your class needs, to feel grounded, and add just
5:09
enough novelty to keep them interested, but not hyper.
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Heidi: And that is a trick, but we are here to help you out.
5:17
Today, we are sharing five small switch ups. These are little
5:21
shifts that add the spark your students are craving, without
5:24
giving up the structure that's keeping you functioning. And
5:27
none of these require very much prep at all.
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Emily: Yeah, these are just tiny tweaks to what you're already
5:32
doing. And our first smart switch up is the change of
5:34
scenery. This is exactly what it sounds like, you do your regular
5:37
activity, you just move it to a new location.
5:40
Heidi: And it's almost magic how well this works. It can be as
5:43
small as moving your read aloud from the back carpet to the
5:46
front of the room, or having silent reading under desks
5:49
instead of at desks.
5:51
Emily: And if your class really needs a bigger shift, or you
5:54
think they can handle a bigger shift, you can do something like
5:57
math review in the gym or a science lesson in a different
6:00
teacher's classroom. You don't have to do anything different
6:03
with the content, but a new spot makes everything fresh.
6:06
Heidi: One of my favorite versions of this is doing a
6:09
class swap. If you have a willing teammate or two, try
6:12
rotating classes. So each teacher plans one activity, and
6:16
the kids rotate through. That way you only have to plan one
6:18
activity, and the kids are getting three or four new
6:20
experiences.
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Emily: Yeah. Plus, kids often behave a lot better for teachers
6:25
that they don't see every day, so that kind of gives you a nice
6:28
break from refereeing the same arguments that you've been
6:31
refereeing all year.
6:33
Heidi: The reason a change of scene works so well is because
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novelty triggers the brain to release dopamine, which is the
6:39
chemical tied to motivation and engagement. When something
6:43
familiar shows up in slightly different ways, the brain perks
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up and pays attention. That new location is doing the management
6:50
work for you.
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Emily: Okay, so our second switch up is playing the
6:53
favorites. This is just bringing back the hits from earlier in
6:57
the year.
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Heidi: This one is so underrated. When teachers think
7:01
about adding spark at the end of the year, they usually think
7:03
they have to plan something brand new. But honestly, the
7:07
best stuff often already exists in your room. You've spent nine
7:11
months building this class culture, so use it.
7:14
Emily: Yeah, think about all the activities your kids loved this
7:17
year, the favorite read aloud, the math game that everybody
7:20
asked to play again, the science experiment that got everyone
7:23
talking. You can just bring those back.
7:25
Heidi: I had a class one year that was, like, weirdly obsessed
7:28
with musicals, and they were a tough class, especially at the
7:32
end of the day. They had just had it. So I made a deal with
7:35
them, if they would clean up quickly at the end of the day,
7:38
we could watch part of a musical until the bell rang. So at the
7:42
end of the year, it just felt to spend an afternoon watching
7:45
Sound of Music in one go, instead of in like five minute
7:48
chunks. The kids were so into it, except, obviously I did fast
7:53
forward Climb Every Mountain, because nobody, nobody has the
7:56
patience for that one.
7:57
Emily: No, why is that song in there?
7:59
Heidi: There's one in every show, you're just like, okay,
8:01
come on.
8:02
Emily: Yeah, but that is the perfect example of playing the
8:05
favorites. It wasn't a brand new activity, it was something your
8:08
class already loved that they got to do in a bigger, more
8:11
satisfying way at the end of the year.
8:13
Heidi: What makes this so genius for May specifically, is that
8:16
the kids already know how to do these activities, so they can
8:19
just dive in. You don't have to teach the rules or model
8:23
anything.
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Emily: And while the kids are busy, you get a pocket of prep,
8:26
which means you can pack a bin or grade a stack of papers.
8:29
That's the kind of hack you need at the end of the year.
8:32
Heidi: So as you were thinking about your last weeks, think
8:36
back over the year. What activities did your kids ask to
8:39
do again? What lit them up? Don't reinvent the wheel. Just
8:43
use the wheel you already have.
8:45
Emily: Our third switch up is one a lot of teachers don't
8:48
think about, and it's a really fun one. Give your students a
8:51
peek at what they'll learn next year.
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Heidi: I love this one because it taps into something kids
8:57
really want, which is to feel like they're growing up. By May
9:01
they have been in your grade all year. They want to know what's
9:03
next, and they want to feel like the big kids.
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Emily: So go peek at the curriculum for the grade above
9:08
yours and pick something that has a natural wow factor. So if
9:12
you teach second grade, maybe you do a mini lesson on cursive.
9:16
If you teach third grade, maybe you introduce two digit
9:18
multiplication. If you teach fifth grade, maybe you give them
9:22
a taste of middle school science.
