Latest / Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies / 250. 250 Episodes Later: Our Biggest Teacher Takeaways

Transcript

250. 250 Episodes Later: Our Biggest Teacher Takeaways · Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies

• 0:00
  Heidi: This is episode 250 of Teacher Approved.
• 0:04
  You're listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast helping
• 0:09
  educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I'm
• 0:13
  Heidi.
• 0:13
  Emily: And I'm Emily. We're the creators behind Second Story
• 0:16
  Window, where we give research based and teacher approved
• 0:19
  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.
• 0:28
  Heidi: We're so glad you're tuning in today. Let's get to
• 0:31
  the show.
• 0:36
  Emily: Hey there. Thanks for joining us today for a very
• 0:40
  special episode. Today we are celebrating 250 episodes as well
• 0:45
  as our four year podcast anniversary. We will take a look
• 0:49
  back at our past favorites and talk about what we hope the next
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  four years will hold.
• 0:55
  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
• 1:00
  away. Emily, what is our suggestion for this week?
• 1:03
  Emily: Well, this week, try boosting your mood with a two
• 1:06
  for one good deed. So think about one of your teacher
• 1:10
  friends and a problem that you know they're struggling with in
• 1:12
  their classroom right now. Then you can send them a link to one
• 1:16
  of our podcast episodes that might have tips they need to
• 1:20
  manage the situation.
• 1:21
  Heidi: So not only are you helping out a friend, but you
• 1:25
  are helping us out too. Recommendations from friends are
• 1:28
  one of the top ways that new listeners find podcasts. So
• 1:31
  every time you share our podcast, it really is such a
• 1:34
  lovely gift to us.
• 1:36
  Emily: Yeah, and we don't take it for granted when listeners
• 1:38
  enjoy our content enough to share it with others. We are
• 1:41
  truly so grateful every time you do.
• 1:44
  Heidi: And if you do that and you find that you need an even
• 1:47
  bigger helpers high to just, you know, get through the day, after
• 1:51
  you recommend an episode to a friend, you could swing by the
• 1:53
  rating section on your podcast player and consider giving us
• 1:56
  five stars and maybe a review. It would be our favorite gift.
• 2:01
  Emily: Yes, that is the traditional podcast anniversary
• 2:04
  gift is a rating and review. So as we've already mentioned, not
• 2:09
  only is today's episode special because we made it to 250
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  episodes, but it also happens to be our four year podcast
• 2:17
  anniversary.
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  Heidi: I keep trying to make podcastiversary a thing. But so
• 2:21
  far, Hallmark has just refused to play the game.
• 2:24
  Emily: Stop trying to make podcastiversary a thing. And if
• 2:28
  you were wondering about our math, you would probably be
• 2:31
  wondering four years, seems like it'd be closer to 200 episodes,
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  but we do double episodes in the summer in recent years, so
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  that's what's given us a boost in the numbers.
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  Heidi: And in honor of this milestone, we wanted to do
• 2:42
  something special with this episode. So we're doing
• 2:44
  something that we just invented, called a podcast time capsule.
• 2:49
  We're going to reflect on how far we've come, celebrate all of
• 2:52
  the good things happening now, and talk about what we hope the
• 2:55
  next 250 episodes bring.
• 2:58
  Emily: And someday, when we get to 500 episodes, we can revisit
• 3:02
  today's discussion and see how well we did on our goals.
• 3:05
  Heidi: But before we can think about episode 500, let's go back
• 3:09
  in time and look at how we got started in 2022. Emily and I had
• 3:14
  talked about doing a podcast for a long, long time before we
• 3:18
  actually jumped in. So Emily, how is having a podcast
• 3:21
  different than you imagined it would be?
• 3:24
  Emily: This going back in time makes me feel like we need to be
• 3:27
  going, do do do, do do do. Is that from Wayne's World?
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  Heidi: Flashback, flashback.
• 3:33
  Emily: There we go. I would say that having a podcast is
• 3:37
  different than I imagined, because it is a lot more work
• 3:39
  than it seems like it should be. Because it seems like we're just
• 3:43
  getting together to chat for half an hour every week. How
• 3:46
  hard could it be? But we care a lot about making sure that this
• 3:50
  is a valuable use of your time. So the prep is fairly involved.
• 3:55
  Heidi: It really is. It takes so much time, and we love doing it.
