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238. Can't Miss Classic: 8 Reflection Questions to Help Teachers Start the New Year Strong · Teacher Approved: Elementary Teacher Tips & Strategies

• 0:00
  Heidi: This is episode 238 of Teacher Approved.
• 0:03
  You're listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast helping
• 0:08
  educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I'm
• 0:12
  Heidi.
• 0:13
  Emily: And I'm Emily. We're the creators behind Second Story
• 0:16
  Window, where we give research based and teacher approved
• 0:19
  strategies that make teaching less stressful and more
• 0:21
  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
• 0:30
  the show.
• 0:34
  Emily: Hey there, teacher friends. Congratulations, you
• 0:37
  have made it through concerts and class parties and sugar
• 0:41
  highs and countdowns, and now you are finally blessedly on
• 0:45
  break.
• 0:46
  Heidi: Hooray! You did it. You've closed your classroom
• 0:49
  door, turned off your alarm, and we hope you are deep in some
• 0:53
  much deserved rest, maybe with hot cocoa, some Hallmark movies
• 0:56
  and some comfy cozy jammies.
• 0:58
  Emily: Over the last few episodes, we've helped you get
• 1:01
  ahead without overwhelm. Plan for December, keep behavior calm
• 1:05
  and even prep for January from your couch.
• 1:08
  Heidi: And today, we are closing that loop by focusing on what
• 1:11
  comes next, how to keep that fresh start feeling alive once
• 1:15
  you are actually back in the classroom.
• 1:17
  Emily: But don't worry, this is not about planning or goal
• 1:20
  setting yet. Think of it more like a little spark for your
• 1:23
  teacher brain.
• 1:24
  Heidi: Yeah, exactly. You don't need to take notes or make
• 1:27
  decisions today. Today's episode is a replay of one of our
• 1:30
  favorites. It's all about reflecting and resetting for
• 1:32
  January. Just listen while you wrap presents or go for a walk
• 1:35
  and let these questions simmer in the back of your mind.
• 1:38
  Emily: And when the glitter has settled after the holidays and
• 1:41
  you are ready to start thinking about school again, you might be
• 1:44
  interested to know that we are bringing back our Teacher Talks
• 1:47
  Summit Series. Our previous one was teacher summer talks, and we
• 1:51
  are coming back with teacher winter talks.
• 1:53
  Heidi: Woo hoo.
• 1:54
  Emily: Not quite ready to sign up for yet, but mark it on your
• 1:58
  calendars. In about a week, you'll be able to sign up, and
• 2:00
  this will be happening over the long Martin Luther King Jr
• 2:03
  weekend in January. We have an exciting sponsor this time,
• 2:08
  Fashion Fix that you are going to love to hear more from. So
• 2:12
  just wanted to get you a little excited about what's coming for
• 2:15
  that. This summit's going to help you capitalize on that new
• 2:18
  year energy that you have in January and help you set up for
• 2:23
  a strong second half of the school year. So keep an eye on
• 2:28
  that.
• 2:28
  Heidi: But for now, just enjoy the festivities, the downtime
• 2:32
  and the satisfaction of knowing that you made it through another
• 2:35
  December as a teacher.
• 2:37
  Emily: And let's dive into our replay of episode 111, your
• 2:41
  January reset reflection.
• 2:44
  Heidi: We start our episodes with a morning message, just
• 2:47
  like we used to do at morning meeting in our classrooms. This
• 2:50
  week's morning message is, What is something you still do the
• 2:54
  old fashioned way? Emily, kick us off.
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  Emily: Well, I still write a paper to do list. These days, we
• 3:00
  do so much of our work digitally that it makes the most sense to
• 3:04
  keep my to do's digitally as well, and I actually do keep a
• 3:07
  digital to do list, but when it comes down to what I need to
• 3:11
  accomplish today, my brain is just so much happier when I
• 3:15
  write it out on a piece of paper. It's the first thing I do
• 3:18
  when I'm feeling overwhelmed or like I can't focus, I grab a
• 3:21
  piece of paper and just brain dump all the things I need to
• 3:24
  get done that day. And seriously, is there anything
• 3:27
  more satisfying than that feeling of physically crossing
• 3:30
  off something on your list?
• 3:32
  Heidi: Yeah, that's why I will add things I've already done to
• 3:34
  my list.
