This is episode 250 of Teacher Approved.

You're listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast helping

educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I'm

Heidi.

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.

We're so glad you're tuning in today. Let's get to

the show.

Hey there. Thanks for joining us today for a very

special episode. Today we are celebrating 250 episodes as well

as our four year podcast anniversary. We will take a look

back at our past favorites and talk about what we hope the next

four years will hold.

But first, let's start with a try it tomorrow, where we

share a quick win that you can try in your classroom right

away. Emily, what is our suggestion for this week?

Well, this week, try boosting your mood with a two

for one good deed. So think about one of your teacher

friends and a problem that you know they're struggling with in

their classroom right now. Then you can send them a link to one

of our podcast episodes that might have tips they need to

manage the situation.

So not only are you helping out a friend, but you

are helping us out too. Recommendations from friends are

one of the top ways that new listeners find podcasts. So

every time you share our podcast, it really is such a

lovely gift to us.

Yeah, and we don't take it for granted when listeners

enjoy our content enough to share it with others. We are

truly so grateful every time you do.

And if you do that and you find that you need an even

bigger helpers high to just, you know, get through the day, after

you recommend an episode to a friend, you could swing by the

rating section on your podcast player and consider giving us

five stars and maybe a review. It would be our favorite gift.

Yes, that is the traditional podcast anniversary

gift is a rating and review. So as we've already mentioned, not

only is today's episode special because we made it to 250

episodes, but it also happens to be our four year podcast

anniversary.

I keep trying to make podcastiversary a thing. But so

far, Hallmark has just refused to play the game.

Stop trying to make podcastiversary a thing. And if

you were wondering about our math, you would probably be

wondering four years, seems like it'd be closer to 200 episodes,

but we do double episodes in the summer in recent years, so

that's what's given us a boost in the numbers.

And in honor of this milestone, we wanted to do

something special with this episode. So we're doing

something that we just invented, called a podcast time capsule.

We're going to reflect on how far we've come, celebrate all of

the good things happening now, and talk about what we hope the

next 250 episodes bring.

And someday, when we get to 500 episodes, we can revisit

today's discussion and see how well we did on our goals.

But before we can think about episode 500, let's go back

in time and look at how we got started in 2022. Emily and I had

talked about doing a podcast for a long, long time before we

actually jumped in. So Emily, how is having a podcast

different than you imagined it would be?

This going back in time makes me feel like we need to be

going, do do do, do do do. Is that from Wayne's World?

Flashback, flashback.

There we go. I would say that having a podcast is

different than I imagined, because it is a lot more work

than it seems like it should be. Because it seems like we're just

getting together to chat for half an hour every week. How

hard could it be? But we care a lot about making sure that this

is a valuable use of your time. So the prep is fairly involved.

It really is. It takes so much time, and we love doing it.

It just was not the commitment we thought we were signing up

No, it was a big commitment for sure, and

for.

sometimes it also feels a little remote from the listeners, like

we know you're out there, hello, and we hear from you sometimes,

but we would love to hear from the listeners even more, so that

we can make sure this podcast is as valuable to you as it can

possibly be. What about you, Heidi, what are you thinking?

Well, I just could not conceive of lasting this long

when we started. Like, back in 2022, making it to 2023 seemed

impossible.

Right.

And 100% we have only made it this long because of

Sara and her amazing team at Podcasting For Educators.

Yes.

They are the ones that handle all of the technical work

that comes with having a podcast. Like it is, there are

so many steps that it takes to get, just to get it into the

player, let alone edited and fine tuned and all of that. And

without her help, and the pressure of knowing we have to

get her the episodes in time, we would not have stuck with this

for probably even six months.

Which is ironic, since we are recording this today a day

later than it is due to her.

She loves us anyway.

The pressure is what's making it so that it's not a

week late.

Yes, thank you, Sara.

Well, what would you keep exactly the same from what we

did with the podcast?

Well, I I really like our format. We wanted it to feel

like chatting with your teacher besties after school, but not

get so lost in like tangents and asides that you didn't have

anything to take away. And we never take it for granted that

teachers have a limited amount of time. So we want to make sure

that the time you're giving us is meaningful, but, you know,

also fun.