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  It just was not the commitment we thought we were signing up
• 4:01
  Emily: No, it was a big commitment for sure, and
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  for.
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  sometimes it also feels a little remote from the listeners, like
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  we know you're out there, hello, and we hear from you sometimes,
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  but we would love to hear from the listeners even more, so that
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  we can make sure this podcast is as valuable to you as it can
• 4:17
  possibly be. What about you, Heidi, what are you thinking?
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  Heidi: Well, I just could not conceive of lasting this long
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  when we started. Like, back in 2022, making it to 2023 seemed
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  impossible.
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  Emily: Right.
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  Heidi: And 100% we have only made it this long because of
• 4:35
  Sara and her amazing team at Podcasting For Educators.
• 4:38
  Emily: Yes.
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  Heidi: They are the ones that handle all of the technical work
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  that comes with having a podcast. Like it is, there are
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  so many steps that it takes to get, just to get it into the
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  player, let alone edited and fine tuned and all of that. And
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  without her help, and the pressure of knowing we have to
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  get her the episodes in time, we would not have stuck with this
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  for probably even six months.
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  Emily: Which is ironic, since we are recording this today a day
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  later than it is due to her.
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  Heidi: She loves us anyway.
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  Emily: The pressure is what's making it so that it's not a
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  week late.
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  Heidi: Yes, thank you, Sara.
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  Emily: Well, what would you keep exactly the same from what we
• 5:15
  did with the podcast?
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  Heidi: Well, I I really like our format. We wanted it to feel
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  like chatting with your teacher besties after school, but not
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  get so lost in like tangents and asides that you didn't have
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  anything to take away. And we never take it for granted that
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  teachers have a limited amount of time. So we want to make sure
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  that the time you're giving us is meaningful, but, you know,
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  also fun.
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  Emily: Yes. And I would say my favorite segment is the extra
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  credit segment, and we've done that from the beginning, and I'm
• 5:44
  so glad that we've done it, because it's just a nice way for
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  us to share something that we're loving, that usually has nothing
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  to do with teaching.
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  Heidi: Yes.
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  Emily: What I like about that is, obviously it helps you all
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  get to know us better, but more than that, I think it's a good
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  reminder that we're more than just teachers, and all of you
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  listeners are more than just teachers, too. So it's a nice
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  way to end the episode on a light note that just humanizes
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  all of us.
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  Heidi: Yes.
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  Emily: Heidi, is there anything you wish we would have done
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  sooner with the podcast?
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  Heidi: Well, I think it took us probably about six months to
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  find the right tone. I remember, so we started in the spring, and
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  I remember finally in the fall, feeling like, Okay, we figured
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  this out. And at the beginning, bless our hearts, we basically
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  wrote a blog post for each episode, and then we would just
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  take turns reading like each paragraph.
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  Emily: Yeah. And we also tried times too, where we just had a
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  super loose outline, and then we would just try and spit ball it.
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  But that didn't work well either. We need somewhere in the
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  middle.
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  Heidi: Yes, yes. But once we got more comfortable with what we
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  were doing, we could have more of that conversation flow
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  without feeling like it was a lecture or, you know, wandering
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  into the weeds. And if you have been with us since those early
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  days, thank you for sticking around through the growing
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  pains.
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  Emily: And if you didn't listen to those early days, it's okay.
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  You don't need to go back and listen to them. It's fine.
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  Heidi: Okay, Emily, do you have a topic that we've covered that
• 7:05
  was a total flop that you thought would be a hit?
• 7:08
  Emily: Well, I couldn't think of anything that was necessarily a
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  flop, but I do think one of our hidden gems is our three episode
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  series on transitions.
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  Heidi: Yes, I love those.
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  Emily: We have so much good content packed in those episodes
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  that I think if you haven't listened to it, you definitely
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  should. Putting some extra thought into how you handle
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  transitions actually like will have a big impact in your day.
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  So those episodes are nice hidden gems. What about you,
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  Heidi?
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  Heidi: Well, I'm still really salty about this. I don't know
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  why I'm so mad, but back in episode 27, Emily and I talked
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  about choosing a one word theme before the new school year. It's
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  something we had done in January, is at the start of the
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  new year, and we thought this would just like, be such a good
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  fit for the new school year. And I remember we spent so many days
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  trying to find a format that we thought would fit with teachers
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  and the start of the school year, and it was kind of a bust
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  of an episode. And I thought, Okay, well, Everyone's just
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  really busy going back to school. It's fine. And we tried
• 8:06
  it again the following January. Nope.
