Latest / Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies / 224. How to Help Students Build Learning Stamina After Summer Break
Transcript
- 0:01Heidi: This is episode 224 of Teacher Approved.
- 0:05You're listening to teacher approved, the podcast helping
- 0:09educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I'm
- 0:13Heidi.
- 0:14Emily: And I'm Emily. We're the creators behind Second Story
- 0:17Window, where we give research based and teacher approved
- 0:20strategies that make teaching less stressful and more
- 0:22effective. You can check out the show notes and resources from
- 0:26each episode at secondstorywindow.net.
- 0:29Heidi: We're so glad you're tuning in today. Let's get to
- 0:31the show.
- 0:37Emily: Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today's
- 0:40episode, we're talking about how to help your students build
- 0:43their learning stamina, plus we've got a teacher approved tip
- 0:46for elevating your sub plans.
- 0:49Heidi: But first, our try it tomorrow. Emily, what is our
- 0:52quick win for this week?
- 0:53Emily: Okay, so tomorrow, when kids are working, try narrating
- 0:57positive things that you see, but make it about the effort,
- 1:01not the outcome. So instead of, 'you're doing great,' try
- 1:04saying, 'I see someone trying two different ways to figure out
- 1:07that problem to make sure they got the same answer.' This takes
- 1:11two seconds, but it shows everyone what you value, and
- 1:14encourages them to keep working hard.
- 1:18Heidi: This seems so minor, but it's a really powerful shift.
- 1:21Kids need to know what good work actually looks like.
- 1:25Emily: If you like this idea or anything else we share here on
- 1:28the podcast, would you take a second and give us a five star
- 1:30rating and review in your podcast listening app?
- 1:34Heidi: All right, imagine it's the second week of school.
- 1:38You've planned a beautiful, independent writing lesson,
- 1:41you've explained the directions clearly, modeled what good work
- 1:43looks like, and confidently sent your students off to write. And
- 1:48I bet you can guess what happens next.
- 1:51Emily: Well, let me think, probably about three minutes in,
- 1:55half the class is at the pencil sharpener, two kids are done
- 1:59with work already that should have taken them 20 minutes, and
- 2:02someone's having a sudden shoe emergency that apparently cannot
- 2:05wait.
- 2:06Heidi: Exactly. If you have ever asked your students to work
- 2:10independently for 15 minutes in those first days of school, you
- 2:15know exactly what we're talking about, the wandering eyes, the
- 2:18bathroom requests, and suddenly everyone's water bottle is
- 2:22desperately empty.
- 2:23Emily: Yes, and it's not that your students don't want to
- 2:26focus. It's just that many of them are still in summer brain
- 2:29mode. So their attention spans are shorter. They're adjusting
- 2:32to new routines and expectations, and they're just
- 2:35not used to sustained focus anymore.
- 2:39Heidi: And that is assuming that they ever had the skills to
- 2:41focus to begin with. But rather than pushing through hoping it
- 2:46will get better, what if we took a more proactive approach? What
- 2:50if we treated stamina not as something kids either have or
- 2:53don't have, but as a skill we can teach and grow, just like
- 2:56reading or math.
- 2:58Emily: We don't expect kids to multiply two digit numbers
- 3:00without teaching them how, right? So why do we sometimes
- 3:03expect them to focus for extended periods without
- 3:07explicitly building that capacity? And that's exactly
- 3:11what we're going to talk about today. And Heidi, kick us off.
- 3:14You've got a good example of this, right?
- 3:17Heidi: I do. Well I hope everyone is comfy, because we
- 3:20are starting with a story time, and I so wish right now that I
- 3:24could do a Sofia Petrillo impression, but you're just
- 3:28gonna have to imagine me with gray curls and a wicker purse.
- 3:31Emily: Picture it. And if you're too young to get that reference,
- 3:36first of all, how dare you. And we probably seem so old to you
- 3:40right now that you do think we have gray hair and wicker
- 3:43purses.
- 3:45Heidi: So rude.
