Latest / Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies / 270. The Smart Way to Tackle Your Back to School To-Do List

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270. The Smart Way to Tackle Your Back to School To-Do List · Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies

0:00
Emily: This is episode 270 of Teacher Approved.
0:05
Heidi: You're listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast
0:08
helping educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest.
0:12
I'm Heidi.
0:13
Emily: And I'm Emily. We're the creators behind Second Story
0:16
Window, where we give research-based and
0:18
teacher-approved strategies that make teaching less stressful and
0:21
more effective. You can check out the show notes and resources
0:25
from 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.
0:35
Emily: Hey there, thanks for joining us today. In today's
0:38
episode, we are helping you tame your back to school to-do list,
0:41
and we've got a teacher-approved tip for making the first week a
0:44
little easier.
0:46
Heidi: But first, let's start with a try it tomorrow, where we
0:49
share a quick win that you can try right away. Emily, what's
0:52
our suggestion this week?
0:54
Emily: This week, write down three things that you love about
0:57
your job, and then keep this where you will see it often. In
1:00
a few weeks, when you are in the thick of the craziest time of
1:04
year, having a reminder that teaching is more than just a
1:08
never-ending list of demands will help you get through it.
1:11
Heidi: Plus, taking a moment to be grateful is such an easy way
1:15
to tame anxiety. It reminds your brain to focus on the good
1:18
that's here, instead of spiraling about all the stress.
1:22
Emily: The podcast Happier in Hollywood, that I like, at the
1:25
end of their episodes, they always say it's a fun job and we
1:28
enjoy it. And they've explained that that is their mantra, that
1:31
they say to each other. They are Hollywood TV writers, so a
1:35
stressful job, and so when they're having a really tough
1:37
time, they say that to each other to remind themselves that
1:40
they picked this job, and they like this job. So, sometimes I
1:43
say that to myself.
1:45
Heidi: That is a very helpful reminder.
1:48
Emily: If you like this idea, or anything else we share here on
1:50
the podcast, we would love it if you took a second and gave us a
1:53
five star rating or review.
1:56
Back to school prep is so overwhelming. I mean, that is an
2:01
understatement, and the problem is not that you don't know what
2:04
to do, it's that your to-do list is longer than three CVS
2:09
receipts.
2:10
Heidi: That is a substantial number of tasks, all of them
2:14
shouting for attention, and getting those things done isn't
2:17
a question of planning or organizing, or even working
2:20
harder, it's about prioritization.
2:23
Emily: Yeah, when everything feels equally urgent, you just
2:27
start swinging, and it turns into whacking at your to-do list
2:30
like it's a pinata, and you just hope that if you hit it hard
2:33
enough, an organized first day of school will fall out.
2:36
Heidi: If only it worked like that, but instead you end up
2:39
putting in a lot of work, and it does feel rewarding to see so
2:43
many tasks crossed off your list, but you're still left with
2:47
this nagging feeling that you're not actually ready for school to
2:51
start.
2:52
Emily: So, today we're going to address that. We're giving you a
2:54
system for deciding what deserves your attention first,
2:57
so when you run out of time, you can be confident the most
3:00
essential planning is already in place.
3:03
Heidi: We are calling this the foundation first method, and to
3:07
explain it, I'm going to use a dumb joke that I took a
3:09
screenshot of in 2018 and still laugh at. They say it's a
3:14
mystery how the pyramids were built, but I reckon they just
3:18
started at the bottom and worked their way up. Let's face it,
3:21
going the other way looks a lot more difficult.
3:23
Emily: Ba dum ching! That is a very dumb joke.
3:28
Heidi: It is so dumb.
3:29
Emily: It's accurate, you know. It's like, how do you eat an
3:32
elephant? One bite at a time. Too often when we're faced with
3:36
a big project like starting the school year, we jump in at a
3:39
random spot without realizing that starting with the
3:42
foundation makes everything else fall into place.
3:45
Heidi: Oh yeah, we do this all the time. Imagine a typical
3:48
teacher's back to school to-do list. Hopefully you know, it's
3:51
typed in an app or neatly written on a sticky note.
