This is episode 247 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. In today's

episode, we are talking about why spring classroom management

needs more structure, not more control, and sharing practical

strategies you can use this week to make your days run smoother.

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?

Okay, this week, try adding a 30-second silent reset

between transitions. So before you dismiss students to their

next activity, have everyone pause and take three deep

breaths together and mentally picture where they're going

next. Totally simple, but that tiny moment of regulation can

prevent the chaos that builds when your kids rush from one

thing to another without any processing time.

I love that. It is such a low lift way to give kids a

chance to settle before they move. 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? Ratings and reviews are

one way that new listeners find us, so every one really is a

huge help to us.

Well, we have officially made it to March, and by this

point in the year, your classroom probably feels a lot

different than it did in September.

Yeah, in the spring, everything is a little louder

and looser, or a lot louder and looser. Transitions take longer.

You're probably finding yourself giving more reminders and more

warnings than you did in the fall.

Warnings, threats, whatever you want to call them.

We don't judge.

And that totally makes sense, because if you have

followed us for long, you know that one of our favorite topics

is how the needs of your classroom shift over the course

of the school year. In fact, we like talking about this seasonal

shift so much that we literally wrote a book about it. Our book,

Structure and Spark is available for pre order now on, I know, I

know for sure it's on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

That is so exciting, or you could find a link to it in

the show notes. But since our book will not be out until July,

you are on your own for surviving March. Sorry, friends.

Just kidding, we would never do that to you! Okay, so

let's take a look at what makes March so very March-like and how

that impacts what unfolds during the school day.

To manage your March classroom, you need to

understand what makes this a unique time of year. So let's

look at two key characteristics. First, the stamina you had in

October just is not there anymore. And second, the energy

in the room has definitely gone up. The spring shift in daylight

and the warmer weather just brings increased chattiness and

all kinds of fun behaviors.

So we have this perfect storm of higher stimulation

paired with lower regulation. Think about a noisy transition

in October. Maybe a few kids got sidetracked halfway to the rug,

and they're having a little chat. So you stop and ask them

to try it again. You could tolerate the extra two or three

minutes that would take because you knew it was going to pay off

the next day and for the rest of the school year.

And that's because back at the start of the year, oh, in

the good old days when you were so young, there was enough

energy in the system to think long term. But in March, when

that same procedure gets a little wobbly, instead of

resetting it, you move forward. You do just what you have to do

to keep the lesson moving.

And oh, have we all been there. Your gas tank is running

on empty here, and when you're running on empty, your brain

defaults to short term stabilization. You rely on

reminders and warnings because they are faster and they feel

easier, maybe, in the moment, than stopping to revisit an

expectation.

And those reminders and warnings and maybe threats do

work for a minute, but if the classroom only functions while

you are actively holding it together, it's going to keep

demanding more and more of you.

If you are stuck in that 'I just need to make it through

this tough moment' energy, it means you're relying on control

to move through the day. Control is teacher-centered, though,

it's you actively holding the classroom together. Now that

does stabilize behavior, but only as long as you are actively

monitoring it. If you don't give the reminder, the talking

continues.

Control feels efficient because it is immediate, but it

has to be repeated again tomorrow and the next day, and

it only works as long as you are the one working it.

But structure works differently than control. While

control is based on your physical presence, structure is

based in the environment. It's your consistent attention

signal, your procedures and all of the expectations that don't

change based on your energy level.

Now, while structure is more permanent, the trade off is

that it demands a lot up front. It means stopping to practice,

reteaching the expectation and making it clear what happens if

the students don't follow through. Once it's solid,

though, it gives energy back, meaning you do not have to carry

every piece of the day all by yourself.

Here at the beginning of March is actually the perfect

time to take a good look at how well your structure is holding

up. As we've talked about before, a lot of teaching

headaches are predictable. Spring brings higher energy,

more social drive, schedule disruptions from testing and

assemblies and students who are just done with sitting still and

being quiet.