- 3:46Emily: I mean, the gray hair may be accurate. It's not fully gray
- 3:51though, we are taking care of that, but I do not have a wicker
- 3:54purse, thank you very much.
- 3:55Heidi: Although, is it bad if I say I saw one the other day
- 3:56Emily: Oh, shoot, let's just give up. Let's move to Florida.
- 3:59online, and I thought, Oh, that's cute.
- 4:06Heidi: All the cheesecake we can handle. Well, picture it.
- 4:11Sicily. I mean, my second grade classroom. It's the first week
- 4:16of school. We have made it to day three, and I have been
- 4:19working through my attaboy back to school goals. One of my
- 4:23biggest teaching goals in the first week is to get students
- 4:25used to the learning routines that we will be using all year
- 4:28long, like how to spend silent reading time actually reading.
- 4:33Emily: Yeah, the eternal challenge.
- 4:35Heidi: Oh, no joke. But I did find a secret weapon in the
- 4:39daily five book. There are suggestions in that book that I
- 4:43do disagree with, but the stuff that is good is so good that it
- 4:47completely changed my teaching, and the author system for
- 4:50launching reading time is really some of their best stuff. So
- 4:54here's what I would do. I gathered my new little second
- 4:57graders back at the carpet for a chat. We would talk about the
- 5:00value of focus, and then I would give each student a stack of
- 5:03books and place them in their reading spots. Now eventually, I
- 5:07would let them choose their own books and spots, but that came
- 5:09later. Once everyone was settled, I went back to my
- 5:12table, because that's where I would normally be during reading
- 5:15time, and I pretended to be busy with paperwork, but really I had
- 5:19my stopwatch running and I was covertly scanning for the first
- 5:23sign that someone was off task.
- 5:25Emily: Oh, and those kids think they're being so sneaky while
- 5:28they're secretly wasting time, but you're on to them.
- 5:31Heidi: Every time, they can't get it past me. Those kids are
- 5:34about as subtle as a stampede. As soon as I spotted someone
- 5:39looking around the room or building a tent out of books, I
- 5:43stopped my timer and I called the class back to the carpet. No
- 5:46matter how long they managed to read, even if it was just one
- 5:49minute and 48 seconds, I was super pumped, because it is all
- 5:54uphill from here. I told the kids all of the awesome things I
- 5:58noticed them doing. Next we talked about the ways to get our
- 6:02minds back on track if we lose focus. And then came the big
- 6:05question, were they ready for round two? We set a goal for how
- 6:10long they thought they could focus, and because they're
- 6:12overachievers, they would immediately jump to 10 minutes.
- 6:16Emily: Why did they do that? They think, they always think
- 6:18they're ready to take on this, like, enormous challenge. I was
- 6:21like, Guys, you couldn't even do two minutes.
- 6:23Heidi: That's why second graders are the best. They just have no
- 6:27grip on reality.
- 6:28Emily: That's what makes them so lovable.
- 6:31Heidi: Yes, definitely. So I would suggest something a little
- 6:34more doable. Like, okay, we made it one minute and 48 seconds. Do
- 6:39you think we can try for two minutes, and if we can keep
- 6:42going, maybe we'll get to ten. So armed with their new resolve,
- 6:47the kids went back to their reading spots, and I went back
- 6:49to my table. The timer started again, and I got my paperwork
- 6:52out again, and then as soon as I spotted someone off task, the
- 6:56timer stopped. I had the kids put away their books and then
- 6:59come back to the carpet.
- 7:01This was the end of reading time for the day, and they were eager
- 7:04to hear how well they had done. And even if they only beat their
- 7:07previous time by a few seconds, it was still a celebration. We
- 7:11wrapped things up by reflecting on what they had done to keep
- 7:13their minds on their books, and we marked the day's progress on
- 7:16a bar graph. That visual really made a huge difference. Suddenly
- 7:21they could see, oh, today we made it two minutes. I bet we
- 7:24get to three minutes tomorrow. It turns stamina into a class
- 7:28challenge, almost like leveling up in a video game.
