Heidi: This is episode 276 of Teacher Approved.
You're listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast helping
educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I'm
Heidi.
Emily: And I'm Emily. We're the creators behind Second Story
Window, where we give research-based and
teacher-approved strategies that make teaching less stressful and
more effective. You can check out the show notes and resources
from each episode at secondstorywindow.net.
Heidi: We're so glad you're tuning in today. Let's get to
the show.
Emily: Hey there! Thanks for joining us today. In today's
episode, we are talking about why back to school drains you in
a way that no other season does, and it's probably not for the
reason you think. Plus, we have a teacher-approved tip for
adding a little joy to a stressful time of year.
Heidi: But first, let's start with a try it tomorrow, where we
share a quick win that you can try right away. Emily, what is
our suggestion this week?
Emily: Okay, so this week, take a minute to consider your
teacher bag. I feel like most teachers have bags, but if you
haul back and forth with something besides a bag, think
about that too, and then think about is this bag or whatever
you're using something that you chose on purpose, or did you
just grab it because it was handy? And then, more
importantly, is it working for you? Because if it's not, we
want you to think about what would make it a better fit for
what you need.
Heidi: And if your bag is not working, decide if you need to
buy something new, or more likely, if there's something in
that stash of bags in the back of your closet that could work
even better.
Emily: Or maybe you don't even want a bag at all, and you would
rather have a bin or a tote that you can wheel around. I mean,
I've talked on here before, I freaking love my Hulken bag, and
if I had had this when I was in the classroom, it would have
been so amazing for hauling to and from my car and my house.
And now they do have a cheaper version from Costco. I will say
the reviews are mixed. Some say that the wheels are not as good
and they don't hold up as well, but it's affordable enough. It
might be worth a try. And there's just no right answer
here, though. The key is just knowing what works best for you.
So take a look at what you're using, decide if it's meeting
your needs or if something else would be better.
Heidi: And if you like this idea or anything else we share here
on the podcast, would you take a second and give us a five-star
rating and a kind review?
Emily: So, have you ever noticed that during back to school you
can work for eight hours in your classroom, but it feels like you
were digging ditches for 16 hours? You are so tired, but
somehow the rest of the year you can teach all day, answer
emails, you know, work with your team, and you're tired, but you
can still function after. It's not that kind of tired that you
are in the back to school season.
Heidi: Yeah, I know that feeling well, and yes, the start of the
year brings endless meetings, the room set up, and the work of
planning for kids that you have never even met, and that all
contributes to the exhaustion. But those things don't fully
explain it.
Emily: Yeah, right now it takes you out, but in a few months you
can have a week that's just as packed, and don't feel like you
come home and need to lie down on the floor.
Heidi: I've spent time on that floor. The couch is just too far
away. So I would say that it's more than just the workload
creating that back to school exhaustion. For example, for me,
the last week of October used to just knock me flat. It was the
end of our first term, and so after all of the work that goes
into teaching all day, I then had to manage conferences and
report cards, and inevitably spend several evenings panic
grading because I was never on top of that task. Even as
overloaded as I was, that level of October tired could not touch
the exhaustion of the first weeks of school. You know, at
least I made it to the couch before I collapsed.
Emily: Okay, so it's obviously not the workload. So what else
is contributing to that back to school collapse? It turns out
that the culprit is the lack of automaticity.
Heidi: Maybe you recognize that word from your literacy
training. Automaticity means being able to do a task without
having to think through every step. When we are teaching
reading, we want students to have a large bank of sight words
that they can read fluently. If they have to stop and figure out
every word they come to, it really hinders their
comprehension.
Emily: But automaticity applies to more than just reading. If
you can brush your teeth without needing to stop and think
through every step, then that's automaticity in action. If you
can drive a car without having to consciously remember which
pedal is the gas and which is the brake, that's automaticity
too.
Heidi: And you've had experience with that teaching a new driver
this year.
Emily: Yeah, she was having to think which was which for longer
than I preferred.
Heidi: But besides helping us drive safely, automaticity has
the benefit of freeing up our brains. When you don't have to
manage every minute step, you can focus on the big picture
stuff.