3:54
Emily: Or you know, scribbled on the back of an envelope, because
3:57
that's all you had handy.
3:59
Heidi: Yeah, we've all got those envelope lists, and that list is
4:02
probably full of things like review dismissal procedures, buy
4:05
30 red folders, make name tags, organize math manipulatives,
4:09
decorate a bulletin board, and create a parent newsletter
4:12
template.
4:12
Emily: We are big fans of making lists, because getting tasks
4:16
written down is the first step to getting them done. However, a
4:20
list does have a big downside. When review dismissal procedures
4:23
is right next to buy folders, your brain thinks that both
4:26
these tasks have the same value, but dismissal and folders are
4:29
not equally important.
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Heidi: No, one of them is about making sure everyone gets home
4:34
at the end of the day with all of their right stuff, and the
4:37
other one is a nice extra to have in a couple weeks when
4:40
you're finally ready to start teaching writing. So that's why
4:43
when we look at our to-do list, we need a way to know which
4:46
tasks belong in that pyramid foundational layer.
4:50
Emily: You could use any filter that is meaningful for you to
4:53
help you prioritize your tasks, but since we're doing all this
4:56
work for the kids, we can also use them as our guide. So every
4:59
single back to school task is helping your students meet one
5:02
of four needs: safety, belonging, competence, or
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growth.
5:06
Heidi: Okay, we did borrow a bit from Azlo on that one, but it is
5:10
an efficient system. We're going to start our pyramid with
5:13
safety, that's the most basic need. We're going to start there
5:16
first. Once you're confident you've got safety handled, you
5:19
can move up to belonging, then competence, and then growth on
5:22
the very top.
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Emily: And obviously growth is so important, but you can't get
5:27
students engaged in learning if their needs for safety aren't
5:30
being met. So, let's walk up the levels, starting at the
5:34
foundation. Think about the first day of school. What is the
5:36
minimum that has to be met for a successful day?
5:39
Heidi: And this is actually pretty easy, we just need to
5:43
make sure everyone is safe, fed where they're supposed to be,
5:47
and goes home knowing that their teacher cares about them. That
5:50
is our level one school day. It's safe and functional.
5:53
Honestly, anything more than that is just a bonus.
5:57
Emily: To pull this kind of day together, start with the
5:59
school-wide systems. Do you know the policies and procedures for
6:03
arrival and dismissal, and lunch, and emergency drills?
6:07
Heidi: Oh, and then you know, recess, and all the rest. And
6:10
then next, what classroom procedures do you need in place
6:13
to facilitate all of that? Think about what you want students to
6:17
do when they first arrive. What are they doing with their
6:19
backpacks and their lunch boxes?
6:22
Emily: And don't forget bathrooms. Making sure the kids
6:24
know how to get to the bathrooms when they need it is a huge part
6:27
of creating a feeling of safety.
6:30
Heidi: If you want some help with this step, we've got an
6:32
awesome resource for you. This is our procedures and routines
6:36
planning guides and checklists. Basically, it's all of our
6:40
overthinking, neatly organized for you. The planning guide
6:43
looks at 26 different parts of the school day and offers
6:47
guiding questions for each one to help you think through all of
6:51
the moving pieces that go into that procedure.
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Emily: And then that resource has checklists. We came up with
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more than 350 different procedures you might need in
7:00
your classroom.
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Heidi: But please don't let that panic you. You do not need 350
7:04
procedures, but you probably need more than you think. For
7:08
dismissal, you might need a procedure for filling out a
7:11
daily agenda, tidying a desk, packing a backpack, and managing
7:14
pencils at the end of the day.
7:15
Emily: Or your pencil procedure might be one step: put your
7:19
pencil in your desk. It can be that easy, but whether it's one
7:22
step or 12, you need to have that figured out before you can
7:25
expect your students to know how to do it.
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Heidi: And that's why this resource is so handy. We have
7:31
thought through all of the what ifs, so you can focus on the
7:34
what now, and we will put a link to that resource in the show
7:37
notes.
