Latest / Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies / 278. Want Better Behavior? Start with Relationships

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278. Want Better Behavior? Start with Relationships · Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies

0:00
Heidi: This is episode 278 of Teacher Approved.
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You're listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast helping
0:09
educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I'm
0:13
Heidi.
0:14
Emily: And I'm Emily. We're the creators behind Second Story
0:17
Window, where we give research-based and
0:19
teacher-approved strategies that make teaching less stressful and
0:22
more effective. You can check out the show notes and resources
0:26
from each episode at secondstorywindow.net.
0:29
Heidi: We're so glad you're tuning in today. Let's get to
0:32
the show.
0:36
Emily: Hey there! Thanks for joining us today. In today's
0:39
episode, we are talking about how to make your classroom rules
0:42
even more effective, and we have a teacher-approved tip for
0:45
building positive relationships with parents.
0:48
Heidi: But first, let's start with a try it tomorrow, where we
0:50
share a quick win that you can try in your classroom right
0:53
away. And if you aren't back in your classroom yet, make sure to
0:56
jot this down because you're going to want this tip handy
0:58
when you start back. So, Emily, what is our suggestion this
1:01
week?
1:02
Emily: Okay, so next time you give directions, or when you're
1:05
back in the classroom and you give directions, say the
1:07
student's name first instead of tacking it onto the end. So
1:10
instead of "line up at the door, Marcus," it's "Marcus line up at
1:14
the door." Putting the name up front means that their brain
1:18
picks up, Oh, you're talking to me, before the instruction
1:22
starts, instead of catching the tail end of it when they hear
1:25
their name.
1:27
Heidi: That's such a small swap, but it's so worth it if it means
1:31
that students pay closer attention to what you're saying.
1:33
And isn't that the dream?
1:35
Emily: Yes.
1:36
Heidi: If you like this idea or anything else we share here on
1:39
the podcast, would you take a second and give us a five-star
1:42
rating and a kind review? Ratings and reviews tell new
1:45
podcast listeners that our show is worth checking out, so
1:48
everyone really does help us out.
1:51
Emily: Okay, Heidi, let's talk about that feeling that every
1:55
teacher gets when they come back from a day out when the sub has
1:58
been there and there is a note, the note, waiting on their desk
2:03
for them.
2:05
Heidi: Oh, you know the note. The one where the sub tells you
2:09
your class basically reenacted the third grade version of The
2:12
Lord of the Flies while you were gone.
2:14
Emily: And these are the same kids who lined up fine and
2:17
turned in their work two days earlier, and there were no
2:19
problems. But yesterday apparently was a whole different
2:22
story.
2:23
Heidi: You know, the kids are the same, the expectations are
2:26
the same. So why did things fall apart yesterday? Well, of
2:30
course, it comes down to the lack of structure.
2:33
Emily: Ah, yes, because a sub's arrival brings a huge spike of
2:39
spark of novelty. Even the most routine procedure suddenly feels
2:44
new with a substitute. So structure is needed to balance
2:48
that spark.
2:50
Heidi: Now, unfortunately, a substitute who is only with your
2:53
class for a single day has a difficult job. They don't know
2:56
your routines well enough to provide the same level of
2:59
structure that you do, and we will go into more detail about
3:03
this in a future episode.
3:04
Emily: But that is only half the story. The bigger thing that's
3:07
missing is you. One of the strongest sources of classroom
3:12
structure is your relationship with your students, and so it
3:15
walked out the door with you when you left.
3:19
Heidi: Your students aren't just responding to your classroom
3:22
rules; they are responding to the person who's asking them to
3:26
follow those rules.
3:27
Emily: Yeah, so that's what we're getting into today. We're
3:30
talking all about why the relationship you build with your
3:33
students is more important than the rules you set.
3:38
Heidi: Sounds like we're doing a hot take, but we're really not.
3:40
We are not anti-rule. If you have listened to us at all, you
3:43
know we are huge proponents of expectations. Kids need rules.
3:48
Rules create predictability and safety.
3:50
Emily: And that's why we as teachers spend hours planning
3:53
transitions and consequences before the year even starts. And
3:58
we should do that. It's important because those strong
4:00
procedures are the gears that keep your day running.