Emily: Okay, so what does all of this have to do with the start
of the year? Well, in the first few weeks of school, you are
missing the automaticity. You don't yet have internal
automaticity, which tells you exactly what to do next.
Heidi: Plus, you're missing the external automaticity, where the
kids know the routine, because no one is in the flow of things
yet. Every single minute of the day has to be planned, prepared,
and explained by you.
Emily: Yeah, and that is a monumental task. You know, we
love to talk about the balance of structure and spark.
Structure is all the predictability that makes your
room run, and spark is the novelty that keeps it
interesting.
Heidi: Now, you might think that the back to school season is
heavy on structure because you are spending so much time
teaching policies and procedures, but you have to
spend all that time on those tasks, not because of structure,
but because of spark.
Emily: Right. Everything is 100% new in those first few days,
which means the level of spark is off the charts. It's as high
as it will ever be. And what do we do when spark is high? We
reset the balance by adding structure.
Heidi: And unfortunately, in the first few weeks, you are the
structure. There are no rules, expectations, or habits to hold
the day together. It's just you.
Emily: Well, just you, and then the herd of confused kids that's
waiting for you to shepherd them through every second of the next
six hours, anything that happens in those first days happens
because you are personally making it happen.
Heidi: And that is why you go home and collapse. We often talk
about the toll and imbalance of structure and spark takes on the
kids, but it also takes a toll on teachers. Correcting an
imbalance takes a lot of effort from you.
Emily: Unfortunately, you're going to have to build a lot of
structure from the start of the school year. There's just no way
around that. But if we can't escape this problem, then we
need a way through it.
Heidi: And that means making sure that you are not the sole
source of structure for an entire classroom. You need to
borrow some external structure to get you through the first
weeks, but unfortunately, this is another thing you're going to
have to build.
Emily: But the good news is that this is all stuff you can do
ahead of time, maybe even from the comfort of your couch, so
that lifts the burden a little bit. You do all the thinking
before the big day, so you can concentrate on what's unfolding
in front of you when you're actually there in the classroom.
Heidi: This is actually a principle used in a lot of
high-performance fields. Pilots use pre-flight checklists. Event
planners use run-of-show documents. Restaurants use
opening and closing routines. None of these professionals rely
on memory during their busiest, highest stakes moments.
Emily: And all this comes down to one idea: don't carry it in
your head if you don't have to. So the goal at the start of the
year is to get as much information as possible out of
your brain and into some kind of system.
Heidi: If you're not sure where to start, you are in luck
because that is exactly what we're talking about today. We've
got six systems that can help you create some external
structure, so it's not all on your shoulders, and we're
starting with an oldie but a goodie. Write a first day
script. Tell us about this, Emily.
Emily: Well, if you've been with us for a while here on the
podcast, or if you joined us for Teacher Summer Talks and you
joined in on the first day plan challenge, then you've heard all
of this before, but it's worth a revisit. The idea is that you
need to write out everything that has to happen in order, in
as much detail as possible for that first day. So everything is
ready to reference when you need it.
Heidi: This is an idea from Harry Wong's First Days of
School book, and it is a game changer. It's basically like
writing subplans for yourself, really the more detail you use,
the better. My first day script was usually eight pages.
Emily: And that probably sounds like overkill until you start
listing out every detail you have to remember for the first
day, and then you're like, "Oh, okay, maybe I need 10 pages.
There's so many things."
Heidi: Yeah, you really don't realize how much goes into a
school day until you start listing it all out. You know,
because your students don't know the morning routine yet, you
need a detailed outline for your welcome activity. You need a
reminder to stop for a class bathroom break because the
bladders are still on summer break. You need to plan what
time to start teaching lunch procedures so you're not having
to rush through the 25 steps it takes to get everyone fed.
Emily: And then you also need to think of backup activities for
all of the planned activities in case things end really quickly.
We did a whole episode on how to build a detailed script back in
episode 77, so go grab that for the full walkthrough of creating
your first day plan.
Heidi: I'm kind of liking the idea of calling it a run of show
instead of a script. I think that paints a clearer picture of
what it does. Teachers sometimes hear script and think it's
locking them into a rigid plan, but it's really doing the
opposite.