7:38
Emily: Once you've figured out your procedures, you next need
7:41
to plan for teaching them. If you've been with us for very
7:44
long, you know we take this part very seriously, and that's
7:47
because - and I cannot stress this enough - procedures make or
7:51
break your school year.
7:52
Heidi: Okay, so an image of Bonnie Hunt just popped into my
7:55
brain, and this is a very deep cut for all of you rom-com
7:59
girlies. This is even older than my 2018 screenshot joke, so I'm
8:05
gonna mangle a quote from Return to Me and say procedures are
8:09
your only link to reality. In the movie she says hairy legs,
8:12
which is objectively funnier, but I'm sticking with
8:16
procedures.
8:19
Emily: And then doesn't Minnie Driver say you should
8:20
needlepoint that on a pillow.
8:23
Heidi: Yeah. If we needlepointed, that is 100% the
8:26
sort of thing we'd put on a pillow. The procedures part, not
8:29
the hairy legs part, but what we're trying to say is
8:33
procedures are important, and how you teach them matters.
8:37
Emily: The thing about procedures is you have to
8:39
actually teach them if you want them to stick, and the method
8:42
that we love for this is tell, try, tally, talk. So you tell
8:47
and model it, students try it while you watch, you tally how
8:51
it went together, and you talk through what to fix next time.
8:54
Heidi: We have gone deep on this in episode 75, 150, and 154, and
8:59
probably in lots of other places, so we're not going to
9:01
reteach it all here, but another resource that can help you is
9:04
our Tell Try Tally Talk slides. We give you five blank slide
9:09
decks that you can duplicate and personalize. We try to make this
9:12
as easy as possible. All you have to do is add the steps you
9:15
want students to follow, and your lessons are ready to go.
9:18
Emily: And we linked those in the show notes as well. The
9:21
connection might not be obvious, but procedures about how to walk
9:25
in the hallway are an essential part of filling students' need
9:28
for safety. That's because of what's happening inside kids'
9:31
bodies when they walk into your room for the first time.
9:35
Heidi: Yeah, you know there are no tigers waiting to pounce on
9:37
them, and logically the kids know that too, but their nervous
9:41
systems encounter a new situation, and they immediately
9:44
start scanning for danger.
9:46
Emily: And a kid who's spending all their energy worrying about
9:49
how my teacher expects me to walk in the hall is not learning
9:52
anyone's name and is definitely not learning math. But when you
9:56
teach procedures clearly, you're basically handing students a
9:59
roadmap that guides every step, and that's lifting a weight of
10:03
anxiety off of them.
10:05
Heidi: So, that is the first level of back to school prep,
10:08
our safe and functional layer. When you're looking through that
10:12
giant to-do list, highlight anything related to creating a
10:15
sense of safety. Start with those tasks if you're not sure
10:18
where to begin your prep. That way, even if nothing else gets
10:22
done on your first day, you ensure that you have hit the
10:24
most important benchmark.
10:26
Emily: Obviously, part of creating a safe and functional
10:29
school day is teaching students how to respond to emergency
10:32
drills, but unless your school actually mandates teaching
10:35
drills on your first day, we recommend pushing it until later
10:39
in the week.
10:40
Heidi: Yeah, I really like to do it at the end of the first week,
10:43
and that's because, instead of creating a feeling of safety,
10:46
teaching emergency procedures often has the opposite effect.
10:50
Kids start imagining all the what ifs and the what should I
10:53
dos, and that ratchets up the anxiety they're already feeling
10:56
to an 11. But if you can wait a few days, the kids will be more
11:01
settled, they'll have more trust in you. So, the worries that an
11:04
emergency drill might stir up will not be so acute.
11:08
Emily: Okay, so once kids feel physically safe, it's time to
11:11
move up a layer to the next student need, which is
11:13
connectedness. And this is where we create a school day that is
11:16
warm and welcoming.
11:18
Heidi: So, this is like the shift from here's how we do
11:20
things, to I'm so glad you're here. Every kid should leave day
11:24
one believing that my teacher likes me, and my teacher is
11:27
excited to know me.
