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Heidi: This is episode 252 of
Teacher Approved.

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Emily: Hey there. Thanks for
joining us today. In this

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episode, we are revisiting an
episode we shared last year

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about five low stress tasks you
can do here in April to get

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ahead for back to school.

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Heidi: Yes, we know you have got
a few months before you actually

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have to deal with back to school
year stuff, but think how

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grateful you're going to be when
you get there and you've already

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checked a few things off of your
to do list.

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Emily: In episode 249 we shared
five easy back to school tasks

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that you could do in March. So
if you missed that, you can

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start there.

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Heidi: But don't let this feel
overwhelming. We promise

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everything is simple and doable.
A lot of these tasks are related

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to things you're already doing
right now, so you may as well

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get the biggest bang for your
buck.

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Emily: So let's dive into our
list of tasks for April, and

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we'll be back next week with
some tips for wrapping up the

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year on a high note.

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Heidi: You're listening to
Teacher Approved, the podcast

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helping educators elevate what
matters and simplify the rest.

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I'm Heidi.

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Emily: And I'm Emily. We're the
creators behind Second Story

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Window, where we give
research-based and

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teacher-approved strategies that
make teaching less stressful and

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more effective. You can check
out the show notes and resources

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from each episode at
secondstorywindow.net.

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

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the show.

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Let's start with a try it
tomorrow, where we share a quick

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win that you can try in your
classroom right away. Emily,

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what is our prompt this week?

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Emily: This week, give the
mystery compliment game a try.

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You write each student's name on
a small slip of paper and put

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them in a jar, then have each
student secretly draw a name and

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write down a specific compliment
about that person. Then in the

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afternoon, you can read the
compliments out loud and let the

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students guess who it's about.

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Heidi: I love this so much. It
is a quick and easy way to boost

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classroom kindness and
connection, which is so

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important this time of year, and
it is a perfect way to add some

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surprise and delight.

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Emily: If you like this idea or
anything else we share here on

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the podcast, would you take a
second and give us a five star

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rating? Ratings and reviews are
one way new listeners find us,

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so every rating and review is a
huge help to us.

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Heidi: So be honest, did you
have a little bit of a heart

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attack when you saw the words
back to school in this episode

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title?

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Emily: Don't worry if you did.
That is completely normal, but

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no need to panic. We promise,
you will leave this episode

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feeling inspired, not terrified.

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Heidi: Not only inspired, but
also empowered, I think.

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Emily: Yes.

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Heidi: Now I know you might be
thinking April seems a little

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bit early to be thinking about
back to school, especially when

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you might still be counting down
the days to spring break. Or

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maybe you are just trying to
make it through the chaos of

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testing season. But hear us out.

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Emily: Yeah, thinking about back
to school in April actually

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gives you a nice advantage.
You're still in the classroom

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routine, so all those systems
and challenges are fresh in your

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mind. You don't have to think
too hard to know what worked

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well and what you are never,
ever doing again. That kind of

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clarity is hard to come by in
the middle of summer break, when

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last year feels like a cloudy
memory.

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Heidi: So we are going to jump
on that April advantage, and

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don't worry, we're not about to
suggest things that are going to

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take you hours to do after
school. We have got five simple

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things you can do in short
bursts, like independent work

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time or planning time, to set
yourself up for back to school

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success without adding to your
already full plate.

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Emily: We want you to start next
year feeling rested, refreshed

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and ready to go, and one step in
that direction is by starting

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your prep early. So let's dive
into the five tasks you can do

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in April for back to school.

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Okay, task number one to get
ready for back to school in

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April is start your lists. We're
starting with something simple

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but seriously powerful, and we
don't mean just make a to do

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list. We're talking about three
specific lists that will save

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the day when you sit down to
plan over the summer.

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Heidi: Our first list is a Ta Da
list. This is where you

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celebrate everything you did
well this year. What did you try

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that worked? What routines or
systems felt smooth and

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sustainable? Write it down so
that you remember to bring it

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back next year.