• 3:35
  Emily: And checking a box or hitting the like strike through
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  button on the computer is just not as satisfying is your pen
• 3:42
  dragging across that to do list item. But the downside to this
• 3:46
  is that my desk is cluttered with old half finished to do
• 3:49
  lists everywhere. What do you still do the old fashioned way,
• 3:53
  Heidi: Well, I am the same with the to do list, probably just
• 3:53
  Heidi?
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  because, like you, I like checking things off. My calendar
• 3:59
  is on my phone, but I have a daily to do list that's on a
• 4:02
  notepad. But something else I do the old fashioned way is I
• 4:06
  cannot follow a recipe off of a screen, not off my phone, not
• 4:09
  off an iPad. It just drives me crazy. I want an actual paper
• 4:12
  recipe. So now I've got, like, this huge stack of loose recipes
• 4:16
  I printed off, and then I've just never bothered to figure
• 4:19
  out what to do with so that's kind of the downside of being
• 4:23
  old fashioned on that one.
• 4:23
  Emily: Yeah, I guess the other thing we do old fashioned is
• 4:25
  make paper clutter. I think I've got digital clutter too. I've
• 4:31
  got all the clutter.
• 4:31
  Heidi: Well, someone has to keep those paper sales people in
• 4:34
  business, right? Dunder Mifflin.
• 4:37
  Emily: We asked our community what they do the old fashioned
• 4:39
  way. Suzanne said, math, and Lisa said, read a real book and
• 4:44
  read aloud to the class. The kids love it, even in fifth
• 4:47
  grade. And I'm like, that should not even be considered old
• 4:49
  fashioned. Tracy said, gradebook. She still uses a
• 4:53
  paper and pencil.
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  Heidi: And I'm the same on that one, Tracy, I hated doing my
• 4:56
  grades on the computer. I sound like a dinosaur.
• 5:01
  Emily: And Nancy said daily read alouds after lunch. We'd love to
• 5:05
  have you join the conversation over in our Teacher Approved
• 5:07
  Facebook group.
• 5:09
  Heidi: So when I saw that this was episode 111 I kind of
• 5:12
  thought, hey, wait a minute, isn't this supposed to mean
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  something? So I looked it up, and the answer, I thought, made
• 5:19
  a fun little kind of fortune cookie for how we might be
• 5:22
  feeling at the start of January.
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  Emily: Okay, lots of people are into numerology, but I wouldn't
• 5:27
  say that's normally our thing.
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  Heidi: I mean, not really, not horoscope girlies either, but it
• 5:32
  can be a fun way to maybe help us connect with the stories in
• 5:35
  our lives. So if you hear something that's resonating with
• 5:37
  you, maybe look a little deeper. Maybe it's resonating with you
• 5:40
  for a purpose.
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  Emily: Okay, so what are we getting with 111?
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  Heidi: Well, according to a highly researched USA Today
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  article, 111 signifies the start of things, whether that's a new
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  journey or a new path.
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  Emily: Well, that fits for January.
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  Heidi: Yes, and 111 is supposed to be your green light, you are
• 6:01
  on the right track, and the road is clear.
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  Emily: All good things to hear at the start of a new year.
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  Heidi: And I like this quote from the article. The
• 6:10
  universe—oh, I need some crystals or something. Okay,
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  just imagine we have crystals. The universe is giving you the
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  ability to choose how your future goes by providing options
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  along with giving you the self confidence to make the decisions
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  that feel right to you, not to mention the resilience and
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  passion to accept whatever positive or negative outcomes
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  result from those decisions. Ultimately, you'll know the
• 6:34
  right decision by trusting your gut. If you are doubting
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  yourself, have faith that this number coming into your life, ie
• 6:41
  this podcast episode, means you can stop hesitating.
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  Emily: Wow, that's a lot of pressure to put on a podcast
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  Heidi: That is not the spirit of 111! You gotta embrace this
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  episode.
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  opportunity.
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  Emily: Okay, let me try again. Let's embrace this opportunity
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  of a new start by figuring out where we're starting from.
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  Heidi: Yes, and in the words of a great philosopher, Ferris
• 7:09
  Bueller, oh, I've heard of him, life moves pretty fast. If you
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  don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
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  Emily: He was such an inspired thinker.
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  Heidi: Definitely ahead of his time. So let's take a minute to
• 7:21
  look around. We have got eight reflection questions to help you
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  get off to a strong start this year. You could just think about
• 7:28
  your responses. But if you really want extra credit, and we
• 7:34
  know we've got some high achievers out there, record your
• 7:35
  answers somewhere so you can reflect on your progress later.