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  Emily: No, that just is not speaking to you all, apparently.
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  And that's okay.
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  Heidi: But it's so weird, it seems like something our
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  listeners would be into. Maybe we'll try it again in the fall,
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  or maybe, maybe we've been burned. We're just gonna walk
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  away.
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  Emily: And what's something about podcasting today that
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  would have surprised you four years ago, Heidi?
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  Heidi: Well, I think what we focus on is not what we intended
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  to focus on.
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  Emily: No, when we started this, we just assumed we would have a
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  bunch of literacy episodes, a bunch of math episodes, just
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  kind of like all through the different teaching things, and
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  we just didn't realize we were going to eventually, and not too
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  far into it, land firmly in the classroom management, work life
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  balance, that kind of an area, which was not at all what we
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  thought we were going to talk about.
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  Heidi: Yeah, we just had no idea how much we enjoyed helping
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  teachers figure out how to manage their classes. This was
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  not something that was on our radar. And the funny thing is,
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  like, I don't think we have a single math episode. I also
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  think we would be surprised that that pivot to like talking about
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  classroom management would then springboard us into a book.
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  Emily: Right.
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  Heidi: So Emily and I had talked about writing a book someday,
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  but we definitely did not have any plans in the works. We
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  didn't even have a topic. And then after recording episode
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  165, I just remember saying to her, I think this might be a
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  book, but that was kind of it. But a couple months later...
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  Emily: No but that wasn't kind of it, because you immediately
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  wrote an outline for the book.
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  Heidi: Oh that's true.
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  Emily: Because you were like, I got to do it now, while it's
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  fresh, I don't know why, I'm just going to do it. And then a
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  few months later, we randomly, like, heard from a publisher.
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  Heidi: Yeah, they're like, Hey, do you have any book ideas? And
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  we said, as a matter of fact, we do. And it was so nice to have
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  an outline, because the turnaround time was pretty
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  tight, so we could just be like, Here you go. Now our book's
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  coming out in July. It's crazy.
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  Emily: We just got the edits back two days, so we've got work
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  to do.
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  Heidi: Okay, Emily, let's shift gears here and move into the
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  present moment. What is one thing that you wish every
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  teacher listening right now could really hear?
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  Emily: Oh, I would just want to tell them that you are doing so
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  much better than you think you are. Teachers are often so hard
• 10:28
  on themselves, but I just want you to know that you are doing a
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  job that is so incredibly hard. You have to be on all day. You
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  have so many students that you have to keep track of, all of
• 10:38
  them with their individual needs. And you really are doing
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  so much, right? It's it's really easy to dwell on where we fall
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  short, but the fact that you are spending your free time
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  listening to a teacher podcast right now is all the evidence
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  that I need for me to tell you with confidence that you are
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  doing a great job. Any teacher who desires to keep improving
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  every day is already knocking it out of the park, so give
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  yourself a pat on the back, please. I'm certain you deserve
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  it.
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  Heidi: Oh, absolutely.
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  Emily: And what do you know now, Heidi, about teachers or
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  teaching that you didn't fully understand when you started?
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  Heidi: Well, when we started the podcast, I hadn't really
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  considered how hard teaching is, like going off what Emily was
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  just saying. When you're in it, you know you feel like you're
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  being pulled in a million directions, but you don't really
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  have the time to stop and think about all of the layers of
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  intention that have to go into every single minute of the
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  school day and just to have every student have a sharpened
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  pencil at the right moment.
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  Emily: Yeah.
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  Heidi: That is, it requires so much thought and work, and doing
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  this podcast has made me really stop and reflect on how insane
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  this job is. It's like trying to play 3d chess in the middle of a
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  dodgeball game, and teachers do not get anywhere near enough
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  credit.