Yes. And I would say my favorite segment is the extra

credit segment, and we've done that from the beginning, and I'm

so glad that we've done it, because it's just a nice way for

us to share something that we're loving, that usually has nothing

to do with teaching.

Yes.

What I like about that is, obviously it helps you all

get to know us better, but more than that, I think it's a good

reminder that we're more than just teachers, and all of you

listeners are more than just teachers, too. So it's a nice

way to end the episode on a light note that just humanizes

all of us.

Yes.

Heidi, is there anything you wish we would have done

sooner with the podcast?

Well, I think it took us probably about six months to

find the right tone. I remember, so we started in the spring, and

I remember finally in the fall, feeling like, Okay, we figured

this out. And at the beginning, bless our hearts, we basically

wrote a blog post for each episode, and then we would just

take turns reading like each paragraph.

Yeah. And we also tried times too, where we just had a

super loose outline, and then we would just try and spit ball it.

But that didn't work well either. We need somewhere in the

middle.

Yes, yes. But once we got more comfortable with what we

were doing, we could have more of that conversation flow

without feeling like it was a lecture or, you know, wandering

into the weeds. And if you have been with us since those early

days, thank you for sticking around through the growing

pains.

And if you didn't listen to those early days, it's okay.

You don't need to go back and listen to them. It's fine.

Okay, Emily, do you have a topic that we've covered that

was a total flop that you thought would be a hit?

Well, I couldn't think of anything that was necessarily a

flop, but I do think one of our hidden gems is our three episode

series on transitions.

Yes, I love those.

We have so much good content packed in those episodes

that I think if you haven't listened to it, you definitely

should. Putting some extra thought into how you handle

transitions actually like will have a big impact in your day.

So those episodes are nice hidden gems. What about you,

Heidi?

Well, I'm still really salty about this. I don't know

why I'm so mad, but back in episode 27, Emily and I talked

about choosing a one word theme before the new school year. It's

something we had done in January, is at the start of the

new year, and we thought this would just like, be such a good

fit for the new school year. And I remember we spent so many days

trying to find a format that we thought would fit with teachers

and the start of the school year, and it was kind of a bust

of an episode. And I thought, Okay, well, Everyone's just

really busy going back to school. It's fine. And we tried

it again the following January. Nope.

No, that just is not speaking to you all, apparently.

And that's okay.

But it's so weird, it seems like something our

listeners would be into. Maybe we'll try it again in the fall,

or maybe, maybe we've been burned. We're just gonna walk

away.

And what's something about podcasting today that

would have surprised you four years ago, Heidi?

Well, I think what we focus on is not what we intended

to focus on.

No, when we started this, we just assumed we would have a

bunch of literacy episodes, a bunch of math episodes, just

kind of like all through the different teaching things, and

we just didn't realize we were going to eventually, and not too

far into it, land firmly in the classroom management, work life

balance, that kind of an area, which was not at all what we

thought we were going to talk about.

Yeah, we just had no idea how much we enjoyed helping

teachers figure out how to manage their classes. This was

not something that was on our radar. And the funny thing is,

like, I don't think we have a single math episode. I also

think we would be surprised that that pivot to like talking about

classroom management would then springboard us into a book.

Right.

So Emily and I had talked about writing a book someday,

but we definitely did not have any plans in the works. We

didn't even have a topic. And then after recording episode

165, I just remember saying to her, I think this might be a

book, but that was kind of it. But a couple months later...

No but that wasn't kind of it, because you immediately

wrote an outline for the book.

Oh that's true.

Because you were like, I got to do it now, while it's

fresh, I don't know why, I'm just going to do it. And then a

few months later, we randomly, like, heard from a publisher.

Yeah, they're like, Hey, do you have any book ideas? And

we said, as a matter of fact, we do. And it was so nice to have

an outline, because the turnaround time was pretty

tight, so we could just be like, Here you go. Now our book's

coming out in July. It's crazy.

We just got the edits back two days, so we've got work

to do.

Okay, Emily, let's shift gears here and move into the

present moment. What is one thing that you wish every

teacher listening right now could really hear?