- 7:31Emily: I love that, especially because they're all working
- 7:33together for the goal. Now, this wasn't something you did all
- 7:37year, though, right?
- 7:38Heidi: Oh, no. I think we all would have gotten real sick of
- 7:41that real fast, but I repeated that process every day until
- 7:44they could focus for about 10 minutes straight. After that, I
- 7:48would keep slowly building their on task stamina, but we didn't
- 7:51stop in the middle and discuss it anymore. So that was my grand
- 7:55experiment with reading stamina, basically just me trying to
- 7:59trick a bunch of eight year olds into believing that sitting
- 8:01still and reading silently was the coolest new sport in town.
- 8:05But you know what? It worked. It worked every year. By October,
- 8:09that same class that could barely manage two minutes at the
- 8:11start was reading independently for 20 or 30 minutes. I
- 8:15sometimes had classes that could read for 40 minutes. But it
- 8:18didn't happen all at once. We built it day by day, celebrating
- 8:22every small victory along the way until they got where they
- 8:25needed to be.
- 8:26Emily: Oh, I love it so much. And this is a great story on its
- 8:30own, but the best part is that these same principles that got
- 8:34your kids reading longer can apply to any part of the school
- 8:37day. That could be math practice, writing time, we know
- 8:40how writing stamina can be so low, centers, even making sure
- 8:44your mornings are efficient and effective.
- 8:46So let's break down five reasons why this approach to reading
- 8:51stamina worked, and more importantly, how you can apply
- 8:55these same ideas to any time of day.
- 8:57Heidi: I think the first big takeaway here is that kids need
- 9:01the language to talk about stamina. If we just say, try
- 9:04harder, or pay attention, that really doesn't mean anything.
- 9:09But when I started talking about it like training a muscle, it
- 9:12clicked. I could tell them, alright, we're building our
- 9:16reading muscles today. Every time you practice, you go a
- 9:18little bit longer and you get a little bit stronger, and
- 9:21suddenly they weren't just, you know, doing reading time they
- 9:23were training. And who doesn't want to feel like they're
- 9:26leveling up?
- 9:27Emily: Yeah, and the key to making this stick is to use kid
- 9:30friendly language. Defining stamina as the ability to stick
- 9:34with something, even when it takes time or feels hard, is
- 9:38something they can understand. We want kids to see that stamina
- 9:41is a skill they can develop, just like learning to read or
- 9:44ride a bike, and that same principle can apply to any
- 9:47subject.
- 9:48Heidi: It's important to make struggle visible and normal in
- 9:51your classroom by openly addressing it with your
- 9:54students. You can start by having a conversation. Help them
- 9:57understand that struggle is the time whenearning is happening.
- 10:01You can ask students to share times when they've had to work
- 10:03hard to learn something, and then work together to create an
- 10:06anchor chart that defines what to do when you're stuck.
- 10:09Students might suggest things like try a different way, ask a
- 10:12friend, look for examples, or take a break and come back.
- 10:15Emily: It's also helpful to include what not to do, things
- 10:18like running away to the bathroom, asking to get water
- 10:22when your bottle is already full, or just sitting there
- 10:25doing nothing.
- 10:27Heidi: Yeah, and for some reason, students are often
- 10:30surprised that we have picked up on these patterns.
- 10:32Emily: What? How did she know?
- 10:36Heidi: Yeah, they think they're so sneaky. But naming those
- 10:38little tricks helps everyone be more aware. The goal is to
- 10:42normalize struggle and give students concrete strategies for
- 10:45working through difficult moments.
- 10:48Emily: The second lesson from Heidi's story is to start small
- 10:51and make progress visible. And this might be the most important
- 10:55principle of all. It's easy to think that kids should be able
- 10:57to do something by this age, but as we all know, that doesn't
- 11:00mean they can.