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  Emily: No, they don't, and I do think that while we were in it,
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  we knew it was hard, but I actually am so much more
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  protective of teachers now that we're not in the classroom,
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  because we're still so involved with everything that's going on
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  with teachers as we continue to serve them, and now it's not
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  about me, it's about you guys. I'm just so protective of you
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  that when I ever hear anyone say anything that is slightly
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  disrespectful to a teacher. I was getting in someone's
• 12:24
  comments last week because they said something about screen time
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  and what are the teachers even doing? And I was ready to throw
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  hands, like first of all, the amount of screen time that
• 12:37
  happens at a school has so little to do with the teacher
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  deciding what's going to be done on a device and what's not going
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  to be done on a device. They got a whole earful, and they were
• 12:46
  like, oh, no, no, that was not a dig at a teacher. I'm like,
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  Yeah, but you were! So I will always be there to elbow someone
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  in your behalf if they are ever talking bad about a teacher,
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  because we know how hard this is and how hard you're all working.
• 13:02
  Heidi: Yeah, you worry about the kids, and we'll do what we can
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  to worry about you.
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  Emily: That's right. So Heidi, if a brand new teacher
• 13:09
  discovered the podcast today, what episode would you tell them
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  to start with?
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  Heidi: I think I would choose episode 158, I'm sure you all
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  remember exactly what one that is.
• 13:17
  Emily: Oh, I do definitely.
• 13:18
  Heidi: Yeah, I had to look it up. So don't feel bad.
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  Obviously, I didn't expect anyone to remember that. But
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  this is about making sure your management system is not making
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  your job harder. I think it's such a good encapsulation of how
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  Emily and I approach most things. Think about what you
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  want to have happen, consider what it will take to get there
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  and then invite your students into the process. I wish that
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  was a framework I had understood back in my early days. It really
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  would have saved me from so many headaches, because I think it's
• 13:47
  something that new teachers could really benefit from. What
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  about you, Emily, what would you recommend to a new teacher?
• 13:52
  Emily: Well, I totally cheated, because I said episode 200 which
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  was like a very special episode that we did for, you know,
• 13:59
  celebrating 200 episodes. And so we shared five of the best tips
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  from the first 200 episodes of the podcast. So I'm sort of
• 14:07
  cheating, but I already know those are, like five really good
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  tips. And so that's the episode that I would tell people to
• 14:13
  start with. And if you're new to our podcast and you haven't
• 14:15
  listened to Episode 200 yet, go start there, and then it's a
• 14:18
  good place too, to then you can go on some rabbit holes after
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  that, after you hear those tips, you might be like, oh, I want to
• 14:24
  go hear more about that, or listen to that whole episode. So
• 14:27
  episode 200 would be my choice.
• 14:29
  Heidi: It's a little bit of a choose your own adventure. Like
• 14:32
  start here and then, figure out which path you need to go.
• 14:34
  Emily: Definitely. Well, what makes you most hopeful about
• 14:38
  education right now, Heidi?
• 14:39
  Heidi: I am so proud of how teachers are starting to push
• 14:44
  back against the extra demands that are put on them. For so so
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  long, there was this sense that if you were not murdering
• 14:52
  yourself for your job, you weren't a good teacher. It's for
• 14:55
  the kids, right? Remember your why.
• 14:58
  Emily: You're not here for the money.
• 15:00
  Heidi: Yeah, like, why are you expecting to be compensated? But
• 15:04
  that attitude is how we burned out a lot of really, really good
• 15:07
  teachers. Now we are still so far, far away from having a
• 15:12
  system that respects teachers like the qualified professionals
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  they are. But every time a teacher says no to an
• 15:18
  unreasonable expectation, I think we get a little bit
• 15:21
  closer.
• 15:22
  Emily: Yeah, for sure. And one of my friends was saying the
• 15:24
  other day, like, are you worried about, you know, the future of
• 15:27
  education because of everything that's going on? And I was like,
• 15:30
  no, because yes, there are policies right now that don't
• 15:33
  align with best practices, and there are demands being put on
• 15:36
  teachers right now that are not fair and that don't have the
• 15:39
  best, students' best interests in mind, and yet, I am so
• 15:43
  inspired by the way that teachers are able to make the
• 15:46
  most of those difficult situations, because they don't
• 15:48
  just throw up their hands and say there's nothing they can do.
• 15:51
  They find ways to work within their constraints, to give their
• 15:54
  students the best education they can. And so I am confident that
• 15:58
  as long as we have smart, caring, hard working teachers,
• 16:01
  like we do, education is always going to improve, and I could
• 16:05
  never lose faith in education, because I know teachers and I
• 16:09
  know how much they care. I may not always have faith in
• 16:11
  policymakers, but I do always have faith in teachers.