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Heidi: To really boost the buy in. Present it with some
9:27
fanfare. You can say something like, You guys have learned so
9:30
much, I think you're ready for something kids usually don't see
9:33
until next year. That kind of framing just turns this lesson
9:37
into a whole event.
9:38
Emily: Yeah, and it like raises the level of concern in the room
9:42
in a good way, because suddenly the kids are leaning in like,
9:45
Ooh, this is something I'm going to need. And they pay closer
9:48
attention, because the stakes feel important.
9:51
Heidi: Just make sure that those stakes aren't causing any
9:54
anxiety.
9:55
Emily: Yeah.
9:55
Heidi: Frame it as a sneak peek, not as a preview of how hard
9:59
things are going to get.
10:01
Emily: And also be considerate of next year's teacher. You
10:03
don't want to step on their toes by going too deep into a topic
10:06
that they're going to teach in the fall. Just stick to
10:09
introductory, hands on stuff. The goal is to spark curiosity,
10:13
not to teach mastery.
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Heidi: So a really good example of this is multiplication
10:18
tricks. Kids think they're so cool, but if you teach a bunch
10:21
of shortcuts before they've built the conceptual
10:24
understanding, you're going to undermine the work that next
10:27
year's teacher is trying to do. So keep it light. You're not
10:30
responsible for teaching this, so just enjoy the fun part of
10:32
it.
10:33
Emily: And if you don't want to deep dive into one topic, you
10:36
can also just do a broader sampling. Pull up the curriculum
10:37
for next year and let kids preview a bunch of different
10:42
things, let them share what they already know about each one and
10:45
what they're excited to learn.
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Heidi: This is one of those switch ups that delivers
10:48
structure and spark at the same time. There's spark because it's
10:52
new and exciting and a bit of a mystery, and there's structure
10:55
because the kids naturally lean in when they realize that this
10:58
content actually matters.
11:01
Emily: Okay, switch up number four is team up time, and this
11:04
one solves a really specific May problem, which is that kids are
11:07
dying for social interaction right now.
11:09
Heidi: Yeah, they pretty much want to talk non stop, but you
11:12
can't just let them sit in a corner and chat. Although that's
11:15
probably tempting. So we need a structured outlet for that
11:19
energy.
11:20
Emily: One of the best ways to do this is to team up with a
11:23
class in a different grade, reach out to a teacher friend,
11:26
ideally, one whose class is two or three grade levels different
11:29
from yours, and see if they'd be interested in partnering with
11:32
your class.
11:33
Heidi: When I taught second grade, my friend Angela taught
11:36
fifth, so it worked out really well for our classes to partner
11:39
up. My kids would bring math games or books to read with
11:42
their buddies, and then Angela and I got a chance to hang out
11:45
for a few minutes.
11:46
Emily: And what's so great about this is that it satisfies the
11:50
social hunger without the chaos that usually comes with it. The
11:53
older kids show up to those buddy sessions like little
11:56
mentors. They want to be impressive role models, and the
12:00
younger kids want to impress them right back, so they're on
12:02
their best behavior because they're trying to seem grown up.
12:06
Heidi: Plus that has real academic value. The little kids
12:09
get one on one support, which is hard to come by in any
12:11
classroom, and the older kids get a chance to review skills
12:15
that they may not have practiced in a while. Even a fifth grader
12:18
can use some more time with subtraction facts and reading
12:20
fluency.
12:21
Emily: One important tip if you do this, be sure to assign the
12:24
buddies. Do not let the kids pick, otherwise you're going to
12:28
have somebody standing alone, and then you'll feel terrible.
12:31
So make a pairing list ahead of time, so you can pair kids
12:34
strategically based on social and emotional needs.
12:38
Heidi: And a really nice bonus of team up time is that kids who
12:42
struggle with behavior in your room often shine in this
12:45
setting. Because the dynamic is different, they get to be the
12:48
helper, and this can really be such a confidence boost for kids
12:52
who don't usually get to feel that.
12:54
Emily: Okay. Our last switch up is little freedoms. Loosening
12:58
one low stakes rule can make your students feel like they got
13:02
handed the keys to the castle.
13:05
Heidi: This one is maybe the most counterintuitive on the
13:08
list, but stick with us. It seems like relaxing a rule will
13:11
just make everything fall apart, right? But that is genuinely not
13:15
what happens, as long as you do it strategically.
13:18
Emily: Yeah, the strategy is the most important part here. Start
13:22
with something that has insignificant impact on your
13:25
routine. So if your normal rule is no toys at school, maybe you
13:29
say you can bring a small stuffed animal or a fidget for
13:32
your desk tomorrow. Even if the rest of the day is completely
13:35
ordinary, that one little freedom feels like a treat.