11:29
Emily: And this takes work, but it's worth aiming for, because
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kids who feel they belong are more engaged in what's happening
11:35
in their classroom, and engaged students create fewer problems.
11:40
Heidi: And really, that's not an exaggeration. You can have the
11:43
best management system ever designed, and if the kids
11:46
haven't bought into it, it does not matter. You can't force
11:49
cooperation out of a kid, unfortunately, I guess. But a
11:53
kid who feels known and liked by you will put in effort to meet
11:57
your expectations.
11:58
Emily: And obviously, we're building these relationships
12:01
because we love the kids, but yes, you also get a management
12:05
boost out of it, and it's okay to like that bonus.
12:08
Heidi: Yeah, there's not a lot of bonuses in teaching, so we
12:11
should maximize the few we do get. A simple way to create a
12:15
feeling of belonging is making students' names visible in the
12:18
room. Even if you use numbers to label most things, aim to have
12:22
names in at least three places.
12:24
Emily: That might be the student's desk nameplate, or on
12:28
the job chart, or a birthday chart. But the one place you
12:31
really need a name is outside the door. This doesn't have to
12:34
be fancy, just even if you print out a class list and post it
12:37
outside the door, and you don't have to leave it up all year,
12:40
but at the start of the year, it's a way to say, Hey, you
12:42
belong here, you're in the right place.
12:45
Heidi: And in practical terms, that helps a lost kid know they
12:47
found the right room. My second-grade classroom was on
12:50
the opposite side of the building from the first-grade
12:52
rooms, so I often had students getting disoriented the first
12:56
few days, and a door display helped everyone find their way
12:59
back into the right room. In my early years of teaching, when I
13:03
was still young and had lots of energy, I went to the effort to
13:07
make a big display, something really, something with a wow
13:10
factor. I was trying to impress people, but after that, I kept
13:13
it simple. I bought cut out shapes and stuck a label on
13:16
them. It did the same thing, but took 20 minutes instead of two
13:19
hours.
13:21
Emily: But this goes back to focusing on the foundational
13:24
stuff first. If you had the time and energy, and all the other
13:27
pieces for the first day were in place, spending time on an
13:30
impressive door display would have been fine. But since I was
13:33
the one helping you prep, I know that you did not have the
13:36
foundational pieces in place.
13:38
Heidi: I did not, and bless you for helping me get on track so
13:41
many times. So everyone, learn from my mistakes. Go through
13:46
your to-do list and mark any tasks that help with community
13:49
building. You can put that as a B for belonging, that way you
13:52
know what to work on after you have safety covered.
13:56
Emily: And if you want some more support with creating a
13:58
classroom that fosters belonging, we have got several
14:02
episodes to help you out. Check out episodes 87, 148, 211, and
14:07
219 for lots more tips and tricks.
14:11
Heidi: And then, once you've got this connection layer in place,
14:14
let's move up to student independence. Where level one,
14:19
safe and functional, means a kid can get through the day, layer
14:23
three, calm and predictable, means a kid knows how to get
14:27
through the day.
14:28
Emily: And that sounds similar, but this is the difference
14:30
between your procedures requiring your direct
14:32
supervision to happen or mostly running on their own.
14:36
Heidi: You don't have time to coach kids through every minute
14:39
of the day, so you definitely need them independent as soon as
14:43
possible. So, think about the supports required to make this
14:46
happen. This might mean posting visuals for important routines,
14:50
assigning class jobs, or really streamlining tasks.
14:53
Emily: While this does help the teacher, it also helps the kids.
14:57
This layer addresses the need to feel competent. Think about
15:00
walking into a restaurant with some unfamiliar system, the ones
15:03
where you have to order in some weird way because they're trying
15:05
to be cool and trendy.
15:08
Heidi: Or you know, those places where your salad is served on a
15:11
slice of wood or in a fishbowl.
15:13
Emily: Why, why do they do that?
15:15
Heidi: I don't know.
15:16
Emily: They should just use regular dishes. If the food is
15:20
good, then that's what you want to remember. It shouldn't be
15:23
that the dishes were so remarkable.