• 7:37
  Emily: Do it on paper. It's very thrilling. Let's start with our
• 7:43
  very favorite question, what is going well?
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  Heidi: And this is probably our favorite question, because it's
• 7:48
  the question that Emily and I need the most.
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  Emily: We love to jump into fix it mode. Before an event is even
• 7:54
  done, we've already got a running list of what we need to
• 7:57
  do to make it better next time.
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  Heidi: We had a fondue night a couple weeks ago, and Emily and
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  I were comparing notes on what to improve for next year before
• 8:06
  I had even left her house.
• 8:08
  Emily: Yep, guilty. And look, that can be helpful, but if we
• 8:13
  don't pause to celebrate what went well, hey, the fondue
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  didn't seem like it was going to turn out, but it did, and we did
• 8:19
  not even celebrate it. And if you do that, then you run the
• 8:23
  risk of not ensuring those things happen in the future.
• 8:26
  Heidi: Plus only focusing on how to improve gets exhausting. Take
• 8:31
  that from our experience. We have all worked really hard, so
• 8:35
  let's give ourselves the gold stars we deserve.
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  Emily: Dear teacher friends, what is going well for you?
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  Heidi: Consider your classroom, but also your life in general.
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  Are you in a good place with meal planning, I hope, or
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  getting to bed on time?
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  Emily: Give us some pointers if you if you have that one in
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  place.
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  Heidi: Maybe you made a new friend, or you joined a book
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  club.
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  Emily: If you're in a place where it feels like nothing is
• 9:00
  going right, this question is even more important for you. So
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  listen, please, find something positive to hold on to. Even if
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  it's as small as the car starting this morning,
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  identifying the good gives us the strength to cope with the
• 9:12
  less than good.
• 9:14
  Heidi: And you know, speaking of less than good, our second
• 9:17
  reflection question is, what are your biggest headaches?
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  Emily: These are probably easy to identify, unlike the wins.
• 9:26
  Heidi: Once you have pinpointed your headaches, take a minute to
• 9:29
  really dive into what makes those particular things a
• 9:33
  headache to you. Maybe, if you say teaching, exactly what part
• 9:37
  of teaching is a headache? If it's because you have a
• 9:39
  difficult class, that's going to lead you to different solutions
• 9:43
  than if your headache comes from unrealistic curriculum
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  expectations.
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  Emily: hen you've clearly named the problem, you can start
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  looking for solutions. Maybe you need to revamp your management
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  system. Maybe you need to split up the workload with your team.
• 9:56
  Heidi: One thing that can probably help every teacher at
• 9:59
  this point of the year is to revisit your procedures.
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  Emily: Now, unless this is your first episode here with us, and
• 10:06
  if it is, welcome, you are probably not surprised to hear
• 10:10
  us bringing up procedures. We seem to find a way to do that in
• 10:13
  every episode.
• 10:14
  Heidi: Because procedures make the world go round.
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  Emily: It's true in your classroom.
• 10:18
  Heidi: And revisiting your procedures is an impactful way
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  to hit the reset button when you come back to school in January.
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  If you can only manage one thing, this is the one to do.
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  Because effective classroom procedures help reduce behavior
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  problems and will save you so much wasted time, it's worth
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  taking some intentional time now to review the procedures that
• 10:40
  aren't working as well as they could be.
• 10:42
  Emily: And we have some procedure review Google slides
• 10:45
  that are great for doing this mid year with your students.
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  These are brand new, and it is important to make revisiting
• 10:51
  your procedures part of your regular routine. It's really
• 10:55
  hard to add something like that into the flow of your day a few
• 10:57
  times a year, though.
• 10:59
  Heidi: This is exactly the sort of thing that I would always
• 11:01
  tell myself I was going to do, I was going to make it happen this
• 11:04
  year, and then totally forget to do it, not because it's hard to
• 11:08
  do, but because it's hard to add in things that aren't part of
• 11:12
  your regular routine.
• 11:13
  Emily: That's why we wanted to automate this as much as
• 11:16
  possible. There are four different slide decks for
• 11:18
  reviewing procedures. Each deck has the same slides. It just
• 11:21
  mixes up the colors to keep things interesting.