4:04
Heidi: But in all of that procedure planning, it's really
4:06
easy to overlook the second part. How are you going to build
4:11
the relationships that make those procedures work?
4:14
Heidi: there ways to get a kid to cooperate.
4:15
I've seen some teachers online recently talking about how they
4:18
are not interested in building a relationship with their
4:20
students, and then when they explain, it's clear they don't
4:24
mean they're ignoring the teacher-student relationship.
4:27
They're just not interested in being their students' friends.
4:30
Yeah, I've seen the same thing, and I was like, What are you
4:32
talking about? And we are not saying that you need to be your
4:36
student's bestie. You don't have to be the fun teacher who hands
4:40
out prizes and eats lunch with their kids.
4:43
Emily: Yeah, because that's unhelpful in a completely
4:45
different way. And I think we all know teachers who have gone
4:48
too far into teacher bestie territory. Instead, we are after
4:53
the kind of teacher student relationship where every student
4:56
knows that their teacher notices them, that their teacher wants
5:00
them there, and that their teacher believes that they can
5:03
do this.
5:04
Heidi: Please don't let that feel overwhelming. Relationship
5:07
building really isn't complicated, but it does have to
5:10
be intentional. You can't land there by accident.
5:39
You either apply external pressure or internal motivation.
5:44
Emily: So, with external pressure, students comply
5:46
because they want to avoid getting in trouble, or being
5:49
embarrassed, or losing a privilege. We have all had that
5:53
teacher who ran a silent, perfectly behaved room on
5:56
nothing but shame and fear.
5:58
Heidi: Yeah, my teacher like that was my seventh grade
6:01
algebra teacher, Mr. Moffett.
6:03
Emily: Oh, you're calling him out.
6:04
Heidi: Yes, he does not deserve the benefit of any positive PR.
6:08
Plus, I think he's probably dead.
6:10
Emily: He was very old then, so he probably is because I also
6:13
had him for seventh grade algebra.
6:15
Heidi: Oh yikes! Well, you know, you know how this goes then, and
6:19
you could hear a pin drop in his room. Every single kid was on
6:23
task and paying attention to everything he said, but that's
6:26
because if you talked, he would scream at you in German.
6:30
Emily: Now I don't know why I don't remember this part,
6:32
though. I don't remember the German.
6:35
Heidi: Oh, it made an impression. Well, if it wasn't
6:39
the German, it was the heckling. You probably do remember this,
6:41
Emily. He would announce that you must have a crush on whoever
6:45
you were whispering to, just to shame you in front of the whole
6:48
class. Now, I was a perfect angel student in that class
6:51
because I did not want any, no German, no heckling.
6:54
Emily: Please don't notice me.
6:56
Heidi: Yes, but one morning the boy sitting behind me had a
7:00
question, and I don't blame him for feeling like you couldn't
7:03
ask our teacher, so he asked me instead, and that gave Mr.
7:22
Emily: Oh, that's so rough.
7:23
Moffat plenty of material for a little stand-up act. Although
7:25
Heidi: I mean, but it worked in the sense that nobody talked.
7:28
stand-up is generous because he was seated the whole time, he
7:28
But I don't think anyone who cares enough to listen to a
7:32
teaching podcast is interested in being that kind of teacher,
7:33
was not a teacher that got up. But I remember how my cheeks
7:36
even if it technically works.
7:38
Emily: So we're not getting students to cooperate through
7:38
burned; they must have been so red.
7:40
Emily: And unless you want to spend all day prodding reluctant
7:40
kids, which who wants to do that? Then making this
7:40
investment really matters. Students who believe their
7:40
teacher is on their side are students who stick with you when
7:40
you ask them to do something. That's what produces
7:41
cooperation, and cooperation, not compliance, is the real goal
7:41
external pressure, so that leaves the other option:
7:44
internal motivation.
7:44
here.
7:44
Heidi: And this is what happens naturally when a kid trusts the
7:48
adult asking them to do something. Now they're not just
7:51
avoiding a consequence; they're protecting something they care
7:54
about.
7:55
Emily: If you need your class to work on an assignment quietly,
7:58
both compliance and cooperation can achieve that goal, but at a
8:03
cost.