13:38
Heidi: If you are relaxing a rule in one place, you need to
13:42
fortify the structure around it. Make the boundaries clear. Maybe
13:46
the stuffies only come out during quiet reading time, or
13:49
you can read aloud to your stuffy for fluency practice. The
13:52
parameters make sure that freedom feels fun.
13:55
Emily: If you try this one, make sure to set limits on what they
13:57
can bring. So no electronics, nothing expensive or
14:01
irreplaceable, because you do not want to be the reason that
14:04
Dylan loses his beloved teddy bear that he sleeps with every
14:07
night.
14:07
Heidi: Yeah, his parents aren't going to thank you for that. And
14:10
you also don't want to have somebody's Switch mysteriously
14:13
disappear from their backpack.
14:14
Emily: Oh gosh, yeah.
14:16
Heidi: Your classroom rules exist for a reason. So if you
14:19
are deciding to relax a rule, you have to account for all of
14:22
the potential side effects.
14:24
Emily: Yeah, somehow it takes a lot of extra rules to support
14:27
one relaxed rule, which feels a little funny, but it works
14:31
because it gives kids that taste of freedom that they're craving
14:33
without giving up control.
14:35
Heidi: Another easy little freedom is loosening hallway
14:38
expectations, not in a crazy way. We don't do crazy hallway
14:42
here.
14:42
Emily: No.
14:42
Heidi: But you can let the line leader pick a silly walk, as
14:46
long as everyone stays silent. Or turn the hallway into a
14:49
freeze game. When you turn around, everyone has to pose
14:52
like a statue.
14:52
Emily: Instead of relaxing a rule, you can try implementing a
14:55
new rule, but this rule is meant just for fun. So growing up,
15:00
because we're old, we watched Pee Wee's Playhouse on Saturday
15:05
mornings, and Pee Wee always had a secret word, and whenever you
15:08
heard it, you were supposed to scream.
15:11
Heidi: I always tried so hard to remember the word after the
15:14
episode was over, but no luck. Memory like a sieve even when I
15:17
was eight. But you can apply the same principle in your
15:21
classroom.
15:21
Emily: Yeah, but not with the screaming part.
15:23
Heidi: Yeah, no screaming.
15:24
Emily: Do something like maybe take a nod from Finding Nemo and
15:28
have a class call and response. So anytime the teacher says
15:31
Shark Bait, the class says, ooh, haha.
15:33
Heidi: That's such an easy way to add some whimsy to the day.
15:38
The only catch is remembering that you have to say Shark Bait
15:40
a few times a day.
15:42
Emily: Yeah, maybe you need to set a little alarm on your phone
15:45
to remind you to do it.
15:46
Heidi: If you decide to try offering some little freedoms,
15:49
stick to one relaxed rule at a time. Don't listen to everything
15:53
at once, or it really will fall apart. And frame it as a
15:56
privilege that the kids earned through being responsible. Be
16:00
willing to pull back if things get wild.
16:02
Emily: So those are our five smart switch ups for the messy
16:05
middle of May. Change a scene, play the favorites, peek ahead,
16:09
team up time, and little freedoms. That's how you keep
16:12
structure and spark balanced in May.
16:15
Heidi: And if this topic was helpful, you are going to love
16:18
our new book. It's coming out in August, and it will walk you
16:21
through how to reset the balance between structure and spark all
16:24
year long.
16:26
Emily: The book is available for pre-order, and we would love
16:28
your support. If you've gotten value out of these conversations
16:31
around the podcast, pre-ordering our book would be a great way to
16:34
support us. Every author says that, but it is so true, the
16:37
pre-orders really do make a big difference for authors.
16:41
Heidi: And as a bit of spark to the structure, we have some
16:44
really fun pre-order bonuses on the way, and we will tell you
16:47
more about those soon.
16:47
Emily: Yeah, and if you've already pre-ordered, you'll
16:50
still get all the bonuses after so don't worry. There is a link
16:53
in the show notes if you're ready to pre-order, and a huge
16:56
thank you in advance to anyone who does. It really means so
16:59
much to us.
17:00
Now for our Teacher Approved Tip of the Week, where we share an
17:03
actionable tip to help you elevate what matters and
17:05
simplify the rest. This week's teacher approved tip is to
17:09
protect your morning routine. Let's talk about it, Heidi.
17:12
Heidi: Oh, this is so important. We just spent the whole main
17:15
segment talking about adding spark to the day, and now we're
17:18
saying, But wait, not in the morning. Mornings set the tone
17:23
for the whole day. If you start the day with too much
17:26
excitement, that energy keeps climbing until it crashes. You
17:29
know, usually around 10:30 in the form of a meltdown over a
17:32
missing pencil. Your students need predictability more than
17:36
ever right now, because they are so dysregulated. The kids who
17:39
resist structure are usually the ones who need it the most, and
17:43
the morning is the anchor for all of those swaying nervous
17:47
systems.