Oh, I would just want to tell them that you are doing so

much better than you think you are. Teachers are often so hard

on themselves, but I just want you to know that you are doing a

job that is so incredibly hard. You have to be on all day. You

have so many students that you have to keep track of, all of

them with their individual needs. And you really are doing

so much, right? It's it's really easy to dwell on where we fall

short, but the fact that you are spending your free time

listening to a teacher podcast right now is all the evidence

that I need for me to tell you with confidence that you are

doing a great job. Any teacher who desires to keep improving

every day is already knocking it out of the park, so give

yourself a pat on the back, please. I'm certain you deserve

it.

Oh, absolutely.

And what do you know now, Heidi, about teachers or

teaching that you didn't fully understand when you started?

Well, when we started the podcast, I hadn't really

considered how hard teaching is, like going off what Emily was

just saying. When you're in it, you know you feel like you're

being pulled in a million directions, but you don't really

have the time to stop and think about all of the layers of

intention that have to go into every single minute of the

school day and just to have every student have a sharpened

pencil at the right moment.

Yeah.

That is, it requires so much thought and work, and doing

this podcast has made me really stop and reflect on how insane

this job is. It's like trying to play 3d chess in the middle of a

dodgeball game, and teachers do not get anywhere near enough

credit.

No, they don't, and I do think that while we were in it,

we knew it was hard, but I actually am so much more

protective of teachers now that we're not in the classroom,

because we're still so involved with everything that's going on

with teachers as we continue to serve them, and now it's not

about me, it's about you guys. I'm just so protective of you

that when I ever hear anyone say anything that is slightly

disrespectful to a teacher. I was getting in someone's

comments last week because they said something about screen time

and what are the teachers even doing? And I was ready to throw

hands, like first of all, the amount of screen time that

happens at a school has so little to do with the teacher

deciding what's going to be done on a device and what's not going

to be done on a device. They got a whole earful, and they were

like, oh, no, no, that was not a dig at a teacher. I'm like,

Yeah, but you were! So I will always be there to elbow someone

in your behalf if they are ever talking bad about a teacher,

because we know how hard this is and how hard you're all working.

Yeah, you worry about the kids, and we'll do what we can

to worry about you.

That's right. So Heidi, if a brand new teacher

discovered the podcast today, what episode would you tell them

to start with?

I think I would choose episode 158, I'm sure you all

remember exactly what one that is.

Oh, I do definitely.

Yeah, I had to look it up. So don't feel bad.

Obviously, I didn't expect anyone to remember that. But

this is about making sure your management system is not making

your job harder. I think it's such a good encapsulation of how

Emily and I approach most things. Think about what you

want to have happen, consider what it will take to get there

and then invite your students into the process. I wish that

was a framework I had understood back in my early days. It really

would have saved me from so many headaches, because I think it's

something that new teachers could really benefit from. What

about you, Emily, what would you recommend to a new teacher?

Well, I totally cheated, because I said episode 200 which

was like a very special episode that we did for, you know,

celebrating 200 episodes. And so we shared five of the best tips

from the first 200 episodes of the podcast. So I'm sort of

cheating, but I already know those are, like five really good

tips. And so that's the episode that I would tell people to

start with. And if you're new to our podcast and you haven't

listened to Episode 200 yet, go start there, and then it's a

good place too, to then you can go on some rabbit holes after

that, after you hear those tips, you might be like, oh, I want to

go hear more about that, or listen to that whole episode. So

episode 200 would be my choice.

It's a little bit of a choose your own adventure. Like

start here and then, figure out which path you need to go.

Definitely. Well, what makes you most hopeful about

education right now, Heidi?

I am so proud of how teachers are starting to push

back against the extra demands that are put on them. For so so

long, there was this sense that if you were not murdering

yourself for your job, you weren't a good teacher. It's for

the kids, right? Remember your why.

You're not here for the money.

Yeah, like, why are you expecting to be compensated? But

that attitude is how we burned out a lot of really, really good

teachers. Now we are still so far, far away from having a

system that respects teachers like the qualified professionals

they are. But every time a teacher says no to an

unreasonable expectation, I think we get a little bit

closer.