Emily: Right. A script, or I guess we can call it a run of
show, lets you offload the details, like remembering which
pedal is the brake, so that you can focus on the important
stuff, like being present and connecting with your new
students.
Heidi: Yeah, it's really hard to build that connection with a kid
who's, you know, pouring their heart out about their pet dog,
but all you're doing is thinking through everything you need to
remember for dismissal. So do yourself a favor and just write
down the details.
Emily: And think how happy you'll be next year when you go
to plan the first day, and you already have a detailed list of
everything you did the year before. You just need to maybe
update a few things, and you're all ready to go.
Heidi: I actually planned my whole first week in this kind of
detail. It was such a relief to be able to consult my list
anytime I needed a reminder. It really made the whole first week
a lot smoother.
Emily: And I am so guilty of thinking when I when I'm about
to teach something of like, I don't need the play by play. I
know what I'm going to do. I'm flexible. I'll wing it, and it
will be fine. And it's never fine. I always end up in some
awkward moment of like, oh shoot, I didn't think through
that. You know, like, just don't set yourself up for that,
especially at the beginning of the year, because you're out of
practice. The kids, everything's new to the kids. Do yourself a
favor and just get that external structure on your clipboard with
those daily scripts for as many days as you think it would be
helpful at the start of the school year.
Our next suggestion will not come as a surprise, but that is
to plan your procedures in advance. You knew that we were
going to mention that at some point in this episode.
Heidi: Yeah, it's inescapable with us. Your goal at the start
of the year is to know the exact steps you need students to
follow, and then have a plan for how to teach them. It's a lot to
take on, but it is one of the best investments you can make at
the start of the school year.
Emily: And if you want some help with this, we're here to help.
We've got a procedures and routines planning guide and
checklists to guide you through each step in the process.
Heidi: And there are links to all of that in the show notes.
And then we have maybe my favorite product we've ever
made, our Tell Try Tally Talk slide decks. This is as close as
we can get to showing up and teaching your procedures for
you. All you have to do is add the steps you want students to
follow, and then you can add a photo if you want. And then the
rest of the lesson is already prepared for you.
Emily: And make sure you come back to the podcast on Thursday
for our Can't Miss Classic episode, because this week it's
all about how to plan procedures step by step, and that is a
great resource if this is a new process for you.
Heidi: But also, don't forget to check out last week's Can't Miss
Classic episode where we talked about how to soften the back to
school landing. Simplifying and automating your personal life is
another way to get some external structure.
Emily: Anything that you can put on autopilot before school
starts becomes one less decision you have to make in a moment
when you are so overloaded with decisions. So if you can pick
out all your clothes for the first week or plan to eat the
same lunch for a few days, you free up time and energy that go
toward getting the school year up and running.
Heidi: So make sure to grab that episode if you missed it. All
right, you are working on your first day script. You're
planning your procedures. You're automating decisions in your
personal life. All of those systems are giving you a huge
boost of external structure, so you don't have to carry so much.
Emily, what is next on our list?
Emily: Our fourth system is to use checklists. This is
different from your to-do list. These checklists are to help
ensure you're remembering every step in your process. Even if
you're stepping into the same routines you were using last
May, it is still worth writing down each step.
Heidi: Yeah, because it's been a few months. You're probably a
little rusty, and if you're like me, it's really easy to overlook
a step or two. So consider these like your pre-flight checklist.
And a fair warning: I'm not a pilot. I'm basing this
information off the internet. But if Google is to be believed,
pilots are supposed to run through a checklist before every
flight, no matter how experienced they are.
Emily: Now, obviously, the stakes of forgetting a step in
your end of day routine are not quite as high as forgetting a
step before flying a plane, but you still don't want to be left
scrambling when a sticky note could have saved the day.
Heidi: So let's think about sometimes when one of those
checklists can come in handy. I am a big fan of having a morning
routine for tasks to do before the kids arrive, and then
another routine to do after they leave. And both of those are
great candidates for a step-by-step checklist.