17:47
Emily: Yeah. So even when you're loosening rules and switching
17:50
things up later in the day, keep your morning the same. That
17:53
predictability is what lets them handle the spark that you are
17:57
going to add in later.
17:59
Heidi: And that's what makes the rest of your day work. If the
18:02
morning is steady and predictable, then the change of
18:05
scene later feels like a fun shift, instead of just one more
18:08
thing in a chaotic day.
18:09
Emily: Right.
18:11
Heidi: To wrap up the show, we are sharing what we're giving
18:16
extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your extra
18:21
credit?
18:21
Emily: I'm giving extra credit to the miracle foot cream that I
18:21
got, except it's not called that. It doesn't even like, have
18:22
a name. It's just like a made, I don't know.
18:24
Heidi: Black market?
18:26
Emily: No. It's just like, not like a name brand. It's just
18:29
like a cheap brand on on Amazon, it says grocerism is the name.
18:33
Heidi: Grocerism?
18:34
Emily: Grocerism, yep.
18:36
Heidi: Okay.
18:37
Emily: It is a 40% urea cream, which sounds like, oh, that
18:40
might be spicy. It's not spicy at all. It just feels like a
18:43
nice lotion, and it's got a little bit of salicylic acid in
18:45
it, and like a couple of other things, like aloe vera and
18:48
stuff. And like, you put this thing on at night and you will
18:50
have soft feet in the morning. I'm not even joking.
18:52
Heidi: Oh, okay,
18:53
Emily: I've been using it on the back of my 10 year old's arms
18:55
too, because she's got the keratosis polaris problem. Hers
18:59
was getting pretty bad, and so we put that on and like the next
19:02
day, it already was a ton better. So check it out. It
19:05
works good.
19:06
Heidi: Okay, I'm sure there'll be a link in the show notes.
19:09
Emily: There will. What are you giving extra credit to, Heidi?
19:12
Heidi: I'm giving extra credit to the three wins app. I think
19:16
this was only on iPhone, so apologies to Android users. But
19:20
I've been using this for a couple months now, and I love
19:22
it. So the idea is that, I think it's set up where, like at the
19:27
start of the day, you pick the three most important things you
19:29
want to get done in that day, and then at the end of the day
19:32
you come back and you say whether or not you've done
19:34
those. But I use it just at the end of the day to make a list of
19:37
everything I managed to get done.
19:39
And as someone who struggles with productivity guilt, this
19:43
has been a game changer. It's so easy. I just go through it, I
19:47
list everything I got done, because sometimes you get to the
19:50
end of the day and you see everything you didn't get done,
19:54
or what you feel like you got done isn't enough, or you just
19:55
take for granted all the little things you did, like, you know,
19:57
getting a load of laundry done, or putting the groceries away.
20:01
Like, once you start listing it out, it's just been such a huge
20:05
relief to me to be like, Oh, I'm crushing it. I'm doing so much
20:09
here. And if you check off all the wins for the date, you get
20:12
confetti. So, that's extra fun.
20:15
Emily: It's like, now that you're a Libby user, you'll have
20:17
to know this, that when, if you return a book early, they pop up
20:20
a little bouquet on the screen, and if you click that, then it
20:23
shoots all these flowers. I didn't even know this until a
20:25
couple months ago, I was returning books early and not
20:28
getting a celebration.
20:30
Heidi: Yeah, you've missed out.
20:32
Emily: Yes, but I will check this out, because it's, usually
20:35
at the end of the day I'm like, What did I even do today? Even
20:37
though I know I did stuff and it's way easier to just focus on
20:42
all the things you didn't get done.
20:45
Heidi: Yep, I used to have a journal that I would try and
20:48
write in, but I just couldn't keep up with it. But it's so
20:51
easy on my phone. So I give this five stars.
20:54
That is it for this week. May is a tug of war between holding on
20:59
and letting go, and the way through that middle stretch is
21:02
not to pick a side, but to rebalance. Try one switch up
21:05
this week and see what happens.
21:07
Emily: We'd love to hear which one you tried. So come find us
21:09
on Instagram @2ndstorywindow, and that's with a two. And don't
21:13
forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. We will see you
21:17
next week.
21:19
Heidi: We hope you enjoyed this episode of teacher approved. I'm
21:23
Heidi.
21:23
Emily: And I'm Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow
21:27
or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss an
21:29
episode.
21:29
Heidi: You can connect with us and other teachers in the
21:32
Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.
21:36
Bye for now.
21:37
Emily: Bye.