Yeah, for sure. And one of my friends was saying the

other day, like, are you worried about, you know, the future of

education because of everything that's going on? And I was like,

no, because yes, there are policies right now that don't

align with best practices, and there are demands being put on

teachers right now that are not fair and that don't have the

best, students' best interests in mind, and yet, I am so

inspired by the way that teachers are able to make the

most of those difficult situations, because they don't

just throw up their hands and say there's nothing they can do.

They find ways to work within their constraints, to give their

students the best education they can. And so I am confident that

as long as we have smart, caring, hard working teachers,

like we do, education is always going to improve, and I could

never lose faith in education, because I know teachers and I

know how much they care. I may not always have faith in

policymakers, but I do always have faith in teachers.

Oh, absolutely. Like they're going to show up with a

roll of tape and some pencils and paper, and they're going to

make miracles happen, because that's just what teachers do.

And they'll keep advocating for their students,

and hopefully, like you said, advocating for themselves and

for the way that they deserve to be treated.

Yeah, I hope, before too long, we see, like, such a huge

shift in the way we treat teachers so that we can give

students everything that they deserve.

So now let's shift to looking forward into the next

future episodes of the podcast, Heidi. So what do you want to do

with the podcast in the next 250 episodes?

Like you mentioned, Emily, sometimes being on the

podcast feels a little one sided, because like we're doing

all the talking. I don't always get to hear from our listeners,

and I would really love to expand the sense of our

community that we have. We want to make sure that what we're

doing is what is most valuable to our listeners and what meets

your needs right now. And so I hope that as we go into the next

few years, that's something that we can continue building. What

about you, Emily, what do you see happening for us in the next

250 episodes?

Well, I just hope that in those episodes we keep unlocking

ways that teachers can elevate what matters and simplify the

rest. So that's the tagline for the show, right? And I think it

sounds cute, but it actually is really everything that we stand

for here. It's the most accurate representation of what we're

trying to do, and it's because we care so much about making

your teaching life easier. We know there are too many demands

on you, and we want to help free you from some of that weight

that you're under, but we also know that there are some things

that matter a lot, and we're never going to tell you to just

phone stuff in.

So while we want to help you simplify everything you can, we

also want to help you put the appropriate amount of emphasis

on those parts of your teaching that really move the needle, and

that might be classroom management strategies that help

you have more time for teaching, or instructional strategies that

help students retain what they learn, or even just ideas to

make your day more fun, so that you can still enjoy your job

when it's really hard. So I hope that our next 250 episodes

delivers on that promise.

I love that.

Well, what do you hope listeners say about Teacher

Approved in another four years?

I want it to be something like, Oh, I knew you gals would

have just the tip I needed. Obviously, after 250 episodes,

we have a pretty robust library of content. So hopefully, with

250 more episodes, we can cover every possible question anyone

might have. It's just always so nice when someone asks us a

question, and we'd be like, oh yeah, we have a whole deep dive

on that in this episode here.

Why yes, we have a three part series about that. I just

hope that they will say that the ideas we have shared have helped

them remember why they love teaching. So I just hope that

we've somehow helped reduce even a little bit of the burden

that's been placed on them as a teacher, and that really that

we've always made it worth your time to listen to our episodes,

that we never waste your time here.

Yes, absolutely. So as we look ahead to the next four

years, Emily, what do you hope that we could say about the

podcast by episode 500?

I mean, is it too much to say that I hope we're the number

one podcast in education by episode 500?

No, let's do it. Do you know what my goal is?

Let's hear it.

I want to hit a million downloads.

I mean, obviously, like, those things would be so

exciting to say, because they would be such a fun achievement

for us. But like, more than anything, I know that we both

hope for those things because we want to reach more teachers,

that like, we're passionate about what we're doing here, and

we really want to help as many teachers as we can with the

ideas that we're sharing here.

Yes, that's always what it comes down to for us is,

like, yeah, that's fun to see the growth. But we really,

really want to have that sense of, you know, just being the

teacher bestie that you can turn to in a rough moment and like,

we get it and we can help you through the next steps. It's

what makes all of the hard work worth it every week, because we

just we can picture you listening in your cars on your

way to work or while you're walking your dog, or, you know,

packing up your classroom at the end of the school day, and we

want to be there for you, cheering you on and helping make

this job a little more manageable.