8:04
Heidi: And the cost of compliance is pretty cheap. It's
8:07
easy to produce; just make the consequences painful enough, and
8:11
kids will fall in line. But compliance is short-lived; it
8:14
disappears the minute you walk out of the room.
8:17
Emily: And it breeds resentment all along the way. But on the
8:21
other hand, cooperation is expensive. It takes more work.
8:25
You have to plan for it, and you have to keep investing in it.
8:30
Heidi: But cooperation lasts. You end up with a class that
8:33
largely manages itself because your kids want to live up to
8:37
what you expect of them.
8:39
Emily: And that's why your kids are willing to follow the rules.
8:42
When that relationship is strong, rules become part of
8:45
caring for one another. Instead of no talking, students
8:48
understand we stay quiet because everyone deserves to learn, and
8:52
my talking might disrupt them.
8:55
Heidi: And instead of walk in the hallway because my teacher
8:58
said, they understand we walk because other classrooms deserve
9:02
respect, and the running feet will be distracting. You're not
9:05
changing your expectation, but now your students have some
9:08
internal motivation to meet it.
9:10
Emily: Relationships are so fundamental to how the entire
9:14
year unfolds that they are the very first tool that we teach in
9:17
our new book, Structure and Spark.
9:20
Heidi: And that book comes out next week, and if you pre-order
9:24
by august 17, we have some awesome bonuses to send you. The
9:28
only catch is that you have to fill out a form for us because
9:31
we don't have a way to like get into Amazon and find out who
9:34
bought it.
9:35
Emily: Yes, so you have to pre-order and then head to
9:38
secondstorywindow.net/book to fill out a quick form so we can
9:42
send you those bonuses, and we will link to that page in the
9:46
show notes.
9:46
Heidi: So as you're heading into a new school year, it's so easy
9:50
to plan a couple get-to-know-you activities and think that you've
9:53
covered it all for relationship building, but unfortunately, it
9:57
does take a little more effort than that.
9:58
Emily: Instead of thinking this is one more thing to pile on
10:02
your plate, try reframing it. Scheduling time for intentional
10:06
relationship building is one of the few tools you have for
10:09
getting stuff off your plate later.
10:12
Heidi: Yeah, that's a definite rarity in education. So instead
10:16
of counting the lost minutes spent relationship building,
10:19
zoom out and imagine the saved hours. Every time a transition
10:24
unfolds efficiently, you easily save five minutes. Every time
10:28
your class comes back from recess and settles quickly, you
10:30
save another five minutes.
10:32
Emily: And this is just like what we talk about with teaching
10:35
your procedures at the beginning of the year. The whole idea of
10:38
do it right or do it all year long, that's exactly the same
10:42
thing here. This all goes hand in hand. So let's get practical.
10:47
What does this look like? The first thing is to start
10:51
relationship building early.
10:53
Heidi: And we mean even earlier than you might be thinking. In
10:53
Emily: So, if you think of the first day of school as an event,
10:56
her book, The Art of Gathering, which is an excellent book,
11:00
Priya Parker explains that an event, whether that's a birthday
11:03
party or a professional development training, doesn't
11:06
start when the guests arrive. It starts the moment the attendees
11:10
hear about it.
11:14
the same principle applies. Your relationship with your class
11:16
doesn't begin when students walk through the door. It begins the
11:19
first time that they hear your name.
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Heidi: Which means you really want to make sure they associate
11:25
that name with a positive feeling. If you have your class
11:28
list early enough, there's a lot you can do before day one. Now,
11:32
I taught with a teacher who did home visits before school
11:35
started.
11:36
Emily: And one of my kids had a teacher that came and met them
11:39
before the school year started. It was a little surprising, but
11:43
I think it was really good for their relationship. And I know
11:46
I've heard that some whole faculties do this at some
11:50
schools. They have like a certain day that they're all
11:52
going out to meet their kids, and the research shows that home
11:56
visits have a lot of benefits. They are such a good way to
11:59
learn things about a kid that you would never find out
12:01
otherwise.
12:02
Heidi: And they're also a really good way to start building trust
12:05
with the family too. But they are such a big ask, especially
12:08
if no one's paying you to do it. I always felt so guilty not
12:13
doing the same thing as my teammate was doing because she
12:15
didn't seem to think it was a big deal. But I knew myself well
12:18
enough to know that this poor introvert would need weeks to
12:22
recover from 25 home visits.