15:25
Heidi: Yes, exactly. Because you're never going to call a
15:28
place like that your favorite restaurant. That's kind of what
15:32
it's like for kids on day one. The room could be wonderful, but
15:35
until they know how it works, they can't settle in and enjoy
15:38
it. So let's add to the to-do list the list of expectations
15:42
that need to be taught.
15:44
Emily: Procedures are for steps that need to be done the same
15:47
way every time, but expectations are for creating standards for
15:52
responsibility. You need a procedure for what students
15:55
should do if their pencil breaks, but you also need
15:58
expectations for how they should treat their pencils.
16:01
Heidi: Yeah. For some reason, kids need it spelled out that we
16:04
don't chew on pencils, we don't tear up the erasers, we don't
16:06
draw on things that aren't paper, we don't cram tiny pencil
16:09
nubs into the sharpener.
16:10
Emily: Kids just have a way to make things so hard.
16:15
Heidi: Why?
16:16
Emily: When we use tell try tally talk for procedures, we
16:19
like guided discovery for expectations. It gets kids
16:23
invested in using materials the right way, instead of you just
16:27
listing rules.
16:28
Heidi: So, we dug into guided discovery in episode 146 so we
16:32
won't do that today, but all the information is there if you want
16:35
it. And then, once kids finally feel safe, welcomed, and
16:40
capable, they are ready to learn, and that takes us to the
16:44
top of our pyramid, learning and thriving.
16:47
Emily: And the very good news is, there is no expectation that
16:49
you do much of anything for this layer on the first day. Your
16:52
first day does not have to include content. Kids will learn
16:55
so much more across the year if you spend the first few days
16:58
building the foundation that lets rich learning happen.
17:02
Heidi: But even if we're not diving into content on day one,
17:06
that doesn't mean we're ignoring it completely. Think about it
17:09
backwards. If you want kids successfully working at learning
17:13
centers in three weeks, what's the very first skill underneath
17:17
that? Maybe it's moving around the room quickly and quietly, or
17:21
maybe it's cooperating with a partner, or handling materials
17:24
without destroying them.
17:25
Emily: And you can apply that same idea to your lessons.
17:28
Instead of teaching place value right out of the gate, teach
17:31
them how to turn and talk, how to respond chorally, how to use
17:36
a whiteboard and marker without it becoming a whole thing.
17:41
Heidi: You are not behind when you do this. This is making sure
17:44
you have the independence layer solidly in place before you try
17:48
to build on top of it. It's how you make sure that the content
17:51
sticks on their little brains two weeks from now.
17:54
Emily: Another part of back to school learning is reviewing
17:56
content from the previous year, but even if it's technically
18:00
academic content, you can layer in the other goals at the same
18:03
time. So maybe on the second or third day of school you pair up
18:06
students to play a review game. That way you're establishing
18:10
expectations around partner work, and you're building a
18:12
sense of community and belonging, and you're also
18:16
reviewing content all at once. So three wins for the price of
18:19
one.
18:20
Heidi: Okay, we've just thrown like four months worth of work
18:23
at you in 20 minutes, and in case you've ever wondered why
18:26
the start of the year is exhausting, this is why.
18:30
Emily: Seriously, you have hundreds of essential tasks that
18:32
have to be done before the kids walk through the doors, but as
18:35
we mentioned, not all of those tasks contribute equally to the
18:39
success of the start of the year, so let's make sure we're
18:41
building the foundation first.
18:43
Heidi: Grab your to-do list and a blank sheet of paper, and then
18:47
you can fold the paper into fourths or draw lines, if you've
18:50
got a steadier hand than I do. Label the boxes for the four
18:53
back to school needs: safety, belonging, competence, and
18:56
growth. And then you can start filling in the page with tasks
19:00
from your list. And now you've got a pretty good idea of where
19:05
to start your prep work.
19:06
Emily: But of course this is just a tool, not a law. If
19:09
you're someone who cannot think about procedures until every
19:12
bulletin board is up, that's fine. You can start there.