Emily: And you can expand that to an end-of-week checklist for
everything you need to do on Friday to set up for Monday. Or
a checklist of what to remember when you start pulling small
groups or introducing centers.
Heidi: Remember, the goal is to keep from carrying details in
your head if you don't have to. So grab some post-its and draft
a few checklists. It's a simple way to keep everything on track.
And if you want some support with that, we have a whole set
of back-to-school checklists to help you walk through all of
this. Really, it's tons of details. Probably more
checklists than you need, so it can give you the right structure
to get your ideas all organized and in one place.
Emily: Plus, you'll get the satisfaction of going through
them, being like, "Oh, check, check, check! I don't need that.
I already thought of that, and that's just such a boost.
Okay, our next system is to put your room to work, like the
actual room, not the kids in it. Although they should definitely
be helping too. But the goal here is to make the structure as
visible as possible.
Heidi: So here we're going to think labels. These are a great
tool. Label the pencil cup and the lunchbox station and the bin
for homework folders. Label anything that has a designated
spot.
Emily: And even if you don't want to keep those labels up all
year, having them out for a few weeks can greatly reduce the
number of questions that you will be asked.
Heidi: And you can also get your walls involved, make lists for
how you want things done, and then post them. It's even better
if you can include an image, either clip art or a photo, of
exactly what's expected. That way, before it's time to line up
on day three, you can post the list as a reminder.
Emily: This is a great tip for any time of day. So pull out
your list and review the steps before having students turn and
talk during a lesson, or before walking through the halls to get
to music class. Again, you don't have to leave these up all year.
Heidi: But you will probably be really glad you have them all
year. In January, when the lineup routine is getting
sloppy, you're going to be so glad that you can reach for a
lineup poster that's already done, so you can review your
expectations right in the moment when it's needed.
Emily: All right, that brings us to our last system for getting
the details out of your head. One of the kindest things you
can do for yourself is to stop expecting future you to remember
everything. Future you will be busy teaching, redirecting,
answering questions, solving problems, and making 100 tiny
decisions. So leave behind some breadcrumbs to show future you
the path.
Heidi: Yeah, you can't assume that you're going to remember
the details when you are at max capacity, as Emily pointed out.
So think of breadcrumbs as trail markers in the woods. They are
small cues to help you stay on track.
Emily: An easy one here is to grab a highlighter in your first
day script. Ask what will future me have a hard time remembering.
Mark any key details like the time to switch between
activities or the steps for teaching students how to log
into their Chromebooks.
Heidi: Or the one I always forgot on the first day: submit
attendance. If you need something to jump off the page,
highlight it. You can even make it cute. Those mild liners come
in lots of fun colors if neon is not your thing.
Emily: Another breadcrumb is alarms. This is my go-to. You
probably need to offer more bathroom breaks in the first
days of school before anyone has an accident. Schedule some
alarms so that you remember to pause for a break.
Heidi: And I had to leave my lunch early for the first few
days so I could be outside before the bell ring because we
had to pick up our kids and take them inside. Otherwise, my
students would get nervous about when and where they were
supposed to line up because it was different than what they
were used to in first grade. So setting an alarm meant I could
inhale my sandwich in the 15 minutes I had for lunch without
having to watch the clock the whole time.
Emily: Or forget to go out early because you're so tired.
Heidi: Yes, and another breadcrumb is gathering your
materials. In the first few days of school you're probably using
a lot of supplies that you won't use during a normal school day,
so make it easier to stay in the flow by having everything you
need for the day in one place.
Emily: And if you really want a gold star for organizing. Try
stacking your materials in the order that you will need them.
So put end of day materials at the bottom and start of the day
at the top.
Heidi: And then after you do that, grab your end of day
checklist and add "put away today's materials" to the list.
We're not starting day two with a pile of clutter.
Emily: Yes, say no to clutter, at least at the start. There's
only so much you can do once the year starts going on.
Okay, those are our six systems for creating external structure,
so that you don't have to carry every detail in your head. Write
a first day script or a run of show document. Plan your
procedures in advance. Simplify and automate your real life
during back to school. Use checklists, put your room to
work, and leave breadcrumbs to show yourself the path.