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Emily: If you're like us, it's
so much easier to think of all

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the things going wrong than to
recognize all the amazing things

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that are going great. But that's
the reason why you need to start

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working on it right away. Once
you get a few things written on

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your Ta Da list, more things
will come to mind. You'll start

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noticing how smoothly your
morning routine runs, or how you

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maximize your transition after
lunch for a quick review time.

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Make that list so you have a
place to write these

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observations down.

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Heidi: It is so important to
celebrate your wins. Not only is

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that a great mood boost, but it
will help you identify what you

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want to make sure to continue in
the future. And getting started

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on it now, while you're still in
the thick of the school year,

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will help you pinpoint the
little details that might slip

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your mind in a few months.

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Emily: Okay, next is the obvious
list, your To Do list. These are

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the tasks you already know
you'll need to handle before

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school starts. Think about
things like what you need to

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copy, what you'll need to label,
or any supplies you'll want to

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have ready.

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Heidi: If you made a to do list
last year and you still have it

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handy, definitely check that
list. It's so much easier when

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you do not have to recreate the
wheel every year.

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Emily: And if you don't have one
from last year, be sure to save

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this year's list. Keep listening
for a free resource we have for

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you to help you keep track of
these lists from year to year.

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Heidi: And the third list you
need is your Fix It list. This

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is the place to capture all
those little annoyances that you

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meant to fix but maybe never
quite got to. Maybe it's a

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system that didn't flow, or a
classroom layout that didn't

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work. Now is the time to jot it
all down before you forget.

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Emily: This is, for sure, one of
the easiest lists for me to

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make. I am always so aware of
every little pain point in our

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routine and all the ways I want
to improve my instruction.

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Heidi: Just because we're into
term four doesn't mean that it's

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too late to fix these things
now. In fact, solving a headache

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now can be a smart way to make
next year a little smoother,

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which is a huge bonus at the
craziness of back to school

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time.

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Emily: But we've been there. We
know how exhausting this time of

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year is. If you don't have the
bandwidth to tackle a problem

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now, or if it's genuinely
something that's too late to fix

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at this point, the next best
solution is to get it written

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down so you don't forget.

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Heidi: Right. Just get all of
those thoughts out of your head

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and onto the paper. It will free
up your mental load just having

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it written down, and then when
you're ready to set goals and

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make plans for next year, that
list is just going to be ready

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and waiting for you.

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Emily: And we've made these
three lists easy for you with

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our free End of Year Roadmap
resource. This is a digital

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planner that will help you wrap
up the school year and start the

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summer with intention.

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Heidi: The Roadmap is in Google
Sheets, which is nice, because

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that means you can access it
anywhere, and it's already

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formatted with a Ta Da list, a
To Do list, and a Fix It list,

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just waiting for your great
ideas.

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Okay Em, what is task number two
that we can do in April for a

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better back to school?

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Emily: Task number two is
reflect on which procedures to

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repeat and which to rethink. You
know we love talking about

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routines and procedures around
here, we really believe that

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good procedures and routines
will save you so much time and

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stress each year.

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Heidi: So take a good look at
how procedures and routines have

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run in your classroom this year.
Maybe try taking a day or even a

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week to make notes of how the
procedures are going in your

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classroom right now. Sometimes
just paying close attention to

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your day to day for a little
while will make it obvious

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exactly which procedures are
working and which ones you might

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want to change in the future.

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Emily: And if this is an area
you want to deep dive into,

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we've got some episodes to help
you with this.

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Heidi: Yeah, you know, just a
few episodes. If you need a deep

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dive into procedures and how to
plan and teach them, start with

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episodes 150 and 154 where we
guide you through discovering

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which procedures your classroom
may need, and we share our four

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step method for teaching them.

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Emily: If you want to figure out
why a certain procedure isn't

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working, check out episode 32
where we shared five questions

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you can ask yourself to get to
the root of the problem and make

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changes. If you have time, you
can even revamp that procedure

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this year to test it out.