- 11:02Heidi: We have to meet them exactly where they are, which,
- 11:04you know, in my case, was one minute and 48 seconds, and then
- 11:07we can build from there. Starting small lets students
- 11:10feel successful early, which is incredibly motivating. It's also
- 11:14important to know when to stop pushing for the day. As soon as
- 11:17my students were done with their second attempt, we were done
- 11:23with reading time for the day. I didn't want it to become a
- 11:23chore, so I ended things on a high note, even if it was only
- 11:26four minutes long, and we celebrated any progress and
- 11:29added it to our graph.
- 11:31Emily: The clear visual of the graph makes this process so
- 11:34motivating for students. As each day's bar gets colored in, they
- 11:37have clear proof of their improvement, and it motivates
- 11:40them to want to keep trying.
- 11:43Heidi: Unfortunately, success probably isn't going to be a
- 11:45straight line. Some days we'll have setbacks, and that's
- 11:48totally okay. We want students to know that we can learn from
- 11:51mistakes too. So when this happens, have your students talk
- 11:54about what went wrong and ask them to make a plan for what
- 11:57they can try tomorrow.
- 11:59Emily: Starting small and visually tracking progress
- 12:01really does work for any subject. You can use the same
- 12:04process to build writing stamina, math persistence and
- 12:08getting kids focused during morning work time. The key is
- 12:11making the increment small enough that success feels
- 12:13achievable. Don't jump from two minutes to 10 minutes.
- 12:17Heidi: Even if they think they can make that jump.
- 12:19Emily: Yes, don't let them do it. Each small victory builds
- 12:22confidence for the next challenge, so you want to make
- 12:24it easy for them to have those victories.
- 12:27Heidi: And then make sure you're celebrating. Did your class make
- 12:31it four whole minutes today? Add it to the chart and do a little
- 12:34happy dance. Those moments help stamina feel like a group
- 12:37achievement instead of a chore.
- 12:39Emily: And didn't you have a Facebook memory pop up the other
- 12:42day that was like, my students read for three whole minutes
- 12:45today, and we're celebrating, right?
- 12:49Heidi: We take our wins where we can get them.
- 12:52Emily: The third takeaway for building learning stamina is to
- 12:55use breaks strategically. Every time Heidi called the class back
- 12:58together after a timed round of reading, she gave their brains a
- 13:02chance to reset. They had just spent a few minutes
- 13:05concentrating really hard, and that quick pause and movement
- 13:08let them hit the reset button on their attention.
- 13:11Heidi: Plus taking strategic breaks teaches students that
- 13:14focus isn't just about gritting your teeth and pushing through.
- 13:17Sometimes the best way to maintain stamina is to pause,
- 13:21breathe, and then jump back in. And that is such a valuable
- 13:24lesson for kids to learn, and probably for some grown ups to
- 13:27learn too.
- 13:28Emily: And it's actually easy to build these focus resets into
- 13:31any subject. If students are working on a long writing piece,
- 13:35plan strategic pauses where they can share a sentence with a
- 13:38partner, or do a quick stretch, or have them twist and turn in
- 13:42their seats between math problems.
- 13:44Heidi: And luckily, there are a lot of creative ways to add
- 13:47movement and breaks to your day.
- 13:48Emily: Yeah, a great desk break is having students gently press
- 13:52their palms together in front of their chests and holding it for
- 13:56three seconds. It's simple, but an effective reset.
- 14:00Heidi: You can even do something like desk cycling. Ask students
- 14:03to hold onto the sides of their chairs and then pedal their legs
- 14:06as if they're riding a bike. Or you can use an imaginary paddle
- 14:09to paddle a canoe, just make sure that students switch sides,
- 14:13or their imaginary canoe is just going to go in imaginary
- 14:15circles.
- 14:16Emily: I know, we need to teach them proper canoeing skills if
- 14:19we're going to bother at all. There really are endless ways to
- 14:23build in movement without losing control. You could do wall push
- 14:27ups, chair yoga, silent disco.
- 14:31Heidi: What's a silent disco?
- 14:32Emily: Oh, it's where you say silent disco, and then kids
- 14:37dance like they're hearing music, but it's totally quiet.
- 14:41Be hilarious, and get the wiggles and the giggles out
- 14:44without too much chaos.