• 16:15
  Heidi: Oh, absolutely. Like they're going to show up with a
• 16:18
  roll of tape and some pencils and paper, and they're going to
• 16:22
  make miracles happen, because that's just what teachers do.
• 16:26
  Emily: And they'll keep advocating for their students,
• 16:28
  and hopefully, like you said, advocating for themselves and
• 16:31
  for the way that they deserve to be treated.
• 16:34
  Heidi: Yeah, I hope, before too long, we see, like, such a huge
• 16:37
  shift in the way we treat teachers so that we can give
• 16:42
  students everything that they deserve.
• 16:45
  Emily: So now let's shift to looking forward into the next
• 16:48
  future episodes of the podcast, Heidi. So what do you want to do
• 16:52
  with the podcast in the next 250 episodes?
• 16:55
  Heidi: Like you mentioned, Emily, sometimes being on the
• 16:57
  podcast feels a little one sided, because like we're doing
• 17:00
  all the talking. I don't always get to hear from our listeners,
• 17:03
  and I would really love to expand the sense of our
• 17:06
  community that we have. We want to make sure that what we're
• 17:10
  doing is what is most valuable to our listeners and what meets
• 17:14
  your needs right now. And so I hope that as we go into the next
• 17:17
  few years, that's something that we can continue building. What
• 17:19
  about you, Emily, what do you see happening for us in the next
• 17:22
  250 episodes?
• 17:23
  Emily: Well, I just hope that in those episodes we keep unlocking
• 17:26
  ways that teachers can elevate what matters and simplify the
• 17:29
  rest. So that's the tagline for the show, right? And I think it
• 17:32
  sounds cute, but it actually is really everything that we stand
• 17:36
  for here. It's the most accurate representation of what we're
• 17:39
  trying to do, and it's because we care so much about making
• 17:42
  your teaching life easier. We know there are too many demands
• 17:46
  on you, and we want to help free you from some of that weight
• 17:49
  that you're under, but we also know that there are some things
• 17:52
  that matter a lot, and we're never going to tell you to just
• 17:55
  phone stuff in.
• 17:56
  So while we want to help you simplify everything you can, we
• 17:59
  also want to help you put the appropriate amount of emphasis
• 18:03
  on those parts of your teaching that really move the needle, and
• 18:06
  that might be classroom management strategies that help
• 18:09
  you have more time for teaching, or instructional strategies that
• 18:12
  help students retain what they learn, or even just ideas to
• 18:16
  make your day more fun, so that you can still enjoy your job
• 18:19
  when it's really hard. So I hope that our next 250 episodes
• 18:24
  delivers on that promise.
• 18:26
  Heidi: I love that.
• 18:27
  Emily: Well, what do you hope listeners say about Teacher
• 18:30
  Approved in another four years?
• 18:31
  Heidi: I want it to be something like, Oh, I knew you gals would
• 18:34
  have just the tip I needed. Obviously, after 250 episodes,
• 18:39
  we have a pretty robust library of content. So hopefully, with
• 18:43
  250 more episodes, we can cover every possible question anyone
• 18:48
  might have. It's just always so nice when someone asks us a
• 18:52
  question, and we'd be like, oh yeah, we have a whole deep dive
• 18:54
  on that in this episode here.
• 18:56
  Emily: Why yes, we have a three part series about that. I just
• 19:01
  hope that they will say that the ideas we have shared have helped
• 19:05
  them remember why they love teaching. So I just hope that
• 19:09
  we've somehow helped reduce even a little bit of the burden
• 19:12
  that's been placed on them as a teacher, and that really that
• 19:16
  we've always made it worth your time to listen to our episodes,
• 19:18
  that we never waste your time here.
• 19:20
  Heidi: Yes, absolutely. So as we look ahead to the next four
• 19:24
  years, Emily, what do you hope that we could say about the
• 19:26
  podcast by episode 500?
• 19:29
  Emily: I mean, is it too much to say that I hope we're the number
• 19:31
  one podcast in education by episode 500?
• 19:36
  Heidi: No, let's do it. Do you know what my goal is?
• 19:40
  Emily: Let's hear it.
• 19:41
  Heidi: I want to hit a million downloads.