• 11:24
  Heidi: You could set aside one slide deck for the end of term,
• 11:26
  one, one for the end of term two, or after winter break, or
• 11:30
  any other time that you feel a review is useful, and then all
• 11:33
  you have to do is add the names of your most important
• 11:36
  procedures to the individual slides. Maybe you want to
• 11:40
  revisit how students come in in the morning or start their
• 11:43
  morning work or walk quietly in the hall, you just type those
• 11:46
  procedures into the slides and project them for the students.
• 11:50
  Emily: For each procedure, you ask your students to rate from
• 11:53
  one to five how well they're meeting your expectations, and
• 11:56
  then make a plan for improving or continuing to be awesome.
• 11:59
  Heidi: If there are any other problem areas you are
• 12:02
  encountering in your classroom right now, take some time to
• 12:06
  identify them and pinpoint some solutions you could try.
• 12:09
  Emily: The nice thing about these slides is you can do so
• 12:11
  much of the prep ahead of time. A nice little gift to your
• 12:14
  future self, add your procedure names to the slide decks now and
• 12:18
  add a note on your calendar for what day you want to review them
• 12:20
  with your students. Easy peasy.
• 12:23
  Heidi: You can find these rules and procedure review slides in
• 12:26
  our shop or in our TPT store, and we will link to them in our
• 12:29
  show notes.
• 12:31
  Emily: Okay, on to our third reflection question, Where have
• 12:34
  you made progress on your back to school goals?
• 12:37
  Heidi: It is so easy to feel like you never make any progress
• 12:40
  on your goals. I know I always think that I haven't even made a
• 12:43
  dent when in reality, that is usually not true.
• 12:47
  Emily: Take time to think back on the goals you set at the
• 12:49
  beginning of the school year. Chances are good that you've
• 12:52
  come a long way on those goals since school started.
• 12:55
  Heidi: Maybe this year you wanted to stay on top of your
• 12:58
  grading or make positive contact with parents, and you've
• 13:02
  probably had some days when you have been really great at that,
• 13:05
  and also some days where you crashed and burned. That is
• 13:08
  life, unfortunately.
• 13:10
  Emily: But just because you haven't done things perfectly
• 13:12
  doesn't mean you haven't been successful. We're about
• 13:15
  progress, not perfection.
• 13:17
  Heidi: At the very least, reflect on how difficult some
• 13:20
  things were for your students at the start of the year, and
• 13:23
  celebrate how much better they are now at their two digit
• 13:26
  addition or cursive writing or hopefully following directions.
• 13:30
  Emily: Yeah, pat yourself on the back because you are the one who
• 13:32
  helped them make that amazing progress. It's easy in the day
• 13:37
  to day of teaching to feel like nothing ever improves, so take
• 13:40
  the time to appreciate the growth you and your students
• 13:43
  have made so far this year.
• 13:46
  Heidi: Our fourth reflection question is, Are your goals
• 13:49
  still serving you?
• 13:51
  Emily: Now that we just reminded ourselves of our goals from the
• 13:53
  beginning of the school year, consider if those goals are
• 13:56
  still serving you.
• 13:57
  Heidi: If the goals are still serving you, what can you do to
• 14:01
  continue working toward them? Where are you still falling
• 14:04
  short on your aims? What specific actions can you take to
• 14:08
  make progress toward your end goal?
• 14:10
  Emily: For example, if you have a goal to leave as soon as
• 14:12
  contract time ends on Fridays, but you are not consistently
• 14:16
  meeting that goal, can you identify what is keeping you
• 14:18
  late on Fridays? Maybe it's running your copies for Monday
• 14:21
  because the copy room is always busy during your prep time on
• 14:24
  Fridays. If that's the case, maybe you could work a little
• 14:27
  ahead so you can get your copies done earlier in the week.
• 14:30
  Heidi: The answer isn't always cut and dry, but chances are,
• 14:33
  you can come up with at least a few ideas you can try to help
• 14:36
  you meet your goals.
• 14:37
  Emily: If you consider your goals and decide that they are
• 14:39
  not serving you, what new goals do you have instead? Sometimes a
• 14:44
  goal you're excited about at the start of the year turns out to
• 14:46
  be one you don't feel is important anymore. It's okay to
• 14:49
  abandon a goal that isn't meeting your purpose anymore.
• 14:52
  Heidi: If you want to abandon any goals that you no longer
• 14:55
  feel passionate about, think of some new goals to replace them.