12:24
Emily: Oh my gosh, that, it is an introvert's nightmare. I
12:27
think having to meet that many new people in a day, I would
12:29
actually die. So it is okay if you don't have the time or the
12:34
energy for that. This isn't all or nothing. Connecting through
12:38
the mail or in other ways works too. So we used to send
12:42
postcards before school started, inviting kids to our open house
12:45
and asking them to bring something to share on the first
12:48
day.
12:49
Heidi: It's such a small gesture, but it tells a kid
12:51
before they've even met you that you are already thinking about
12:55
them.
12:56
Emily: And if you want something all ready to go for this, we
12:58
have a resource for you. It's so cute. You tuck a star sticker
13:01
into an envelope with a poem telling the students to make a
13:05
wish the night before school starts, and that their new
13:08
teacher is making a wish for them too at the very same time.
13:11
It's so cute.
13:12
Heidi: Or you could get those squishy star stress balls and
13:16
attach the poem to those, but I think those might be a little
13:19
bit tricky to mail. So you'd probably want to save those to
13:21
give out in person.
13:23
Emily: Yeah, that would be perfect to give out at your meet
13:25
the teacher night or your open house. And squishies are all the
13:29
rage right now, so a squishy star would be perfect. But also
13:33
remind yourself that this does not have to be a big deal.
13:37
Heidi: Yeah, I've seen the teachers online prepping whole
13:39
gift bags. This is not bad. One small thing, even if it's just a
13:43
couple of lifesavers, sends the same message. It says, "I'm glad
13:47
you're here, and we're going to have fun together."
13:49
Emily: Once you have a way to connect with students before the
13:51
first day, you need to welcome them warmly once they arrive.
13:55
Heidi: On that first morning, you can just assume that every
13:58
student is secretly wondering the same thing. Do I belong
14:01
here? And every interaction you have that day either answers
14:05
that yes or leaves it hanging.
14:08
Emily: The easiest first step is to learn your students' names
14:11
and take the time to learn how to pronounce them correctly. If
14:14
you are at all unsure, ask last year's teacher.
14:18
Heidi: Or you can ask the student when you meet them, then
14:22
do your best to get it right. I know sometimes with language
14:24
differences, it's really hard to make the same sounds that are
14:27
natural in the other language. I had a student with an indigenous
14:31
Mexican name, and it sounded like music in his accent, and in
14:36
my accent, it sounded like a car that wouldn't start. I never did
14:40
get it perfect, but I was always respectful when I used it, and I
14:45
never put him on the spot by saying something like, "Oh,
14:47
that's just too hard for me. I'll just call you whatever."
14:49
You know, I just I did try to be respectful.
14:51
Emily: Yeah, or making a big deal of the fact of like, "Oh, I
14:54
can never get your name right." Like, you don't want to draw
14:57
attention to that. Respect is really important when it comes
15:00
to names because names are so closely tied to our identity.
15:03
That's why using them has such power. Besides learning your
15:07
students' names, make it a point to have their names visible in
15:11
the room.
15:12
Heidi: If you're a teacher that uses student numbers to label
15:14
things, aim to have names visible in at least three
15:17
places. And if you don't use numbers, then that step's really
15:20
easy.
15:21
Emily: And one place we always recommend having names is right
15:24
outside the door. That way, when a nervous kid arrives outside
15:28
your room and they're trying to tell if this is the right place
15:30
on that first morning, they know that they are in the right spot
15:34
without wandering in to check. They already know before they go
15:38
in, so they can come in with a little more confidence.
15:40
Heidi: And that little touch of preparation is such a gift when
15:43
people are anxious.
15:44
Emily: Yep.
15:45
Heidi: Another part of your welcome is a fun way to
15:47
introduce yourself. The goal is for your kids to see the human
15:50
behind the teacher desk.
15:51
Emily: You can share the basics, where you went to school, what
15:55
you did before teaching, but a few more personal details go a
15:58
long way too.
15:59
Heidi: Yeah, you can tell them about what you struggled with as
16:01
a kid, what you value, maybe that you're deathly afraid of
16:05
jellyfish, maybe that's just me.