• 19:43
  Emily: I mean, obviously, like, those things would be so
• 19:46
  exciting to say, because they would be such a fun achievement
• 19:48
  for us. But like, more than anything, I know that we both
• 19:51
  hope for those things because we want to reach more teachers,
• 19:54
  that like, we're passionate about what we're doing here, and
• 19:56
  we really want to help as many teachers as we can with the
• 19:59
  ideas that we're sharing here.
• 20:01
  Heidi: Yes, that's always what it comes down to for us is,
• 20:04
  like, yeah, that's fun to see the growth. But we really,
• 20:08
  really want to have that sense of, you know, just being the
• 20:12
  teacher bestie that you can turn to in a rough moment and like,
• 20:16
  we get it and we can help you through the next steps. It's
• 20:20
  what makes all of the hard work worth it every week, because we
• 20:24
  just we can picture you listening in your cars on your
• 20:26
  way to work or while you're walking your dog, or, you know,
• 20:29
  packing up your classroom at the end of the school day, and we
• 20:33
  want to be there for you, cheering you on and helping make
• 20:36
  this job a little more manageable.
• 20:39
  Emily: Okay, so we always end the episode with a teacher
• 20:42
  approved tip and some extra credit. So we're going to
• 20:44
  revisit some of our favorites. Which tip from the past four
• 20:48
  years is your favorite, and why, Heidi?
• 20:50
  Heidi: Okay, well, I'm picking a tip that we discussed in episode
• 20:53
  26 because I don't think enough people believe us when we say
• 20:57
  it's one of the best management hacks that we've discovered, and
• 21:01
  that is to turn your students' desks backwards.
• 21:03
  Emily: Yes.
• 21:05
  Heidi: The most efficient problem solving is preventing
• 21:08
  problems from starting in the first place. And if the desks
• 21:12
  are turned around, kids can't play around in there during
• 21:15
  lessons, nothing is getting lost. You never have to take
• 21:17
  class time to clean out desks. And if you're like, Okay, that
• 21:21
  sounds so impractical, like, where do they keep everything?
• 21:24
  Well, Emily and I did it. We gave each student a pencil box
• 21:26
  for their basic supplies, and then notebooks and folders were
• 21:30
  kept in stacking Sterilite drawers, specifically Sterilite
• 21:34
  because they're sturdy.
• 21:35
  Emily: Right.
• 21:35
  Heidi: On the counter. And then the day's table captain would
• 21:39
  bring the drawer to the table with the materials for that
• 21:41
  lesson, and then it was just all put away. Nothing got lost.
• 21:45
  Everything held up all year long, because things weren't
• 21:47
  getting crammed into the desk. Now, we did have to sacrifice
• 21:51
  some counter space for the drawers, but honestly, it was so
• 21:54
  worth it.
• 21:55
  Emily: Oh so worth it.
• 21:56
  Heidi: And then I'd always start the school year with my kids in
• 21:59
  tables, but I rarely ended that way, because I usually had to
• 22:01
  spread them out some more. So when that would happen, I would
• 22:05
  start to let them keep stuff inside their desks, but the
• 22:07
  desks were still turned around.
• 22:09
  Emily: Right. So, yeah, if their desk is, like, not pushed up
• 22:12
  against another one, it can still be backwards, and then
• 22:15
  they just have to walk around to get stuff out of it, but then it
• 22:17
  prevents them from playing in it.
• 22:19
  Heidi: Yeah, or they get really good at, like, reaching over,
• 22:21
  you know, and be like, I know what my morning workbook feels
• 22:23
  like, and they just pull that out. Or, you know, it just
• 22:26
  solves so many problems. And yes, it is unconventional, but
• 22:30
  it saved me from having to monitor everything that was
• 22:33
  happening in everyone's desks all day long for nine months. It
• 22:36
  was worth it. I will take that every single time.
• 22:39
  Emily: Yeah, and I had something at least one year that I needed
• 22:42
  them to keep in their desk because I didn't have enough
• 22:45
  drawers for it, or something like that, and it was something
• 22:47
  that we only needed, like once a day at the most, maybe not even
• 22:50
  every day. And so we just would slide the desks apart and reach
• 22:53
  in from the middle, like there are ways to make it work. Where
• 22:56
  there is a will, there is a way, and it's worth it for all of the
• 23:01
  management headaches that you avoid.