And because we know that this spring fever is coming, if

it's not already here, we can do something to mitigate it. Your

instinct might be to crack down harder, but what students

actually need is clear containers for all of that

spring energy.

All right, so let's talk about four common spring

problems and the structural solutions that make them easier

to manage without constant teacher intervention from you.

And we're going to start with one of the biggest headaches,

sloppy transitions.

Oh, the worst. You know how it goes. Students take

forever to line up. They're chatting the whole way to the

rug. Materials are getting dropped or forgotten, and you

are repeating yourself constantly.

And here's where that control versus structure

distinction shows up. The control response is to keep

reminding, "kids talking by the cubes are going to owe me some

Bonus Bucks if they don't hurry," over and over every

single transition.

And while a warning feels more efficient than stopping to

reteach, especially when you're tired, you're going to give that

warning tomorrow and the next day, and maybe every single day.

In the long run, all you're doing is teaching your students

to wait for your voice instead of following the routine.

Yeah. When it comes to management, control asks, How do

I get them to stop? But structure asks, How do I support

what I want to see? So let's look at how to solve this

problem using structure. And the first step is pausing to

identify the reason transitions have gotten sloppy. Are the kids

talking by the cubes because they're feeling chatty, or

because they're confused about what's expected?

Also consider if every sloppy transition is suffering

from the same breakdown. If you are seeing the same problem

multiple times a day, maybe kids are talking every time you shift

between activities, a standard solution could solve multiple

problems at once.

Yeah, a great strategy for decreasing talking is to

decrease the opportunities to talk. Instead of calling the

whole class to line up at once, try dismissing a table at a

time. Or if kids are frequently confused about what they're

supposed to be doing during a transition, try listing the

steps on the board.

Providing a visual support is such a great way to

let the environment of your room do some of your management for

you. If a student seems confused, just direct them to

the list. That way you don't have to stop, figure out what's

confusing this particular child, and then coach them through the

next steps. The list does all of that for you.

Now, of course, if a kid is genuinely confused, you want

to help them, but a list on the board probably answers 95% of

the 'what are we supposed to do' questions.

I hate that question so much.

Yep, it's always like the minute you just finished

explaining what to do.

And then once you pinpoint which part of your

transition needs to reset, reteach it like it's brand new,

even if you did it in September. Model what careful listening

looks like. Discuss how to move around the space quickly and

quietly, and then practice.

Now this could easily take 10 minutes, and that might

feel like time you don't have right now, but what you're

teaching is that the expectation isn't optional, and the next

transition and the transitions tomorrow will be smoother

because students know that you will follow through.

This is where accountability comes in.

Accountability means consistently enforcing

expectations, even when you're tired. I know it's so hard, but

it's so important. If students aren't meeting the expectation,

stop and have them practice doing it right.

Nagging, on the other hand, is reminding students over

and over, without following through. "Please line up

quietly. I said quietly. I'm still waiting for quiet!" That

teaches students, they can ignore what you say until you're

really serious.

And if you find yourself thinking, I don't have time for

this, stop and challenge that little voice in your mind. What

you don't have time for is to give reminders all day long. Ten

minutes now means less work every day after.

Because so many things are happening at once during

transitions, they can be a huge source of management stress. If

you want to really dial in on how to troubleshoot your

transition structure, we did three whole episodes on it.

Yeah, we did try to condense it to one episode, but

we found quickly there was just too much to say. So go back to

episodes 48, 49 and 50, and I know those numbers off the top

of my head because we've referenced them so much. There

you will find a complete deep dive on all things transitions.

Okay, now you've got your transition structure sorted out.

Let's look at another upcoming spring problem, messiness.

You know how it goes. You look at your room at the end of

the day, the centers are a disaster the classroom library

looks like a tornado hit it, supplies are everywhere, and you

are spending half of your after school work time just cleaning

things up.

And now the control response here is constant

monitoring and verbal corrections. Who left these

books on the floor? If you keep leaving the caps off the markers

we won't have any left in May! You can so easily turn into the

mess police.