- 14:46Heidi: I bet they love that. And if you want an easy way to
- 14:49incorporate strategic breaks into your daily routine, we've
- 14:52got dozens of brain breaks that you can use.
- 14:55Emily: Probably hundreds, actually.
- 14:57Heidi: There's so many. We split them into three categories.
- 15:01Breaks for when kids need to calm down, breaks for when kids
- 15:03need to focus, and breaks for when kids need some energy. So
- 15:07you can find exactly the right activity for your class.
- 15:10Emily: The nice thing about our brain breaks is that they can be
- 15:12done without technology, so you can use them anytime and
- 15:15anywhere they're needed. You just print off the cards you
- 15:18want and keep them where they're easy to grab any time of day. I
- 15:21like to just put like a metal ring in the corner for each
- 15:24deck, and you can check out our brain breaks at the link in the
- 15:27show notes.
- 15:28Heidi: No matter what kind of break you do, a good idea is to
- 15:31wrap things up with a clear transition back to focus mode.
- 15:35Try having students stretch and breathe for a few seconds, or
- 15:38have them do an energy check in, ask them to pay attention to how
- 15:42they feel at the end of the break. Now you don't have to
- 15:44discuss this. It can just be a moment of silent reflection
- 15:47before getting back to work.
- 15:49Emily: Okay, the fourth lesson from Heidi's reading launch is
- 15:52to give students tools to manage their focus. We often equate
- 15:56focus with willpower, but really it's more about having
- 15:59strategies. Helping students recognize when their focus is
- 16:02drifting is a powerful gift.
- 16:05Heidi: And one tool that even adults can use to help reset
- 16:08their focus is to take a breathing break. If it feels
- 16:11like your mind has a mind of its own, pause for a second for a
- 16:15few calming breaths, and notice how your attention resets.
- 16:19Emily: Another idea is to extend the discussions about stamina to
- 16:22discussions about focus. Put it in kid friendly terms, maybe
- 16:26create an anchor chart about what it feels like and looks
- 16:29like when your mind wanders. Include examples like, you
- 16:32realize you've been looking at the same page for a while, or
- 16:35you catch yourself thinking about lunch instead of your
- 16:37story.
- 16:38Heidi: There are also lots of practical supports that teachers
- 16:41can give. A visual timer makes work time feel more concrete
- 16:44because kids can tell exactly how long they have left for
- 16:47their math assignment. Or you can try teaching students some
- 16:50reminders that they can repeat to themselves, like, good
- 16:52writers keep trying. This gives kids encouragement to push
- 16:56through a tough moment.
- 16:57Emily: The key is teaching students that when they feel
- 16:59their focus slipping, they're not helpless. They have a
- 17:02toolbox of strategies to try. This helps them see
- 17:05concentration as a muscle that they can strengthen one choice
- 17:09at a time.
- 17:10Heidi: The final lesson we want to talk about today is including
- 17:13reflection and goal setting in your stamina building process.
- 17:17Until my students were up to about the 10 minute mark, we
- 17:19would debrief together at the end of reading time, and I would
- 17:23ask them questions like, what went well today? What was tricky
- 17:25for you? How did you handle it when your mind started to
- 17:28wander? And what should we try differently tomorrow?
- 17:31Emily: And I think that discussion piece is key. It's
- 17:34easy to skip over because we feel the pressure to move on
- 17:37with the day. You can keep things quick, though even a
- 17:40couple of minutes will do the trick. But it is so important to
- 17:43help students notice what works for them and what doesn't, and
- 17:47it builds that sense of we're all working on this together.
- 17:50Heidi: After kids share their insights, you can wrap up the
- 17:53lesson by graphing their progress and then deciding
- 17:55together what to aim for tomorrow. If you had a rough
- 17:59day, you might need to keep the same goal, or if progress is
- 18:02slow, maybe just add 30 seconds. We want students to be proud of
- 18:06how they're improving, even if it's just a little at a time.