Heidi: Each of these systems work because they reduce demands
on prospective memory. That's our ability to remember to do
something in the future. Prospective memory is especially
vulnerable when we are interrupted, stressed, juggling
multiple tasks, or in a new environment.
Emily: So yeah, all of that sounds like the first day of
school. And the goal here is not to become better at juggling all
of that. The goal is to stop juggling as much. So until the
automaticity is in place, do yourself a favor and create the
extra structure you need so that you can enjoy the magic of
getting to know your new students.
Heidi: If this discussion was helpful, you definitely want to
grab our soon-to-be-released book, Structure and Spark. In
it, we walk you through every season of the school year and
offer you all of our best tips for meeting the specific needs
of that season.
Emily: comes out august 18, and so you still have time to
pre-order. And once you do, come to secondstorywindow.net/book,
and there's a form there so that you can tell us you pre-ordered.
And then we have some really fun bonuses for you if you
pre-order.
Heidi: There's a link to the book in the show notes, and if
you have already pre-ordered, thank you so much. Pre-orders
tell booksellers that our book is worth recommending to
readers, so they really are a huge help, and we appreciate
every single one.
Emily: And if you pre-ordered but you haven't submitted the
form, go ahead and do that because you can still get your
bonuses.
Now for our teacher-approved tip of the week, where we share an
actionable tip to help you elevate what matters and
simplify the rest. This week's teacher-approved tip is to add
some joy. Tell us about it, Heidi.
Heidi: Well, if you remember a couple months ago, back to our
summer reading episode, I mentioned that the smallest of
joys by Diane Schiffer was on my TBR list. I have finished it
now, so gold star for that, I guess. And it is as lovely and
comforting as she is, but she has an idea that I want to
borrow for today. She recommends setting happy traps, and I'm
just going to read how she describes them because I can't
do it justice.
So she says, "Happy traps are little gifts to yourself. They
are sweet surprises you prepare for yourself, a gentle sort of
trickery meant to coax a smile on a hard day, or give your
weary spirit something kind to land on. Creating happy traps
isn't about buying expensive treats or curating someone
else's idea of the perfect lifestyle. It's about tuning
into what makes you feel light and warm and delighted. What
gives you relief from the stress, or the boredom, or the
heartbreak, or whatever it is that is blocking your own joy,
do that."
And I think that's such a beautiful way to show compassion
for yourself. And if anyone is in need of some self-compassion,
it's teachers at the start of the school year. So before you
get too lost in the thick of things, what surprises can you
tuck away to lift your heart on a long day?
Emily: Oh, I love this! It's so cute. It's like that feeling of
finding like $5 in your coat after you take it back out in
the fall and you put it on for the first time. And it's like
ooh! But you're just going to be creating that feeling on purpose
with your happy traps.
Heidi: And I think, like for me, an easy way to do this would be
to get one or two favorite treats and then hide them. You
could, you know, tuck them in the back of your desk or in a
closet where no one in your family is going to stumble on
them and take them. And then when you come home after 12
hours at school putting up bulletin boards and arranging
desks, you know you've got something lovely waiting for
you.
Emily: And it doesn't even have to be a physical treat. You
could create a folder on your phone and add all the photos
that make you smile, or write yourself a note of encouragement
to read on a hard day.
Heidi: I keep meaning to save like all those videos that make
me laugh, so I have them all in one place. You know, when I need
a little boost. So maybe this will be my my kick to get that
going.
Emily: Yeah, that's a good idea.
Heidi: All it takes is thinking about what you love and then
finding a way to add more of it to your life. Everyone needs
more of those kinds of tasks on their to-do list instead of what
we spend so much time on.
Okay, to wrap up the show, we're sharing what we're giving extra
credit to this week. Emily, what gets your extra credit?
Emily: Well, I'm giving extra credit to another boring thing
that proves that we're just old perimenopausal ladies over here,
because I'm giving extra credit to the new redesign of travel
tissues. So.
Heidi: You showed me these; they are fancy.
Emily: They are so smart. Like I can't believe it took this long.