• 14:59
  You can't hit a target you can't see, so it's important to have
• 15:02
  something you're working towards as a teacher.
• 15:05
  Emily: Our fifth reflection question is a big one, how well
• 15:08
  are you taking care of yourself?
• 15:10
  Heidi: There's a reason that everyone seems to be talking
• 15:12
  about teacher burnout more and more these days. It's because,
• 15:16
  if you've noticed this career has a way of taking over your
• 15:20
  whole life if you let it. It will take every ounce of effort
• 15:23
  you have available.
• 15:25
  Emily: It's so important to constantly be considering how
• 15:28
  well you are taking care of yourself as a teacher.
• 15:30
  Heidi: Some specific questions you can use to reflect on this
• 15:33
  are, are you getting enough sleep? You're probably not,
• 15:37
  honey. You need to get some better sleep. Are you eating
• 15:40
  during the school day? Do you have enough water and sustaining
• 15:43
  snacks available to you? Do you have healthy boundaries between
• 15:47
  your personal life and your work life? Do you have adequate time
• 15:50
  for yourself?
• 15:51
  Emily: Taking good care of yourself is something you will
• 15:54
  probably always be trying to do better at. But remember that you
• 15:57
  can't be the best teacher you can be if you're not thriving as
• 16:00
  a human being.
• 16:01
  Heidi: And more important than doing your job well, you should
• 16:04
  take care of yourself, because you deserve to feel good. You
• 16:07
  are more than that job, and you don't have to earn rest or care.
• 16:11
  You are entitled to it because you matter, no matter what.
• 16:15
  Emily: Remind yourself of that fact every time the critical
• 16:17
  voice in your head tries to tell you a different story. You are
• 16:21
  the only one who can protect your well being, so take care of
• 16:24
  yourself the way you would one of your students.
• 16:26
  Heidi: All right, on to our sixth reflection question. This
• 16:30
  is a two parter, what do you want more of and what do you
• 16:33
  want less of?
• 16:35
  Emily: Maybe another way to think about this is to ask, what
• 16:38
  are your roses and what are your thorns? Roses are the things
• 16:41
  that light you up. Maybe that's planning a huge novel study for
• 16:44
  your students, or inventing a new math game. Maybe it's rock
• 16:48
  climbing at the gym or trying out a new cookbook. These are
• 16:51
  things we want more of in our lives.
• 16:53
  Heidi: Now, what do you want less of? These are the thorns
• 16:57
  that get in the way of enjoying life. Maybe it's having to cook
• 17:00
  dinner every night or organizing parent teacher conferences. If
• 17:04
  you can totally cut out a thorn from your life, do it. But
• 17:07
  that's probably not feasible for most thorns, unfortunately. So
• 17:11
  what can you do to minimize them instead? Could you spend a
• 17:15
  weekend making 15 freezer meals that you can dump in the crock
• 17:18
  pot? Could you get your grading done ahead of time so parent
• 17:21
  teacher conferences aren't so stressful?
• 17:23
  Emily: And if parent conferences are a thorn for you the way they
• 17:26
  were for me, we have put all our tips and tricks into a mini
• 17:30
  course to help take away some of the sting from that particular
• 17:33
  Thorn. There's a link to that in the show notes if you're
• 17:36
  interested with that.
• 17:38
  Heidi: All right, Emily, what's our seventh question?
• 17:40
  Emily: Our seventh reflection question is, what does your
• 17:43
  classroom need?
• 17:45
  Heidi: Chances are good that when you came back from break in
• 17:47
  January, you could maybe feel that your classroom needed to be
• 17:50
  refreshed. What specifically does your space need right now?
• 17:54
  Emily: Maybe you need to clear clutter. That's always the first
• 17:57
  place I start, because clearing clutter makes a big impact, and
• 18:01
  it's so rewarding.
• 18:02
  Heidi: Plus, it is totally free.
• 18:04
  Emily: Yes. If you haven't taken down the holiday decor yet,
• 18:07
  you'll want to get to that right away, too. And how are your
• 18:10
  supplies looking? Maybe you need a restock of pencils and glue
• 18:13
  sticks.
• 18:14
  Heidi: Or maybe you just need to freshen things up with something
• 18:17
  new. You could add some new decor, or find a new book or two
• 18:21
  for your classroom library.
• 18:22
  Emily: We think new books are always the right answer.