19:15
Heidi: Or if planning your first read-aloud is the thing that
19:18
makes you excited to start the year, just go ahead and plan it,
19:21
but be clear, right, about needing to swing back to the
19:24
tasks that create safety before you get too far into things.
19:27
Emily: I just had a memory of, I think, just a few days before
19:31
school started for your very first year, me being up on a
19:34
chair trying to make that tree out of out of butcher paper, and
19:39
spoiler alert, it did not turn out well, but that was probably
19:44
not the most important thing that we could have been working
19:46
on.
19:46
Heidi: No, but we didn't know what else to do, because nobody
19:50
had prepped me, and you hadn't even started college yet.
19:53
Emily: I was in high school, I think I was a senior that year.
19:57
Heidi: We didn't know we were doing, paper trees were where we
20:00
understood.
20:02
Emily: Well, feeling ready for the first day starts with
20:04
knowing the right things are getting done, and that's the
20:08
goal. If you want help getting those foundational layers in
20:11
place before the first bell, that is exactly what we're doing
20:14
at Teacher Summer Talks this year.
20:16
Heidi: This is our free audio summit, July 20th through the
20:20
23rd. We've got more than 30 short sessions from teachers who
20:23
get it, and the nice thing is you can listen to all of that
20:26
while you're folding laundry or taking kids to the pool. You're
20:29
not gonna be chained to a screen all afternoon.
20:31
Emily: And this year, we're adding a challenge to our
20:34
summit, so you can join us every day during the summit for a live
20:38
call, and we will walk you through making your first day
20:42
plans, so at the end of the summit, you'll have your first
20:45
day all planned minute by minute. That's our specialty. So
20:48
grab your free ticket at secondstorywindow.net/summertalks
20:52
and come build your back to school plan with us. We would
20:55
love to have you there.
20:57
Now, for our teacher-approved tip of the week, where we share
21:00
an actionable tip to help you elevate what matters and
21:03
simplify the rest. This week's teacher-approved tip is make a
21:06
list of the order to teach your procedures. Where do we start
21:10
with it, Heidi?
21:11
Heidi: Well, as we mentioned, you can't introduce all your
21:13
procedures at once and still have kids remember them, so that
21:17
means teaching them one at a time. To do that effectively,
21:21
you need to know the right order to go in. We always recommend
21:25
starting with the bathroom procedures very first, and then
21:27
second is your attention signal. After that, you need to think
21:30
about the flow of your day. What do students need to understand
21:33
before the next activity?
21:36
Emily: We call these hinge points because the success of
21:38
the activity hinges on whether or not students understand what
21:42
to do. Think about everything students need to be successful
21:46
at lunchtime, and then schedule time to teach that before lunch.
21:50
Even if you teach fifth grade, you can't just drop kids off in
21:53
the cafeteria without some discussion of what should be
21:56
happening.
21:57
Heidi: So, here's how I set up my first morning, and I'm
21:59
sharing this not because I think it's a perfect example, but
22:02
because I think the thought process might help you get your
22:04
wheels turning. So, for me, after I had run through my
22:07
bathroom procedures, and to be fully transparent, I did not do
22:11
a full tell, try, tally, talk on bathroom procedures at that
22:13
point. I just kind of explained the basics, we could get back to
22:17
that later. And then I would teach the attention signal.
22:20
By that point, my students had been in their desks for a while,
22:23
so I wanted to switch gears and move to a different spot before
22:26
I did my teacher introduction. So, how to move to the rug and
22:30
choose a seat was the hinge point for that activity. So, I
22:33
taught that next, and then we would transition to the carpet.
22:37
I would introduce myself and read a quick picture book. Then,
22:40
by that point it was getting close to recess, so it was time
22:44
to teach students how to line up, how to walk in the hall,
22:46
where to line up after recess. I would walk them back in. And I
22:49
did not let anyone take any equipment out for the first few
22:52
days, because I just couldn't add that in on top of everything
22:55
else in the first day.
22:56
Emily: Yeah, and you don't want them doing that before they know
22:58
the procedures for how to handle those materials.