Okay, so we always end the episode with a teacher

approved tip and some extra credit. So we're going to

revisit some of our favorites. Which tip from the past four

years is your favorite, and why, Heidi?

Okay, well, I'm picking a tip that we discussed in episode

26 because I don't think enough people believe us when we say

it's one of the best management hacks that we've discovered, and

that is to turn your students' desks backwards.

Yes.

The most efficient problem solving is preventing

problems from starting in the first place. And if the desks

are turned around, kids can't play around in there during

lessons, nothing is getting lost. You never have to take

class time to clean out desks. And if you're like, Okay, that

sounds so impractical, like, where do they keep everything?

Well, Emily and I did it. We gave each student a pencil box

for their basic supplies, and then notebooks and folders were

kept in stacking Sterilite drawers, specifically Sterilite

because they're sturdy.

Right.

On the counter. And then the day's table captain would

bring the drawer to the table with the materials for that

lesson, and then it was just all put away. Nothing got lost.

Everything held up all year long, because things weren't

getting crammed into the desk. Now, we did have to sacrifice

some counter space for the drawers, but honestly, it was so

worth it.

Oh so worth it.

And then I'd always start the school year with my kids in

tables, but I rarely ended that way, because I usually had to

spread them out some more. So when that would happen, I would

start to let them keep stuff inside their desks, but the

desks were still turned around.

Right. So, yeah, if their desk is, like, not pushed up

against another one, it can still be backwards, and then

they just have to walk around to get stuff out of it, but then it

prevents them from playing in it.

Yeah, or they get really good at, like, reaching over,

you know, and be like, I know what my morning workbook feels

like, and they just pull that out. Or, you know, it just

solves so many problems. And yes, it is unconventional, but

it saved me from having to monitor everything that was

happening in everyone's desks all day long for nine months. It

was worth it. I will take that every single time.

Yeah, and I had something at least one year that I needed

them to keep in their desk because I didn't have enough

drawers for it, or something like that, and it was something

that we only needed, like once a day at the most, maybe not even

every day. And so we just would slide the desks apart and reach

in from the middle, like there are ways to make it work. Where

there is a will, there is a way, and it's worth it for all of the

management headaches that you avoid.

My fourth grader was just telling me that she got in

trouble because she was messing around in her desk, because they

were moving desks later in the day, and she knew that her desk

was a mess, and so she was like, trying to, like, organize stuff

in there during a lesson. And I thought, well, you know, the

desk didn't have anything in it and was turned around. The

teacher wouldn't even have to deal with that. Which is not a

criticism of the teacher, by the way, like that's just a, I just

wish that teachers had this idea and would give it a try to avoid

that extra stress and time waster.

Well and even if it's not something you feel like you can

take on all year long, maybe in the last quarter of the school

year, it might be worth it, just to eliminate some of those

spring headaches when everything's just a little

rougher this time of year. Like, okay, I'm not gonna fight this

battle anymore. We're turning the desks around, and we'll just

make it work for the last few weeks.

Yeah, for sure.

Okay, Emily, which tip did you pick and why?

Well, I picked, it's from episode 88 and it's having a

class handshake. So, this is one of my favorite little traditions

that I did with my students, and they loved being involved in

making up the handshake at the beginning of the year. So that

was good for building our community. Sometimes they were a

little long, but then it just felt like our own little insider

secret for the rest of the year. And sometimes we would do it as

our greeting during morning meeting, and then at the end of

the day, I always stood by the door and on their way out, they

could do a hug, a handshake or a high five on the way out the

door, and many of them would want to do our secret handshake

on the way out. So I got good at doing it fast. It's just a

really small way to build classroom community, but it's so

simple to do.

And while we're talking about preventative behavior

management, a strong student teacher relationship is one of

the easiest, most reliable ways to prevent classroom management

problems, because when students feel like their teacher sees

them and values them as an individual, they're more willing

to cooperate with what you're asking of them. And so something

like that. Yeah, it's a hassle to have to set up and manage,

but it buys you so much goodwill and so much buy in that you

almost couldn't pay for that kind of benefit.