Oh, that felt way too familiar. But if you have been

reminding students for weeks and nothing has changed, they need

more than reminders. What they need is a reset, and sometimes

that reset needs to be big enough to really get their

attention. This is where a wake up call moment can work.

A wake up call isn't about shaming students. It's

about creating a strategic intervention that makes the

problem visible and creates urgency to fix it. It keeps the

focus on the unwelcome consequences instead of calling

out individual students.

So here's an example. Let's say your math centers have

been consistently left messy. The manipulatives are

everywhere. There's loose number cards. The game boards are bent

because they're just getting shoved in the drawer instead of,

like, put in nicely. I don't have any rage over those

memories, it's fine, it's fine. But after school one day,

instead of cleaning up, you leave everything exactly as the

students left it. Maybe you even tape off the area like a crime

scene with some strips of yellow paper.

Then when students arrive the next morning and start

asking questions, you have the perfect opening. You call a

class meeting, show them the mess and have an honest

conversation. This is what our math centers looked like

yesterday. Why is this a problem? What do we need to do

differently?

And then you can get specific about expectations and

consequences. Here's what I expect to see when centers are

cleaned up, and here's what will happen if materials are not put

away correctly, and then you got to follow through.

The wake up call isn't a punishment, it is a reset.

You're making the problem impossible to ignore, so

students understand why change needs to happen.

Now this definitely takes more effort than just nagging

them about the mess, but the nagging hasn't worked. The wake

up call creates a moment where students decide they don't want

to keep losing privileges or dealing with consequences, so

they choose to act more helpfully going forward.

Okay. The third problem in March, and something we have

already touched on, is chattiness. Students are talking

during work time, during transitions, during lessons, the

noise level is up, the focus is down, and you feel like you're

losing your mind.

We actually did a whole episode on managing a chatty

class back in episode 119, so if this is your biggest struggle

right now, go back and listen to that one. In that episode, we

shared five targeted strategies for taming chattiness.

But for today, we want to highlight one thing. When kids

are chattier in spring, they don't need stricter

consequences. They need clearer containers for sound. That means

being explicit about when talking is okay and when it's

not.

This is when visual cues like voice level lights or

charts that show, you know, silent work time versus partner

talk time can come in handy.

And yes, you probably went over a lot of this at the

start of the year. They know better, but spring energy and

spring distractions make it harder for them to regulate

without clear reminders built into the environment.

Which is why we are excited to share that this

month, Teacher approved Club members are getting a brand new

resource specifically designed for spring chattiness called the

Quiet Class Quest.

Oh, we're so excited about this. It's so cute. Okay,

so this is a three day mini unit designed to reset your

classroom's noise level through structure, not control. It

includes three short lessons with ready to use materials,

each focused on helping students understand expectations for

different types of work time and practice meeting those

expectations. And it has a cute castle theme since we're on a

quest.

We love a theme here. And the best part is that in mid

March, we are hosting a guided implementation challenge in the

club. You'll get daily support and encouragement as you work

through the quest with your students, so you aren't doing it

alone.

Plus club members get a bonus audio training with even

more tips for managing that springtime chattiness. Our goal

isn't to turn you into the noise police or make your kids

miserable. Instead, we just want to give you the tools to channel

their spring energy into a productive outlet that works for

them and for you.

If you're not a Club member yet, and spring

chattiness is draining your energy every single day, this is

a great time to join. You can find more information at

secondstorywindow.net/club.

We'll come back to the Quiet Class Quest in a minute,

but first, let's talk about the fourth spring problem, behavior

outside the classroom.

So when students are loud in the hallway or disrespectful

in the lunchroom, it can feel extra frustrating, because these

moments are often when you have the least control. You are

moving through shared spaces, other adults might be watching,

and you're trying to keep things together while also getting

everyone where they need to be when they need to get there.

One way I've seen teachers deal with this is to

ignore that it's happening. They just don't know how to fix the

problem that's happening outside the room, so they let that

complaint from the music teacher slide.