So you know, those little travel packs of tissues are always the
worst because when you first like take one out, it's all
right, and the little flap will tape back. But before long, it
won't stick anymore. And then as more gets out of it, the more
like loosey goosey it gets, and so it just sort of falls apart
in your purse, and the tissues are half hanging out, and it's
just the worst.
Heidi: Or then all the crumbs at the bottom of your purse end up
in the bag with the tissue, so you go to pull out a tissue, and
it's already gross.
Emily: I know it's so stupid. So these are basically now they
look like itty bitty little baby wipes containers, is what I
would liken it to. They're so cute, and so the the shape of it
has been given a little bit more structure in the way it's
designed, to begin with, and then the top is like a baby
wipes opener, so it keeps it very firmly closed in your bag.
So you have the satisfying pop when you open it, then reach in
and get your nice little towel, and then snap it shut again.
This is so brilliant, considering that baby wipes have
been that way for quite a while with those kind of lids, I'm
surprised that it took travel tissues this long to get on
board. But I'm a fan.
Heidi: Well, we're glad they got there in the end.
Emily: All right, what are you giving extra credit to?
Heidi: Okay, well this is kind of niche, but I just finished
the audio book of When Gavin Met Stacy, and I I think I smiled
the whole time I was listening to it.
Emily: This is probably very niche. I don't know how much, we
watched this back in the mid 2000s, but I don't know if a lot
of Americans did. But hopefully, there's some out there.
Heidi: I debated it even saying this, but I thought if someone
has watched it and loved it, they would definitely love this
book. So I'd feel sad not saying it, or maybe this will be your
push to start watching it. If you got a BritBox subscription,
so you could watch the Other Bennett Sister, all of Gavin and
Stacey's on BritBox, so you could catch up.
Emily: Oh, but we should probably give a disclaimer that
this is very British humor, so the language and the jokes are a
little bit wild by American standards. So just go in with
that in mind and don't hold it against us.
Heidi: I think it's considered family viewing over there, like
everyone's sitting around on Christmas watching this. But
it's it's a little more grown up. Think Ted Lasso. I think
that's a very good comparison.
Emily: I'm remembering a few specific things from Gavin and
Stacy that might be a little farther over the line than Ted
Lasso.
Heidi: Well, Ted Lasso had way worse language, though.
Emily: Okay, true, true.
Heidi: Yeah. Anyway, let's come around all the way back to the
beginning here. Gavin and Stacy is a British sitcom, and it
started in 2006, and then true BBC fashion it ended in 2025.
Now, in 19 years, how many episodes do you think they made?
22. They made 22 episodes.
Emily: What is with British TV?
Heidi: Don't get it. But this is the love story of Gavin, who's a
boy from West England, and then Stacy is a girl from Wales. And
if you don't know your UK geography, that's on the
opposite side. And because these two fell in love, two very
different families now have to mesh their lives, and it's just
quirky with a big heart, which is my go-to. It's all written by
Ruth Jones and James Corden, who play the best friends to Gavin
and Stacy, and it's just it's just lovely.
Emily: It has a lot of heart, and it is just so funny.
Heidi: Yes. So if you enjoyed the show, I cannot recommend
this book highly enough. Ruth Jones and James Corden narrate
it, and it's basically like getting to eavesdrop on the two
of them chatting. I don't know if you would enjoy it as much if
you read it, because listening to them talk like they make each
other cry, they make each other laugh. Plus, in the audio book,
they include like snippets from the show when they're talking
about writing a scene or you know something like that. So it
was just it was the kind of experience you want from an
audio book about a favorite TV show. 10 out of 10, perfect.
Emily: Well, I will have to listen now because that sounds
amazing and I haven't read it.
Heidi: Yes, you're in for a treat.
Okay, that is it for today's episode. Make time to work on a
system that can lend you structure as you start the
school year, so you don't have to carry it all. And don't
forget to plan some happy traps, so you have some fun surprises
to look forward to.
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Teacher Approved. I'm Heidi.
Emily: And I'm Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow
or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss
episode.
Heidi: You can connect with us and other teachers in the
Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.
Bye for now.
Emily: Bye.