Yeah, for sure.

All right, Emily, what is an extra credit that you still

stand by after all these years?

All right. In episode 124 I shared about my new puzzle

table, and it is my favorite thing that I own. I use it all

the time. I was just using it this afternoon working on a

puzzle, and I guarantee I have done so many more puzzles since

I got this table, because everything's contained on the

table. I can just take that off of my kitchen table easily when

we need to use the table and then put it back on.

And being able to have, like an easy, contained place for it

makes it easy to just always have a puzzle out. And I

especially like mine, because it swivels, but not just swivels,

it also tilts, so I can tilt it up, which was especially

helpful. Last year, I was working on a puzzle, like, I

think it was like a Rifle Paper Co one that was like a New York

Street in spring, and so the whole top third was, like, pink

blossoms on trees, and they were, this was so hard, like, it

was all the same. It was so hard to do. And I was just like ready

to just quit this stupid puzzle.

But the fact that I could tilt it up to work on it saved me,

because it was the hunching over trying to reach the top part of

the puzzle, because I don't really like to work upside down

if I don't have to. Tilting it up saved my back and made it so

I could finally finish this stupid puzzle that I will never

do again because those blossoms almost ruined my life. But

puzzle table, it's worth it and and there are a lot of swivel

ones out there, but I actually think having the tilt feature is

worth the upgrade, so I will link to it in the show notes.

And yours has like, little cool drawers, so if you

want to start sorting pieces by color, you can have them out of

the way, but still organized. It's really a handy dandy little

device.

So good. And I got one that has, like, some of them are

just plain wood, but I got one that has, like, a little bit of

a felt, doesn't feel like the right word, like a textured

lining, and I find that so much more pleasant. It kind of holds

the pieces together, especially since you're if you're going to

tilt it up, that keeps it kind of in place. Yes, the only thing

is, after every puzzle, I have to get out the lint roller and

run it all over to get all the puzzle dust off, because any

hardcore puzzler like myself knows what a trial puzzle dust

is, and some puzzles are worse than others.

Interesting.

If you redo a puzzle, it's a lot better because you

usually have gotten all the dust out of it. But the first time

you do a new puzzle depending on the brand, sometimes they are so

dusty.

I had no idea, whole new world.

Yep. What's your extra credit you stand by?

I've got a two for one, because these two things

together have saved my life. Only kind of exaggerating. So

these are the Luminette 3 light therapy glasses, and magnesium

L-threonate. So they have saved my sleep. I was having such a

hard time falling asleep at night, and one of the reasons

behind that is that you need early morning light into your

eyeballs to reset your circadian rhythms, but it's really hard to

go outside for a half an hour in the morning.

Especially as, like, a non morning person, and you

don't have to run any kids anywhere. So there's not, like,

a reason that you're out and about in the sun in the morning,

like I am.

Or you know, if you're driving, you want to have

sunglasses on so you don't hit anyone on the road. And that

defeats that. Or if you're, you know, different times a year,

sometimes the morning might be sunny when you're out, sometimes

it's not. These glasses just make it so convenient. Put them

on, I get up in the morning, put them on right away. I can get

ready in the morning with them on. I look ridiculous, but it's

fine. It just shines like a little light in your eyeballs.

It's not bad at all.

And then I also started taking magnesium L-threonate,

specifically that form of magnesium, and now I can

actually stay asleep. So the glasses let me fall asleep.

Magnesium keeps me asleep because it stopped my restless

legs, like I would be up for hours and hours every night,

trying to, like, stop doing Irish jigs in my bed. But with

the magnesium, I have hardly had any problems. So those two

things together have saved my life. And if you have sleep

issues, definitely worth checking out. I put links to

both of them in the show notes.

And if you didn't know before now, now you know that we

are perimenopausal aged, with our puzzles and our magnesium.

Well, that is it for today's episode. Whether you

have been here since day one or today was your first episode, we

are so grateful to you for joining us, and hopefully you're

ready to keep with us in seeing what the next four years hold.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Teacher Approved. I'm Heidi.

And I'm Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow

or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss an

You can connect with us and other teachers in the

episode.

Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.

Bye for now.

Bye.