16:09
Emily: That's a that's a you thing, I think. But you could
16:12
also bring in an object or two while you're at it, like your
16:15
favorite book from when you were their age, or you know, an old
16:19
photo.
16:19
Heidi: Yeah, kids love laughing at the hairstyles that we all
16:23
thought were a good idea at the time.
16:25
Emily: Yeah, especially if you're old enough to have lived
16:27
through the '80s. Some of our hairstyles ask more questions
16:31
than they answer, but it would be fun to show them a picture of
16:36
you in second grade if that's a grade you teach or or whatever
16:39
grade you teach.
16:40
Heidi: Yes, sharing about yourself is a good way to start
16:43
building connections, but this goes beyond a fun activity. To
16:47
be known and liked by the people you teach, you have to be
16:50
willing to let them see who you really are.
16:53
Emily: Also, build in time for students to share about
16:55
themselves. Plan a few low-pressure group activities so
16:59
you can get to know students, and they can get to know each
17:01
other.
17:02
Heidi: An interest inventory works well for this. You can
17:05
prepare a quick survey asking students what they're into, what
17:07
they're good at, and what they wish their teacher knew. It only
17:10
takes a few minutes, but it can be just the key you need to
17:14
unlock a kid that you would otherwise spend all year trying
17:17
to figure out.
17:18
Emily: You can even fold your rules into your start of the
17:21
year activities. After a few days, you can gather the class
17:24
for a discussion and then ask what they want out of this year.
17:28
Heidi: And then you can use that discussion as a launch pad. If
17:31
these are the things that we all want, what rules do we need so
17:34
everyone is able to succeed? Write down everyone's
17:37
suggestions and then group them into similar categories. So, for
17:41
example, okay, we said listen when the teacher is talking is a
17:44
rule, and be quiet during work time. Should we put those
17:47
together and make one of our rules only talk when it's your
17:50
turn?
17:50
Emily: The students are much more willing to abide by rules
17:53
that they help generate, which makes co-creating them a huge
17:57
management boost. And if you want a deeper breakdown of
18:00
running a rulemaking activity, the first six weeks of school
18:03
book has a great one.
18:05
Heidi: And another helpful resource is the community
18:08
building menu inside the Teacher Approved Club this month. We
18:12
have broken the first five weeks of school into specific goals
18:16
and created ready to go activities for each one.
18:19
Emily: There's so many fun activities in there, and most
18:21
only take 10 or 15 minutes. My favorite, actually, in the site
18:24
is the "What I Did Not Do This Summer" writing activity.
18:30
Heidi: Oh yeah, that's a fun one.
18:31
Emily: Normal summer recap activities can turn into a
18:34
comparison contest or trigger a kid who is already having big
18:38
feelings about the fun of summer being over. So instead, ask your
18:42
class to write and illustrate something they definitely did
18:45
not do over the summer.
18:47
Heidi: Yeah, maybe they did not go camping, in that which case,
18:50
same kid. But maybe they didn't wrestle a unicorn on Mars.
18:54
Students are only limited by what they did not do, and if you
18:58
have an imagination, that's a pretty big field to draw from.
19:01
Emily: And this activity works because it's low stakes and it's
19:04
funny. Shared laughter is one of the fastest relationship
19:07
builders there is.
19:08
Heidi: If you are a club member, go grab that resource today. And
19:12
if you aren't a member yet, we would love to have you join us.
19:15
And you can sign up at secondstorywindow.net/club.
19:19
Emily: Whether you're already starting back, or you won't
19:22
start for a few more weeks. Take a minute to look at your plans.
19:25
Hopefully, you've scheduled a bunch of time for teaching and
19:28
practicing your expectations and procedures. Consistent rules and
19:31
routines are one of your greatest management tools.
19:34
Heidi: Just don't stop there. Before students will buy into
19:38
your procedures, they need to know that the person asking them
19:41
to follow directions is doing it out of love and not out of
19:45
control, so be intentional about including relationship building
19:48
in your plans even after the first week of school.
19:53
Good relationships with your students aren't a talent that
19:56
some teachers have and others don't. They are a system.