23:02
Heidi: They were fine. Some of the boys grumbled, but it was
23:04
fine. We all lived to tell the tale.
23:05
Emily: So, a good rule of thumb for the first week is to teach a
23:09
procedure, and then do a different type of activity.
23:12
Then, teach the next procedure. By switching gears, you help
23:15
maintain the balance of structure and spark, which keeps
23:17
everyone engaged.
23:19
Heidi: But before you can bounce back and forth, you need to know
23:23
what you're coming back to. So, start by making a list of
23:26
everything students need to know how to do to function
23:30
independently in your room. This is where those procedure
23:33
checklists we mentioned can be extremely helpful. And then
23:36
circle the procedures that you absolutely have to teach on day
23:39
one.
23:40
Emily: You probably won't have time for too many on that first
23:43
day, so do another pass through the list and look for what you
23:46
can introduce on day two, then days three and four. If you have
23:50
our procedures checklist, you can use the handy dandy dropdown
23:53
menu to do this right on the page.
23:55
Heidi: And a bonus of doing this is that it makes your first week
23:58
so much easier to plan, you know what's essential, and then
24:01
you're ensuring that you have the time to fit it in.
24:04
All right. To wrap up the show, we're sharing what we're giving
24:07
extra credit to this week. Emily, look at your extra
24:09
credit?
24:10
Emily: I'm giving extra credit to the book, Our Perfect Storm,
24:13
by Carly Fortune. I have read several books from her. Every
24:17
Summer After, I think it was her first big new release that
24:21
everyone was excited about, and I've liked her books, but this
24:25
one I am loving. It is so good. I'm almost done with it, and I
24:30
think it is a perfect summer read.
24:33
Heidi: I've seen it on a lot of people's recommendations for the
24:35
summer. Is it like a rom-com or thriller?
24:38
Emily: It's a rom-com.
24:40
Heidi: Oh, okay. Well, I'll have to check that out.
24:42
Emily: Yeah, you should.
24:42
Heidi: A good summer read.
24:44
Emily: Yeah, what are you giving extra credit to, Heidi?
24:46
Heidi: This is less exciting, but it solved a niche problem,
24:49
and I'm probably not the only one who needs this, so I'm
24:52
giving extra credit to the suction cup dish brush holder I
24:56
got. So, okay, go back in time with me, like, I don't know, 15,
25:01
20 years, and there was this trend of putting like vinegar
25:05
and dawn in a scrub brush wand, one of those scrubby wands that
25:09
used for dishes to clean the shower with.
25:11
Emily: Yep, there's one in my shower.
25:14
Heidi: Yes, I was like, why did I stop doing that? It was just
25:16
so handy after you're done showering, you just like wipe it
25:19
down real quick. You don't even have to do it every day, but
25:22
then I had this scrub brush dish goopy thing in my shower, like
25:27
there's got to be a fix for this. And there were lots of
25:29
options, actually. So I bought one, it looks like a spring, a
25:35
metal spring with two suction cups on it, it just goes on the
25:38
wall, it's supposed to go on the side of your sink. I put it on
25:40
the wall of my shower with a little dish brush holder in
25:42
there, it's kind of up high, so it's out of the way. Easy peasy,
25:46
nothing is dripping, it's, it makes me happy every time I get
25:49
in the shower to have this problem solved, and my shower
25:53
has never been cleaner.
25:54
Emily: Well, there's just nothing more satisfying than
25:56
something that solves, perfectly solves a problem that's been
25:59
bugging you.
26:00
Heidi: So true. That's the kind of drug I need.
26:04
Emily: Yes.
26:05
Heidi: Give me that feeling, please.
26:07
Well, that is it for today's episode. Break down your to-do
26:10
list by the needs that each task is fulfilling, and then use that
26:14
list to prioritize your time and energy.
26:18
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Teacher Approved. I'm Heidi.
26:22
Emily: And I'm Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow
26:25
or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss an
26:28
episode.
26:29
Heidi: You can connect with us and other teachers in the
26:31
Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.
26:35
Bye for now.
26:35
Emily: Bye.