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Heidi: You know, you may as well
troubleshoot things now and save

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yourself the headache of course
correcting in the fall.

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Emily: Your classroom
transitions are probably the

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procedure you use most often in
your day. If you want to improve

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your classroom transitions, we
have a three part series all

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about making them efficient to
save you time and stress.

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Heidi: Who knew there was so
much to say about classroom

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transitions? Turns out that
there is.

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Emily: Yep. That series starts
in episode 48. You could try out

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some of our strategies before
this year ends, but at the very

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least, adding all of your notes
to your fix it list can give you

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a big head start later. When
you're setting up next year, you

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won't have to rely on fuzzy
memories. You'll have actual

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notes from your teacher self,
who was in it.

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Heidi: Okay. Task number three
that you can do in April for

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back to school is one of my
favorites. Such a handy tip.

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Take photos of your students
doing their everyday procedures.

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Emily: This is such a good one,
and one that's really easy to

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overlook.

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Heidi: But the nice thing is,
this is so easy to do. Just

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start snapping photos of your
students doing classroom

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procedures the right way. You
know, the way that you want them

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to be doing them.

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Emily: Get specific and take
pictures of all the little steps

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of the procedure. These photos
will be much more helpful in

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your teaching next year if they
get into the nitty gritty of the

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steps students need to take.

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Heidi: So for example, think of
your morning routine. You can

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take a picture of the students
entering the room, hanging out

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their backpacks, turning in
their home folders, getting a

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pencil and all of that fun
stuff.

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Emily: Think about things like
lining up, turning in work,

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transitioning between centers,
or using supplies. Any procedure

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you know you want to teach next
year. Capture it now. I prefer

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using pictures, but you might
want to take some videos too.

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Wouldn't hurt, and you may find
you want to use them.

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Heidi: These pictures or videos
make awesome visual anchors when

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you're modeling expectations for
your new class. It's so helpful

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to have photos of kids
completing the steps in your

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room with your materials. And
bonus, your new students will

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love seeing the kids that they
think are big kids showing how

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it's done. Kids are way more
engaged in learning about

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something from another kid than
you know, from a boring old

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grown up.

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Emily: Plus, this is kind of a
sneaky spring classroom

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management hack too, because
when your kids know you're

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taking pictures of them doing
procedures to teach next year's

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class, they will be much more
likely to do those procedures

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really well. So if your
procedures are getting a bit

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sloppy, definitely give this a
try to get your students to

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clean things up.

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Heidi: This is so smart. All
right, Emily, what is the fourth

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task that teachers can do in
April to get ready for back to

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school?

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Emily: Do you have a new idea
you've been curious about but

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you weren't sure when to try it?
April is your moment. Task

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number four is to do a trial run
on something new.

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Heidi: Trying something new with
your students in the spring is

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the perfect timing. You've built
relationships with your current

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students, so it's a low pressure
way to experiment.

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Emily: Plus, this is a great way
to increase engagement by adding

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in something new and to fill
time after testing season, when

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you're just trying to get
through those final weeks of

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school. So start by taking a
minute to dream a bit about your

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ideal classroom. What's
something you've been wanting to

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try that you haven't had the
time or energy to do before now?

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The end of the year is a great
time to do this, because you can

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see firsthand what it will be
like before you commit to a

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whole new routine or teaching
method next year. And if it goes

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well, then you know you know you
definitely want to include it in

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your next year plans.

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Heidi: Maybe it's a new
classroom routine or a behavior

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system that you've had your eye
on. It could be some new

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technology that you want to try
out, or maybe it's a fresh way

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to do morning work or end of day
cleanup. Once you decide what

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you want to try, do it now while
you still have time to adjust

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and troubleshoot. This is so
handy. You know that could be

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trying out morning meeting, or
spending a couple of weeks

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really trying out a new daily
vocabulary routine.