- 18:10Emily: This reflection piece is so easy to build into any
- 18:12subject. Wrap up math by asking what was one part that stretched
- 18:16your brain today? Or after group work, what helped you stay
- 18:20focused on your team's task? Those conversations are where
- 18:23the real learning happens.
- 18:25Heidi: As you're working on stamina building with your own
- 18:28students, an important thing to keep in mind is that your
- 18:31neurodivergent learners might need specific accommodations in
- 18:34order to be successful. Breaking tasks down into smaller chunks,
- 18:38providing movement breaks more often, or offering alternative
- 18:42seating options can be essential supports.
- 18:45Emily: But the good news is that these stamina building
- 18:47strategies we've been talking about are exactly the kinds of
- 18:50support that all kids need, including your neurodivergent
- 18:54learners. Teaching focus as a skill, making progress visible,
- 18:58providing tools and strategies, this benefits everyone.
- 19:02Heidi: And not only does it work for all of your kids, it works
- 19:05for all of your subjects. Use these same principles to build
- 19:09writing stamina, math stamina, listening stamina, just adjust
- 19:13the specifics to match your different goals.
- 19:15Emily: So to recap, our five key principles for building learning
- 19:18stamina. First, give students the language to understand
- 19:21stamina as a skill that they can develop. We're building our
- 19:25reading muscles. Second, start ridiculously small and make
- 19:29progress visible through tracking and celebration. Third,
- 19:33use breaks strategically to help students reset their attention.
- 19:37Fourth, give students concrete tools to manage their focus when
- 19:41it starts to drift. And fifth, build in reflection and goal
- 19:45setting so students become aware of their own learning patterns.
- 19:49Heidi: Your students are capable of so much more than they
- 19:51realize. With your guidance and the systematic approaches, they
- 19:55can grow their stamina day by day until they're tackling big
- 19:58projects, sustained reading, and challenging work like pros, and
- 20:03we promise it will happen, even if they can only handle one
- 20:07minute and 48 seconds right now.
- 20:09Emily: And we would love to hear how you help your students build
- 20:11learning stamina. Come join the conversation in our Teacher
- 20:14Approved Facebook group.
- 20:16Now, it's time for this week's Teacher Approved Tip of the
- 20:19Week, where we share an actionable tip to help you
- 20:22elevate what matters and simplify the rest. This week's
- 20:26teacher approved tip is to leave a happy surprise for your sub.
- 20:30Tell us more about it, Heidi.
- 20:31Heidi: Well, now that everyone has been back in germ central
- 20:35for a few weeks now, you might be coming down with your first
- 20:38cold, and our apologies if that is the case, hopefully your sub
- 20:43binder is ready to go and the copies are easy to make. But if
- 20:47you have vending machines at your school, one thing you might
- 20:50want to do is leave behind some quarters so your sub can get a
- 20:53little treat. For me in my sub binder, I had a little zipper
- 20:57pouch with a sticky note that said something like, Thanks for
- 21:00your help today, grab a soda on me, and then I just had four
- 21:03quarters in there. Now, of course, this assumes you can
- 21:06still get a soda for four quarters. I haven't been to a
- 21:11vending machine in a while.
- 21:13Emily: Who knows, maybe you need eight quarters these days. And
- 21:17obviously this is totally optional, but everyone
- 21:19appreciates a thoughtful gesture, and if it happens to
- 21:21motivate the sub to follow your plans with a little more
- 21:24attention than before, then that would be a win for everyone.
- 21:29Heidi: To wrap up the show we are sharing what we're giving
- 21:33Emily: I'm giving extra credit to my cell phone carrier, which
- 21:33extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your extra
- 21:33credit?
- 21:36is called Visible. About 18 months ago, I decided to switch
- 21:40carriers because I was just so sick of how much money I was
- 21:43paying for my Verizon plan. After doing some research, I
- 21:47discovered there were lots of low cost options, but Visible
- 21:52jumped out to me because it is a affordable carrier that's owned
- 21:55by Verizon and uses their same network. So it was basically a
- 22:00no brainer to switch, and I have loved it. I haven't noticed any
- 22:04difference in my service. I was nervous to switch to a totally
- 22:07different company that I didn't know how the coverage would be
- 22:09in my area, but switching from Verizon to Visible was no
- 22:13different.