• 23:02
  My fourth grader was just telling me that she got in
• 23:05
  trouble because she was messing around in her desk, because they
• 23:09
  were moving desks later in the day, and she knew that her desk
• 23:11
  was a mess, and so she was like, trying to, like, organize stuff
• 23:14
  in there during a lesson. And I thought, well, you know, the
• 23:16
  desk didn't have anything in it and was turned around. The
• 23:22
  teacher wouldn't even have to deal with that. Which is not a
• 23:23
  criticism of the teacher, by the way, like that's just a, I just
• 23:25
  wish that teachers had this idea and would give it a try to avoid
• 23:29
  that extra stress and time waster.
• 23:31
  Heidi: Well and even if it's not something you feel like you can
• 23:34
  take on all year long, maybe in the last quarter of the school
• 23:38
  year, it might be worth it, just to eliminate some of those
• 23:41
  spring headaches when everything's just a little
• 23:44
  rougher this time of year. Like, okay, I'm not gonna fight this
• 23:48
  battle anymore. We're turning the desks around, and we'll just
• 23:50
  make it work for the last few weeks.
• 23:52
  Emily: Yeah, for sure.
• 23:53
  Heidi: Okay, Emily, which tip did you pick and why?
• 23:56
  Emily: Well, I picked, it's from episode 88 and it's having a
• 23:58
  class handshake. So, this is one of my favorite little traditions
• 24:02
  that I did with my students, and they loved being involved in
• 24:05
  making up the handshake at the beginning of the year. So that
• 24:08
  was good for building our community. Sometimes they were a
• 24:10
  little long, but then it just felt like our own little insider
• 24:13
  secret for the rest of the year. And sometimes we would do it as
• 24:17
  our greeting during morning meeting, and then at the end of
• 24:20
  the day, I always stood by the door and on their way out, they
• 24:22
  could do a hug, a handshake or a high five on the way out the
• 24:26
  door, and many of them would want to do our secret handshake
• 24:29
  on the way out. So I got good at doing it fast. It's just a
• 24:32
  really small way to build classroom community, but it's so
• 24:35
  simple to do.
• 24:36
  Heidi: And while we're talking about preventative behavior
• 24:39
  management, a strong student teacher relationship is one of
• 24:43
  the easiest, most reliable ways to prevent classroom management
• 24:48
  problems, because when students feel like their teacher sees
• 24:50
  them and values them as an individual, they're more willing
• 24:54
  to cooperate with what you're asking of them. And so something
• 24:58
  like that. Yeah, it's a hassle to have to set up and manage,
• 25:03
  but it buys you so much goodwill and so much buy in that you
• 25:07
  almost couldn't pay for that kind of benefit.
• 25:10
  Emily: Yeah, for sure.
• 25:11
  Heidi: All right, Emily, what is an extra credit that you still
• 25:15
  stand by after all these years?
• 25:17
  Emily: All right. In episode 124 I shared about my new puzzle
• 25:21
  table, and it is my favorite thing that I own. I use it all
• 25:27
  the time. I was just using it this afternoon working on a
• 25:30
  puzzle, and I guarantee I have done so many more puzzles since
• 25:35
  I got this table, because everything's contained on the
• 25:37
  table. I can just take that off of my kitchen table easily when
• 25:40
  we need to use the table and then put it back on.
• 25:42
  And being able to have, like an easy, contained place for it
• 25:47
  makes it easy to just always have a puzzle out. And I
• 25:50
  especially like mine, because it swivels, but not just swivels,
• 25:55
  it also tilts, so I can tilt it up, which was especially
• 26:00
  helpful. Last year, I was working on a puzzle, like, I
• 26:03
  think it was like a Rifle Paper Co one that was like a New York
• 26:06
  Street in spring, and so the whole top third was, like, pink
• 26:12
  blossoms on trees, and they were, this was so hard, like, it
• 26:16
  was all the same. It was so hard to do. And I was just like ready
• 26:21
  to just quit this stupid puzzle.
• 26:22
  But the fact that I could tilt it up to work on it saved me,
• 26:26
  because it was the hunching over trying to reach the top part of
• 26:29
  the puzzle, because I don't really like to work upside down
• 26:31
  if I don't have to. Tilting it up saved my back and made it so
• 26:34
  I could finally finish this stupid puzzle that I will never
• 26:38
  do again because those blossoms almost ruined my life. But
• 26:41
  puzzle table, it's worth it and and there are a lot of swivel
• 26:44
  ones out there, but I actually think having the tilt feature is
• 26:48
  worth the upgrade, so I will link to it in the show notes.