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Emily: By the time back to
school season rolls around,

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you'll already know if it's
worth using, and you'll feel way

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more confident introducing it to
a brand new group of kids. Okay,

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Heidi, what is task number five?

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Heidi: Well, our final April
task to help you prepare for

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back to school is to decide what
order to teach your procedures

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next year.

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Emily: Now, clearly, at this
point in the episode, you

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already know that teaching
procedures is essential, but

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obviously it's impossible and
unnecessary to try and teach

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everything on day one.

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Heidi: Oh no, you would lose
your mind, and so would your

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kids. So you need to decide
which procedures to teach first,

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and April really is the perfect
time to figure that out. Yes,

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yes, we're serious.

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Emily: While you're still living
your daily classroom routines,

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ask yourself, which procedures
keep my day running? What's

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really essential for those first
few days and what can wait?

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Heidi: By thinking through this
now, you're going to avoid that

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August panic when everything
feels important. Narrowing down

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your top three to five
procedures to teach right away

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will help you start the year
with calm and confidence.

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Emily: And you'll be ready to
plug those procedure lessons

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into your first day and first
week plans when you start

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working on them. And that's it.
Those are our five things. So

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let's do a quick recap of the
five things you can do in April

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to get ahead for back to school.

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Heidi: Number one, start your
lists. Specifically, you want a

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Ta Da list, a To Do list, and a
Fix It list to really capture

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what worked, what needs to get
done, and what could use a

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tweak.

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Emily: Number two, reflect on
what procedures to repeat and

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what to rethink, so you're not
trying to remember in August

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what drove you crazy in April.

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Heidi: Number three is to take
photos of students doing your

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procedures to create easy, real
life visuals for modeling

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expectations for next year's
students.

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Emily: Number four, do a trial
run for something new. Test out

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a new routine or system now, so
you can see what works with a

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group you already know.

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Heidi: And our last one is
number five, decide which order

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to teach your procedures so that
you are ready to start the year

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with a clear plan, instead of
trying to teach all of the

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things all at once on day one.

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Emily: Even just picking one of
these tasks to try can make a

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big difference, and your future
teacher self will definitely

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thank you.

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Heidi: And don't forget to head
to the show notes, where you can

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find a link for our free end of
year roadmap digital planner.

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This will help you figure out
your schedule for the next few

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months, reflect on what you want
to maintain and change in the

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coming weeks, and break down
tasks so you can get things done

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without stress.

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Emily: We'd love to hear what
you do in April to get ready for

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back to school. Come join the
conversation in the Teacher

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Approved Facebook group.

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Now let's talk about this week's
Teacher Approved tip. Each week

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we leave you with a small
actionable tip that you can

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apply in your classroom today.
This week's teacher approved tip

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is do a quick refresh on a
troublesome procedure. So tell

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us about this, Heidi.

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Heidi: Well, as you may have
noticed, teachers, spring fever

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is real, and classroom routines
can get a little wobbly this

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time of year. So one way to
combat that is to try a quick

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win refresh. So start by picking
one routine that's maybe gotten

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a little sloppy, you know,
lining up, cleaning up, or

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transitioning between subjects,
and reteach it like you did at

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the beginning of the year. So we
want to model it, practice it,

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and praise it like it's brand
new.

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Emily: And then discuss how
students can continue to meet

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your expectations going forward.
Just because summer vacation is

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peeking around the corner
doesn't mean we give up on our

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standards of behavior.

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Heidi: Now to help you out, we
have a set of Google slides that

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you can use to revisit any
procedure. So how it works is,

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for each procedure that you want
to refresh, you can have the

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students rate themselves on how
well they are currently meeting

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your expectations from one to
five. The kids know. The kids

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know they're pushing the
boundaries, and then you can use

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that information to guide your
discussion. And you can find a

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link to the slides in the show
notes, or you can visit our

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shop.

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Emily: Refreshing a routine
takes less than 10 minutes, and

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the payoff is huge. Students get
a clear reminder of

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expectations, and you get back a
bit of the calm structure your

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classroom needs in the spring
chaos.