• 18:25
  Heidi: They have never been wrong for me. Or you could
• 18:28
  rearrange your room for a big refresh. You can do a totally
• 18:32
  new seating arrangement. Or maybe you want to get really
• 18:35
  wild and move your rug and shelves too.
• 18:38
  Emily: Living on the edge.
• 18:39
  Heidi: Don't feel like you have to do something big like that,
• 18:43
  but it might be just what you need if your space is feeling
• 18:46
  flat.
• 18:47
  Emily: We do have a digital seating arrangement tool that
• 18:50
  lets you play around with different seating options before
• 18:52
  you commit to moving the desks. We'll link to that in the show
• 18:55
  notes.
• 18:56
  Heidi: And for our eighth and final reflection question, we
• 18:59
  have, what are you looking forward to?
• 19:03
  Emily: I find it so beneficial to always have something I'm
• 19:06
  looking forward to. You may already have some things you're
• 19:09
  looking forward to, like your spring break plans.
• 19:12
  Heidi: But if nothing is immediately coming to mind, it's
• 19:15
  time to create something to look forward to.
• 19:18
  Emily: You can make a bucket list of fun activities you want
• 19:21
  to do with your students before the end of the year, or you can
• 19:24
  start something new, like adding Fun Friday to your schedule,
• 19:27
  where the last 15 minutes of every Friday is game time, or
• 19:30
  something new like that.
• 19:31
  Heidi: You can also look forward by adding in some surprise and
• 19:35
  delight. This is a favorite strategy of ours. Surprise and
• 19:40
  delight is giving your students something special to do
• 19:43
  completely out of the blue, just because. Your students don't
• 19:47
  have to earn it with good behavior. It's just something
• 19:49
  you're giving to them because you care about them. Some ideas
• 19:53
  could be a spur of the moment dance party, or a spin of a
• 19:56
  prize wheel, or maybe letting students work under their desks
• 20:00
  for a change.
• 20:01
  Emily: And while it's a surprise for the students, it doesn't
• 20:04
  have to be a surprise for you. You can absolutely put this on
• 20:07
  your calendar so you don't forget to do it and you have
• 20:10
  something fun to look forward to.
• 20:12
  Heidi: These are the sort of things that we tell ourselves
• 20:14
  we'll remember, but with everything else we're trying to
• 20:17
  keep track of, it's no wonder that these little extras fly
• 20:20
  right out of our heads, so write it down, whether that's on paper
• 20:24
  or digitally.
• 20:25
  Emily: Another thing you can look forward to could be more
• 20:27
  professional development. Maybe there's a workshop you want to
• 20:30
  take or a new teaching book you and your team are going to read
• 20:33
  together. Or maybe you want to invest in a new friendship with
• 20:36
  a co worker. Having friends at school makes it so much easier
• 20:39
  to go to school every day.
• 20:41
  Heidi: But really, at the very least, give those spring break
• 20:45
  plans some attention. We got to have something fun to look
• 20:48
  Emily: To recap, here are the eight reflection questions you
• 20:48
  forward to.
• 20:53
  can ask yourself as you start your 111 January journey slash
• 20:57
  classroom reset.
• 21:00
  Heidi: What is going well? What are your biggest headaches?
• 21:05
  Where have you made progress on your back to school goals? Are
• 21:09
  your goals still serving you? How well are you taking care of
• 21:12
  yourself? What do you want more of, and what do you want less
• 21:16
  of? What does your classroom need? And what are you looking
• 21:20
  forward to?
• 21:21
  Emily: We'd love to hear what you're looking forward to for
• 21:24
  the rest of this school year. Come join the conversation in
• 21:26
  our Teacher Approved Facebook group.
• 21:29
  Now let's talk about this week's teacher approved tip. Each week
• 21:32
  we leave you with a small, actionable tip that you can
• 21:35
  apply in your classroom today. This week's teacher approved tip
• 21:38
  is make a plan for how you will start doing test prep. I know
• 21:42
  you don't want to think about this yet, but I promise it'll be
• 21:45
  here before you know it. So what can we do to get it started,
• 21:48
  Heidi?
• 21:49
  Heidi: Research has found that spiral review is an incredibly
• 21:53
  impactful way to ensure learners can recall information when it's
• 21:57
  needed, like you know when you're taking a test. As you may
• 22:01
  already know, we love to include spiral review in our morning
• 22:05
  routines, but you can really do it at any time of your day or
• 22:09
  even with your homework. We have spiral review morning work and
• 22:14
  spiral review homework designed to help you easily build in that
• 22:18
  practice every day, and we will put some handy links to those in
• 22:21
  our show notes.