19:59
They're effort you make the same as your morning routine, which
20:03
means you can build this. So to bring it back to where we
20:06
started, the sub who has your class for one day is missing
20:09
your routine, sure, but she's also missing every relationship
20:13
deposit that you've made all year.
20:16
That's why one of the strongest classroom management tools is
20:19
the trust you build with the people sitting in front of you.
20:21
When students believe their teacher knows them, values them,
20:24
and is on their side, the rules don't become less important;
20:28
they just become much easier to follow.
20:31
Emily: Now, for our teacher-approved tip of the
20:33
week, where we share an actionable tip to help you
20:36
elevate what matters and simplify the rest. This week's
20:39
teacher-approved tip is invite contributions, and it fits right
20:44
in with everything we just covered. So tell us more about
20:46
it, Heidi.
20:47
Heidi: Well, if you haven't done your meet the teacher night yet,
20:49
try putting up a chart and asking parents to contribute to
20:53
it. It could be a prompt like, "What do you hope your student
20:56
learns this year?" or "Write a compliment for our class," or it
21:00
could be something more playful, like "Write a song everyone
21:03
should know, and we'll add it to our class playlist." Just you
21:05
know, preview anything before you do that. Or a prompt like,
21:10
"What's your favorite kid-friendly joke?"
21:12
Emily: Just like asking for student input is a great way to
21:14
boost teacher-student relationships, this is a great
21:17
strategy to invest in parent-teacher relationships.
21:20
Asking someone to share a favorite song or joke
21:23
automatically creates warm feelings.
21:25
Heidi: And when it comes to parents, you want them to think
21:28
of you and your classroom very warmly. So type the instructions
21:33
right now and post them on the board, or you can write them on
21:35
a chart for your meet the teacher night.
21:37
Emily: And if you've already had your meet the teacher night or
21:40
back to school night, tuck this idea away for parent
21:42
conferences.
21:44
Heidi: If you really want to get ahead, just prep those
21:47
conference posters now while you're thinking about it.
21:50
Emily: Just don't forget you did it. So set a reminder in your
21:52
phone or put it on your schedule so that you remember the day
21:56
before conferences that you already made these and you can
21:59
pull them out. It's a little thing, but it makes a big
22:01
impression.
22:02
Heidi: Okay, to wrap up the show, we're sharing what we're
22:04
giving extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your
22:06
extra credit?
22:07
Emily: I'm giving extra credit to the new version of the Little
22:10
House on the Prairie on Netflix. I binged the whole thing
22:13
yesterday. So I should preface this by saying I absolutely
22:19
loved the Little House on the Prairie book series so so much.
22:23
I dressed up as Laura Ingalls Wilder for Halloween one year.
22:26
Like not a pioneer. I was Laura Ingalls Wilder, and I corrected
22:31
anyone who just assumed I was a pioneer. No, no. So I have a lot
22:35
of affection for Little House on the Prairie, but I would say my
22:38
affection is not that tied to the TV show. I mean, I saw it
22:41
plenty. It was on all the time, and I liked it, but I just
22:46
didn't have the same affection for it that I had for the books.
22:48
I don't know how you felt about it.
22:50
Heidi: It was so different from the books. Yeah.
22:52
Emily: Yes, and it was a little saccharine, even for me as a
22:55
kid. I remember feeling like, oh brother, you know. Now we come
22:59
from a non-saccharine family, so maybe that's why. Even at a
23:04
young age, I was sniffing that out, like, Oh, brother! But I
23:08
feel like the new series does a really good job of honoring the
23:13
original books, but not leaning too hard into the "so sweet it
23:18
hurts your teeth" feeling, you know.
23:20
Heidi: Oh, that's good.
23:22
Emily: And I haven't read the books in a really, really long
23:24
time, so I'm not totally positive about all of the ins
23:28
and outs of the story. So I don't know how closely they're
23:31
following it, but I feel like from what I've heard, it
23:32
actually follows the books more closely than the old TV series
23:37
did. So I feel like if you really, really, really loved the
23:41
old version, you might have a hard time with this one. It's
23:45
probably how I feel about Anne of Green Gables. Like, I'm not
23:48
even going to watch any other interpretation of Anne of Green
23:52
Gables because I only care about the '80s one with Megan Follows.