- 22:14So that was really nice, and I think I was paying like at least
- 22:18$70 before, and now I'm paying $30 a month for unlimited
- 22:23minutes and data, just like I was getting before. So I will
- 22:27put a link in the show notes, and I think you get a $20
- 22:30discount if you use that code, and I believe you can combine it
- 22:33with whatever their special introductory offer is too, which
- 22:36is nice, because they always have great sign up offers. So
- 22:39this is not sponsored. I just was thinking today how nice it
- 22:43is to be paying so much less for my cell phone carrier these
- 22:46days.
- 22:47Heidi: Okay, I have to get on that. Every time I pay my bill,
- 22:50I think, Okay, I've gotta, I gotta figure out that switch. So
- 22:53this is motivating me.
- 22:54Emily: Yep, I'll send you the referral link, and then you can
- 22:59join my circle. I think even though we're not on the same
- 23:01plan, that's another thing they have where you can save,
- 23:03everybody on the in the circle saves $5 a month.
- 23:07Oh, that's cool.
- 23:08If you have like other people who are Visible. I think that's
- 23:11how it works. Don't quote me on it if, if that's not how it
- 23:14works. But I just, I just read about it today when I was
- 23:17looking for the link. So anyway, check it out. I'll put the link
- 23:20in the show notes. What are you giving extra credit to, Heidi?
- 23:23Heidi: Well, my extra credit goes to my Kindle page turner
- 23:26remote. I think mom gave it to me for Christmas.
- 23:29Emily: Yeah, that's why I have one. So I'm assuming yes.
- 23:32Heidi: And, I mean, of course, it's always nice to get a
- 23:34present. But I was a little skeptical at first, because
- 23:37turning a page on an e reader is literally just tapping the
- 23:40screen. I'm lazy, but I'm not that lazy. But I am hooked on
- 23:45this thing now for two reasons. First, now I don't have to hold
- 23:50the Kindle up. I can just, like, prop it up or use a stand, and
- 23:53that's nice, because I do have arthritis in my thumbs, and
- 23:56holding things can actually create a lot of pain.
- 23:58Emily: Hey, we were just telling them we're not old. We don't
- 24:02want to admit that we both have arthritis. Don't tell people
- 24:05that, it's our secret.
- 24:07Heidi: Should I tell them I was diagnosed with arthritis in my
- 24:09hands in my 20s?
- 24:10Emily: No, shush.
- 24:11Heidi: But the second reason I like that remote, it's not
- 24:17because of old, but it's because I can get all snuggly while I
- 24:20read.
- 24:20Emily: I know I love it.
- 24:22Heidi: You don't have to have one hand out in that chilling
- 24:25room temperature air. You can just pull a blanket all the way
- 24:27up and keep reading. So if you're also a little snuggly
- 24:31reader, there is a link to a remote in the show notes. I
- 24:34don't think it's the same model we have, but there's a bunch on
- 24:37Amazon.
- 24:37Emily: I think they all pretty much function the same. But I
- 24:40co-sign this extra credit. It is very handy to have if you are a
- 24:44Kindle reader who likes to read in bed, especially.
- 24:47Heidi: That is it for today's episode. Remember, building
- 24:50stamina is a marathon, not a sprint. So start small, stay
- 24:54consistent, and celebrate every bit of growth.
- 24:56Emily: Come share your stamina building wins in our Teacher
- 24:59Approved Facebook group. We love hearing what's working in your
- 25:02classroom.
- 25:03Heidi: And don't forget our Teacher Approved tip to bribe
- 25:06your sub with some quarters.
- 25:10We hope you enjoyed this episode of Teacher Approved. I'm Heidi.
- 25:14Emily: And I'm Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow
- 25:17or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss an
- 25:20episode.
- 25:20Heidi: You can connect with us and other teachers in the
- 25:23Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.
- 25:26Bye for now.
- 25:27Emily: Bye.