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Heidi: All right, to wrap up the
show, we are sharing what we're

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00:16:16,501 --> 00:16:17,173
giving extra credit to this
week. Emily, what gets your

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00:16:17,173 --> 00:16:18,080
extra credit?

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00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:25,460
Emily: I'm giving extra credit
to the book First Lie Wins by

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Ashley Elston. So generally, I
stick to romance books or maybe

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historical fiction, but I have
been dipping my toe into the

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thriller waters. I'm not into
violence or anything too scary,

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so First Lie Wins fits the bill.

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Heidi: It sounds a little
intense.

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Emily: No, trust me, you can do
this. You can do this one. So

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00:16:45,845 --> 00:16:49,565
here's the blurb. Evie Porter
has everything a nice southern

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girl could want, a perfect
doting boyfriend, a house with a

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00:16:52,205 --> 00:16:55,445
white picket fence and a garden,
a fancy group of friends. The

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00:16:55,445 --> 00:17:00,605
only catch, Evie Porter doesn't
exist. So it was a fun, quick

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read. If you have some other non
scary thriller recommendations

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to share, I'd love to hear them.
I found that what I'm enjoying

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about starting to read some
thriller books that aren't too

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scary is that it just makes me
look for reasons to read them

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during the day, like it's
getting me reading even more

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than I already was, because I
just want to know what's going

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to happen, and so it's kind of
fun to have a different read.

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I'm mixing it in now, still
getting in plenty of romance,

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don't worry.

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Heidi: But it's a nice change of
pace, and it's nice when you

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00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:30,280
have something compelling that's
drawing you back to the book.

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That's always a fun feeling.
This could be a fun one if

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people have spring break still
to look forward to. That could

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be a fun Spring Break read.

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Emily: Yes, definitely. Okay,
what are you giving extra credit

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to, Heidi?

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Heidi: Well, this is much less
exciting, but my extra credit

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00:17:44,294 --> 00:17:48,054
goes to La Roche Posay Effaclar
gel cleanser. How do they name

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00:17:48,114 --> 00:17:51,571
these things, right? With
salicylic acid. So I saw a hack

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00:17:51,631 --> 00:17:55,149
on Instagram for using it to
prevent ingrown hairs, sorry,

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00:17:55,209 --> 00:17:58,908
TMI, and I thought I would give
it a shot. And I have to say,

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I've been very happily
surprised. The trick is to use

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this gel as like a shaving gel,
and then follow it up by

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applying hydrocortisone cream.
It has made a huge difference

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for my skin. I don't think I've
had any problems since I started

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trying this. Now I will say I
think the magic ingredient is

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the salicylic acid, and not
necessarily that specific

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cleanser, because I know I did
try using a shampoo with

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salicylic acid instead, and I
liked shaving with that better,

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Emily: Okay.

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Heidi: Definitely worth trying
out, especially as temps get a

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because it's a little thicker
than the cleanser.

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little warmer and sleeves maybe
get a little shorter.

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Emily: All right, I'm gonna
check it out.

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Heidi: That is it for today's
episode. Try out some of our

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00:18:42,650 --> 00:18:46,070
five easy things that you can do
in April for back to school, and

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make sure to grab our End of
Year Roadmap freebie from the

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00:18:48,410 --> 00:18:50,810
link in the show notes to help
you finish the year strong.

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

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00:18:57,455 --> 00:19:00,755
Emily: And I'm Emily. Thank you
for listening. Be sure to follow

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00:19:00,755 --> 00:19:03,275
or subscribe in your podcast app
so that you never miss an

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00:19:03,275 --> 00:19:03,695
episode.

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00:19:03,695 --> 00:19:06,455
Heidi: You can connect with us
and other teachers in the

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00:19:06,455 --> 00:19:09,695
Teacher Approved Facebook group.
We'll see you here next week.

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Bye for now.

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Emily: Bye.