• 22:23
  Emily: If you haven't found a way to build review into your
• 22:25
  day yet, make a plan for how you can start doing it in January
• 22:29
  with either morning work or homework or some other way.
• 22:33
  Heidi: For example, maybe one of your math centers each week
• 22:35
  reviews a topic you learned in the fall, or maybe you want to
• 22:39
  do a big review game each Friday, maybe your kids prepare
• 22:43
  videos to teach their classmates about tricky topics. Because we
• 22:47
  are starting this in January, we have time to make review
• 22:50
  engaging and creative. There are so many fun ways that you can
• 22:54
  start working this into your schedule.
• 22:56
  Emily: Anything that gets kids to pull information from their
• 22:59
  memories without the benefit of notes or books, helps them
• 23:03
  retain that information in the long term. That is called
• 23:06
  retrieval practice, and it's so important that we devoted our
• 23:09
  third podcast episode to explaining all about it, so you
• 23:13
  can go back and check that out if you want all the details.
• 23:15
  Heidi: You may also want to work on building on task stamina
• 23:18
  between now and those end of your tests, working on
• 23:22
  increasing on task time and celebrating persistence and
• 23:26
  frustration tolerance.
• 23:28
  Emily: End of your tests are just a never ending source of
• 23:31
  joy, aren't they?
• 23:32
  Heidi: Yeah, joy is the word I think of.
• 23:34
  To wrap up the show, we are sharing what we're giving extra
• 23:38
  credit to this week. Emily, what gets your extra credit?
• 23:41
  Emily: I'm giving extra credit to a cordless rechargeable
• 23:44
  screwdriver. It's so handy to have one of these ready to go
• 23:47
  when you're assembling things or need to do a bunch of small
• 23:50
  household tasks. I know I had one ages ago, but who knows what
• 23:53
  happened to it. I finally snagged a new one, it comes in a
• 23:56
  case with all these different tips, including like unusual
• 24:00
  ones that you sometimes need for, like your ring doorbell or
• 24:03
  whatever.
• 24:03
  Heidi: Oh, that's handy.
• 24:04
  Emily: Such a treat to have handy whenever I need it. And
• 24:07
  it's smaller and easier to grab for a quick job than one of
• 24:10
  those big drill drivers.
• 24:12
  Heidi: That's what I have.
• 24:13
  Emily: I think they're probably all created probably pretty much
• 24:16
  the same, but I will link to the one I got in the show notes.
• 24:19
  What are you giving extra credit to, Heidi?
• 24:21
  Heidi: So my extra credit is for a glass pot. I will put a link
• 24:26
  to the one I got in the show notes, but there's nothing
• 24:30
  particularly special about that one. I just got it because it
• 24:33
  looked pretty. And you could probably cook in a glass pot,
• 24:37
  but I use it specifically for stove top simmers, being extra.
• 24:44
  If you don't know what a simmer is, it's where you put like
• 24:47
  oranges and cranberries and spices in a pot, and you heat it
• 24:50
  on low for a few hours to make your house smell cozy and warm,
• 24:54
  if warm is a smell. But I've used regular cooking pots for
• 24:59
  these simmer pots in the past, but the glass pot makes it look
• 25:03
  so beautiful, as well as smelling nice. It's just really
• 25:06
  such a comforting little touch to add to a dreary winter day.
• 25:10
  Emily: And it may be extra, but my kids have informed me that we
• 25:13
  both are extremely extra, especially at the holidays, so
• 25:17
  we're just leaning into it.
• 25:19
  Heidi: What a baseless accusation.
• 25:21
  Emily: How dare they?
• 25:25
  Heidi: That's it for today's episode. Don't forget to use
• 25:29
  these eight reflection questions to help get your new year off to
• 25:32
  a strong start. And remember our teacher approved tip to start
• 25:36
  planning your test prep now so that you are ahead of the game.
• 25:41
  We hope you enjoyed this episode of Teacher Approved. I'm Heidi.
• 25:45
  Emily: And I'm Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow
• 25:49
  or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss an
• 25:51
  episode.
• 25:52
  Heidi: You can connect with us and other teachers in the
• 25:54
  Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.
• 25:58
  Bye for now.
• 25:58
  Emily: Bye.