But I have also seen teachers handle it the complete

opposite way, and crack down with threats and punishment. I

mean, I guess at least they're addressing it. But taking away

recess for the next three days isn't really solving the

behavior problem in music class.

So let's look at how we can address this problem using

structure. One helpful solution is to revisit expectations

before and after the event.

Now this goes beyond a quick, 'remember you need to be

respectful in the lunchroom.' It means taking time to actually

make expectations visible and holding students accountable for

reflecting on how they did.

For example, if hallway behavior has been rough, before

you leave the classroom, pull up a quick visual of hallway

expectations. You can post them on the board or project them on

your screen. Go through each one. We walk quietly. We keep

our hands to ourselves. We stay in line. If you've got a minute,

you may even have a discussion about how these expectations

protect other classes' learning time.

Now this is the part that a lot of people overlook. After

you return to the classroom, take two minutes to reflect. How

did we do? Did we meet our expectations? What do we need to

remember for next time. If students didn't meet your

expectations, be clear about what will happen if the behavior

continues.

This is also a great place to use our procedure

review slides. These are slides designed specifically for

revisiting classroom procedures with your students in a

structured, visual way.

These are so handy, all you have to do is add the names

of any procedures you want to discuss, like walking in the

hallway, or lining up for lunch, to the slides. And then you

gather your students and ask them to hold up one to five

fingers to rate how well they think they are meeting your

expectations for that procedure.

So let's say students rate walking in the hallway as a

three. You click the slide three times and three stars appear.

Now you have a visual representation of where things

stand.

And then you just lead a discussion. All right, we rated

this a three. What are we doing well that we need to keep doing?

What do we need to work on to get to a four or a five? If a

procedure is going smoothly, maybe hopefully your morning

routine is a solid five. Include that in the list too, so

students recognize that they are doing some things well, it's not

everything that needs to be overhauled.

Right. And then after the discussion, you can revisit the

rating. Now that we've talked about this, what's our plan

going forward? What are we committing to? This keeps

expectations front and center, instead of letting them fade

into background noise.

The procedure review slides can be done in about five

minutes, but that five minute investment means students are

thinking about expectations instead of you having to remind

them constantly. It's structure doing the work instead of you.

All right, let's recap what we've covered today. Spring

classroom management isn't about cracking down harder, it's about

rebuilding structure so the day requires less of you tomorrow

than it did today.

We discussed four common spring problems and their

structural solutions. So problem one, sloppy transitions. Reteach

your expectations and hold students accountable, not by

nagging, but by stopping and practicing until they get it

right. Problem two, messy spaces and materials. Use a wake up

call reset to make the problem visible and create urgency for

change.

Problem three, spring chattiness. Give students clear

containers for sound. And if this is your biggest struggle,

check out the quiet class quest in the Teacher Approved Club.

And problem four, behavior outside the classroom. Keep

expectations alive by pre teaching before transitions and

reflecting after. Use tools like our procedure review slides to

make this quick and structured.

If you want more support for spring management, join us

in the Teacher Approved Club. And mid March, we are hosting a

guided challenge to help you implement it with your students.

You'll get lesson plans, materials, daily encouragement

and a community of teachers working through it with you.

You can learn more and join at

secondstorywindow.net/club, or you can find the link in the

show notes, and make sure to grab the procedure review slides

and our other spring management resources from the links in the

show are working for you. Come join

the conversation in the teacher approved Facebook group.

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

front-load your hardest transition. Tell us more about

it, Heidi.

Well, if there's one transition during your day that

consistently goes off the rails, maybe it's coming back from

recess or switching from whole group to centers, or packing up

at the end of the day, try front loading it. Front loading means

you spend 30 seconds before the transition to set students up

for success. You're not just reminding them what to do,

you're activating their mental picture of what success looks like.

So for example, if cleanup time is always chaotic, before you

dismiss students to clean up, have them close their eyes and

picture exactly what they're going to do. You're going to put

the markers in the bins with the lids on tight. You're going to

stack the papers neatly. You're going to push in your chair. I

want you to picture all of that in your mind. And then you can

ask a quick check in question. Thumbs up if you know exactly

what you're cleaning up first. This gets students mentally

committed before they make any kind of movement.