23:56
Which, by the way, she has a cute little cameo in this.
24:00
Heidi: Oh!
24:00
Emily: But it'll make you feel really sad because she's playing
24:03
a grandma. So I even knew it was in here, and when it came on, I
24:09
was just like, "Oh, it's Anne! Oh, a grandma! Oh no."
24:15
Heidi: I don't like it.
24:16
Emily: But she was a very sweet grandma. Anyway, all that to
24:19
say, I thought it was really cute. It's totally kid
24:21
appropriate. I think it might just be a little slow for some
24:25
kids, but I enjoyed it. It was a very nice, relaxing weekend
24:30
watch.
24:31
Heidi: Oh, that's good. I've heard mixed things because I
24:33
think the people that loved the 70s TV show didn't love some of
24:36
the things that would happen. But this is such a weird
24:40
cultural moment because it's based on a real, it's a
24:44
fictional take of someone's actual life, but that life has
24:48
been so well researched since the time she was writing her
24:51
stories that we have this whole bigger picture of what was
24:55
really happening. So then there's the balance of like, do
24:59
you lean into the history, or do you just stick with the story
25:02
she told?
25:03
Emily: Yeah, and I appreciate that they are they're doing
25:06
both. I feel like they're do they are honoring the original
25:08
story of this little family, but they're also bringing in a lot
25:12
more historical context of what's going on. They're in
25:15
Independence, Missouri at the time, and what's going on with
25:18
the Osage tribes. And yes, I did appreciate that we have been to
25:22
Independence, Missouri, so I could actually like put some
25:26
imaginations to this of what it what it was maybe like there a
25:30
long time ago. But yeah, I I think they did a good job with
25:34
that. I didn't feel like it was heavy handed of like we're going
25:37
to make this new raw version of Little House on the Prairie.
25:40
It's not like that at all, but it definitely is telling a
25:42
bigger story, and I like that a lot.
25:44
Heidi: Well, that's good. I have to check it out.
25:46
Emily: So, what are you giving extra credit to, Heidi?
25:48
Heidi: Well, I'm also giving extra credit to a TV show, but
25:51
it's a very different vibe. This is the Rise and Fall of Reggie
25:56
Dinkins on Peacock. I think this was on like regular primetime
26:01
TV, but I totally missed it last year, so I just caught this on
26:05
Peacock. And it's Tracy Morgan and Daniel Radcliffe. Talk about
26:09
an odd couple. And Tracy Morgan is a disgraced former football
26:13
player, and Daniel Radcliffe is a documentary maker with kind of
26:18
some demons in his past, and so they're both trying to like
26:21
restore each other's careers as he makes a documentary about
26:25
Reggie Dinkins. And it's done by a lot of the same people that
26:30
did 30 Rock. So if you like 30 Rock, I think this would be your
26:33
show. If you didn't like 30 Rock, I don't think you would
26:36
enjoy it.
26:37
Emily: That's that's a perfect example because I've only seen
26:39
the first few episodes, and then I forgot to go back to it. So I
26:41
need to do that. But it definitely has 30 rock vibes,
26:46
not just because of Tracy Morgan, but you know the whole
26:49
yeah the whole feel.
26:50
Heidi: One of my favorite things is so they they keep showing you
26:54
clips from like the early 2000s when Tracy Morgan slash Reggie
26:59
Dinkins was at the peak of his football career, they don't do
27:02
anything to make these people look any younger. So it's like
27:07
50-year-old Tracy Morgan pretending to be 25. It's very
27:11
funny.
27:11
Emily: It is funny. I'm excited. I got to go back and and watch
27:16
the rest of that. So I'm glad you reminded me.
27:18
Heidi: Oh, good, something to look forward to.
27:20
That is it for today's episode. Make sure you are planning your
27:24
relationship building with as much detail as you are planning
27:26
your procedures, and don't forget our tip for inviting
27:29
parents to contribute when they visit your classroom.
27:34
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Teacher Approved. I'm Heidi.
27:38
Emily: And I'm Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow
27:41
or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss an
27:44
episode.
27:44
Heidi: You can connect with us and other teachers in the
27:47
Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.
27:50
Bye for now.
27:51
Emily: Bye.