• 26:51
  Heidi: And yours has like, little cool drawers, so if you
• 26:54
  want to start sorting pieces by color, you can have them out of
• 26:57
  the way, but still organized. It's really a handy dandy little
• 27:01
  device.
• 27:02
  Emily: So good. And I got one that has, like, some of them are
• 27:04
  just plain wood, but I got one that has, like, a little bit of
• 27:08
  a felt, doesn't feel like the right word, like a textured
• 27:11
  lining, and I find that so much more pleasant. It kind of holds
• 27:12
  the pieces together, especially since you're if you're going to
• 27:17
  tilt it up, that keeps it kind of in place. Yes, the only thing
• 27:20
  is, after every puzzle, I have to get out the lint roller and
• 27:23
  run it all over to get all the puzzle dust off, because any
• 27:28
  hardcore puzzler like myself knows what a trial puzzle dust
• 27:31
  is, and some puzzles are worse than others.
• 27:34
  Heidi: Interesting.
• 27:35
  Emily: If you redo a puzzle, it's a lot better because you
• 27:37
  usually have gotten all the dust out of it. But the first time
• 27:40
  you do a new puzzle depending on the brand, sometimes they are so
• 27:43
  dusty.
• 27:44
  Heidi: I had no idea, whole new world.
• 27:45
  Emily: Yep. What's your extra credit you stand by?
• 27:49
  Heidi: I've got a two for one, because these two things
• 27:53
  together have saved my life. Only kind of exaggerating. So
• 27:58
  these are the Luminette 3 light therapy glasses, and magnesium
• 28:03
  L-threonate. So they have saved my sleep. I was having such a
• 28:09
  hard time falling asleep at night, and one of the reasons
• 28:11
  behind that is that you need early morning light into your
• 28:15
  eyeballs to reset your circadian rhythms, but it's really hard to
• 28:20
  go outside for a half an hour in the morning.
• 28:22
  Emily: Especially as, like, a non morning person, and you
• 28:25
  don't have to run any kids anywhere. So there's not, like,
• 28:27
  a reason that you're out and about in the sun in the morning,
• 28:30
  like I am.
• 28:31
  Heidi: Or you know, if you're driving, you want to have
• 28:33
  sunglasses on so you don't hit anyone on the road. And that
• 28:35
  defeats that. Or if you're, you know, different times a year,
• 28:39
  sometimes the morning might be sunny when you're out, sometimes
• 28:41
  it's not. These glasses just make it so convenient. Put them
• 28:45
  on, I get up in the morning, put them on right away. I can get
• 28:47
  ready in the morning with them on. I look ridiculous, but it's
• 28:50
  fine. It just shines like a little light in your eyeballs.
• 28:53
  It's not bad at all.
• 28:53
  And then I also started taking magnesium L-threonate,
• 28:59
  specifically that form of magnesium, and now I can
• 29:02
  actually stay asleep. So the glasses let me fall asleep.
• 29:04
  Magnesium keeps me asleep because it stopped my restless
• 29:08
  legs, like I would be up for hours and hours every night,
• 29:11
  trying to, like, stop doing Irish jigs in my bed. But with
• 29:17
  the magnesium, I have hardly had any problems. So those two
• 29:20
  things together have saved my life. And if you have sleep
• 29:22
  issues, definitely worth checking out. I put links to
• 29:25
  both of them in the show notes.
• 29:27
  Emily: And if you didn't know before now, now you know that we
• 29:29
  are perimenopausal aged, with our puzzles and our magnesium.
• 29:38
  Heidi: Well, that is it for today's episode. Whether you
• 29:41
  have been here since day one or today was your first episode, we
• 29:45
  are so grateful to you for joining us, and hopefully you're
• 29:48
  ready to keep with us in seeing what the next four years hold.
• 29:51
  We hope you enjoyed this episode of Teacher Approved. I'm Heidi.
• 29:57
  Emily: And I'm Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow
• 30:01
  or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss an
• 30:03
  Heidi: You can connect with us and other teachers in the
• 30:03
  episode.
• 30:06
  Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.
• 30:10
  Bye for now.
• 30:10
  Emily: Bye.