And that sounds so simple, but the tiny moment of

mental rehearsal reduces the cognitive load during the

transition. Students aren't figuring out what to do, they're

executing a plan that they already made.

The beauty of front loading is that it takes about

30 seconds, and if you pair it with a posted list of steps, you

are really setting students up for a successful transition.

So try it with your hardest transition this week and

see if it makes a difference. Our guess is you will see

smoother, faster transitions with way less teacher

intervention.

Okay, to wrap up the show, we are sharing what we're

giving extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your

extra credit?

I'm giving extra credit to the Shark Stain Striker

portable carpet cleaner.

I'm impressed. You could say it, that's like a tongue

twister.

I know, and it's such a mom thing to be like, I love my

little carpet cleaner. So I used to have a Bizzle little green

machine, I think is what they were called, and it did the job

okay, of cleaning up like little carpet messes. But I always

hated how hard it was to clean after. It just always seemed

like you couldn't really get it clean. So I upgraded to this

Shark Stain Striker several months ago when my kids had a

tummy bug, if you know, you know. And, but it is so good, it

has an onboard self cleaning tool that runs clean water and

cleaning solution through the whole machine, including the

hose and the attachment, so you can put it away knowing it's not

gross in there, like it's all cleaned out.

That's amazing.

It's amazing. But not every model of this strain

striker, oh see the tongue twister got me there. Not every

model of the Stain Striker has the onboard self cleaning. So

double check the description of whichever one you're looking at,

make sure it says that. But I got the hair pro version, which

I think is designed, probably for pets, and that has it. So

just make sure you definitely want that feature.

Yeah, that sounds like a handy dandy tool, especially if

you've got kids around.

Yeah, you don't want a cleaning tool that then needs to

be cleaned. And you know, if you even can't get it clean, then

that's just so frustrating. Like, well, I don't want to use

this because I don't think it's clean inside, gross. So this is

a win.

I feel like I picked up that habit when we were

custodians in college, we'd have to clean our vacuum.

Yeah.

I still clean my vacuum all the time.

Yep, or I can't tell you how many hours I spent cleaning,

like the detergent drawers in the washing machines, and just

like, well, gotta get this nice and clean in here. Gotta clean

the cleaner. Do I do that in my house now? No, I don't. I

probably should. Okay, what are you giving extra credit to,

Well, my extra credit goes to Clay Moo craft kits. I

Heidi?

know I mentioned these a few months ago because I got them

make two little rose baskets. Oh, cute. And I loved

for Emily's youngest for Christmas. But now I've tried

them myself, so I can give it a two thumbs up. My order for

Eloise qualified for a surprise bonus kit, and the kit that came

was a basket of roses. And I just don't think a 10 year old

would be into that. Having made it now I could see she

definitely wouldn't be, so I kept it for myself. She got

cute, like a unicorn, and there's lots of fun ones.

having just a nice activity to do at the end of the day that

wasn't doom scrolling on my phone. So I'm gonna have to

check out some of their other kits now. And even with my poor

arthritic hands, it wasn't too bad. So definitely worth a shot

if you need something for your analog basket.

Well, I mean, that's our new thing is analog hobbies.

We're all in on it. So we'll add this to the list of things you

can do without your phone.

Perfect. Yeah, I think last week I was talking about

sticker by number. So I guess I'm a whole new woman this year.

Yeah, yeah. We've got coloring, sticker by numbers, I

was cross stitching the other day, which was something I used

to do all the time, but not in many moons. So check us out.

We're so analog.

That is it for today's episode. Remember, structure

isn't about working harder. It's about making the day require

less of you tomorrow than it did today.

Try one of these strategies we shared today and

let us know how it goes in the Teacher Approved Facebook group.

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

episode.

You can connect with us and other teachers in the

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

Bye for now.

Bye.