Heidi: This is episode 274 of Teacher Approved.
You're listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast helping
educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I'm
Heidi.
Emily: And I'm Emily. We're the creators behind Second Story
Window, where we give research-based and
teacher-approved strategies that make teaching less stressful and
more effective. You can check out the show notes and resources
from each episode at secondstorywindow.net.
Heidi: We're so glad you're tuning in today. Let's get to
the show.
Emily: Hey there! Thanks for joining us today. Today we are
talking about back to school stress and how to handle it in a
way that doesn't wreck your body or your budget. Plus, we've got
a teacher-approved tip for prepping now for inside recess.
Heidi: But first, let's start with a try it tomorrow, where we
share a quick win that you can try right away. Emily, what do
you have for us this week?
Emily: This week, how about pre-writing one email you know
that you're going to send several times. So pick a message
that you type over and over, like your student is missing
work, or here's a great thing your student did today, emails
that you know you're going to send, and then save that as a
template or a draft.
Heidi: You will be so happy to start off the year with some of
these already handled for you. But as you go through the year,
keep a running list of the types of emails you send often, and
then you can add those to your template library for the future.
Emily: Yeah, that's going to save you so much time and hassle
going forward. If you like this idea or anything else we share
here on the podcast, we would love it if you took a second to
give us a rating and a kind review on your podcast player.
Heidi: Now hopefully, as you are listening, you still have lots
of long summer days ahead of you. But according to the
calendar, some of you are heading back in the next few
days.
Emily: Oh, it's so crazy! That feels way too early to be
thinking about school. But somehow here we are, and no
matter where your first day falls in the next six weeks, you
probably feel that ticking clock.
Heidi: And for a lot of teachers, that ticking clock
turns into a very specific kind of panic. You feel the deadline
coming, and your stomach turns, and you can't sleep at night. So
you throw yourself into work because doing something feels
like the only way to make the dread go away.
Emily: And honestly, action can be an effective antidote to
anxiety. But this version is what we call panic prepping,
which means all that effort might be getting you ready for
the first day.
Heidi: Or it might not be, because undirected action, which
is what happens when you're just doing stuff to feel productive,
can burn through your time and your energy and still leave you
feeling behind.
Emily: Oh, and we happen to know this situation very well, don't
we, Heidi?
Heidi: Yeah. Well, I know I've told this story before, but
settle in because we're doing it again. So I got hired for my
first year teaching internship a month before school started. At
the time, I was still taking college classes, working as a
part-time custodian in the middle of a breakup, and living
with crazy roommates. One of whom, Jade, used to sneak her
homeless boyfriend into our apartment when I was asleep. The
school that hired me was 20 minutes away. I had no car, no
money, and no time to prepare, so I was already stressed to the
max. But let's add to it.
Emily: But let's also point out that since you and I both did an
internship, an internship where we were in our district was you
had your own class, you were a first year teacher all by
yourself, but you got paid half a salary.
Heidi: Yes, I made $813 a month.
Emily: Oh my gosh, that's crazy!
Heidi: So on top of all that, school was starting on a
Wednesday, and the Friday night before, I finished up my last
final exam, and I flew to San Diego to be a bridesmaid because
I had agreed to do that before getting hired. I ended up having
to share a room with seven complete strangers. That meant
sleeping on the floor in my jeans because, in all the chaos,
I forgot to pack pajamas. So it was either that or my
bridesmaid's dress. And by that point, I was just kind of
clenching my jaw, like it was the only thing holding my life
together. And then Sunday night, I opened my mouth and my whole
jaw slid out of place. I still don't understand how it
happened. So the hotel gave us directions to the ER, but then
the doctors couldn't reset it because the muscles were so
locked. It was not a good night. The only upside was that the
people I was with felt bad for me, so I got to share a bed with
someone that night instead of sleeping on the floor.
I wish I could say that was my only back to school stress
injury, but one year I triggered an ulcer attack the weekend
before school started. I could barely get out of bed, and my
room was not set up at all. And then another year, I broke out
in a very visible rash. The doctor at Urgent Care showed me
it was just stress, not contagious, so, I guess that's
something.
Emily: Yeah, honestly, stress is a lot more than a feeling. It
showed up in your body, and then it showed up on medical bills,
like you.
Heidi: And then, not to mention all of the back to school
seasons where I was physically fine, thankfully, but mentally a
wreck. Emily, you know, we did those together, working until
well after midnight just to get one more thing crossed off my
list. So when we are talking about managing back to school
stress in healthy ways, we're not talking about it because it
sounds nice. We learned the hard way that the cost of not
managing it is very real.
Emily: Yeah, we're the cautionary tales here, and I
wish we could say that we had the perfect solution to
eliminate all of your back to school stress. If I had a magic
wand, that's what I would do. But I don't think a real
solution exists for no stress at all. But if we can't eliminate
it, our goal is to at least keep it from hijacking your whole
life.
Heidi: So today we have got some techniques to help you manage an
anxiety-filled minute, and then once you're back in control of
your nervous system, we've got a protocol to help you cut through
all of the competing noise and figure out which next steps are
essential.
Emily: The first thing to do when you find that the stress is
rising, you know what I'm going to say here: it's time to
breathe.
Heidi: It's such common advice that it seems cliche, but this
really is the key step. Taking control of your breathing
signals to your nervous system that you are safe. It
automatically decreases the tension.
Emily: So when you notice that your shoulders are up to your
ears and your jaws tight, Heidi looking at you, take a few slow
breaths where the exhale is longer than the inhale. I find
that it takes me a few tries before I can manage slowing my
exhale, but it does work.
Heidi: That's also the trick I use at night if I'm struggling
to sleep. What I like about this is that it's really something
you can do anywhere. If you're laying in bed, or if you're
labeling supplies and you feel the tightness creeping up, you
just adjust your breathing, and you can keep going a little
calmer than you were.
Emily: Besides breathing, another tool is naming what
you're feeling. You can just say, "I'm feeling anxious, or
"I'm feeling sad that summer's ending."
Heidi: There's something about naming a big feeling that takes
a little of the power out of it. When it's just like a swirl of
dread, it runs the show. But when you can say, "Oh, I'm
feeling nervous about a new grade level," suddenly it's
something you can get your mind around instead of something
that's happening to you.
Emily: And using the words "I feel" instead of "I am" also
helps tame it because feelings are temporary. If you say "I am
dreading this" instead of "I feel dread about this," your
mind locks onto the permanence of that statement. Reminding
yourself it's a feeling, and feelings are temporary, keeps
things manageable.
Heidi: Plus, naming what you're feeling often points you
straight to the solution. "I'm feeling dread about this," might
really be, "I don't have my class list yet, and the not
knowing is eating at me." Now you got somewhere to go with all
that energy.
Emily: Right. Breathing and naming are great techniques for
helping you settle down, but unfortunately, they don't get
your desk set up. So once you've gotten control of your emotions,
it's time to get control of the situation.
Heidi: And that is where our overwhelm buster comes in. It's
three easy steps that move you from spinning to making
progress. So let's look at step one: get clear about your
current headspace.
Emily: And this feels backwards to a lot of us because when
you're overwhelmed, the last thing you want to do is slow
down and check in. We want to attack the list, but you can't
prioritize anything from inside a tornado. So you need to calm
the storm first.
Heidi: To help you with this, we have got a set of reflection
questions. If you can, try writing down your responses,
because writing is a great anti-anxiety move. But even if
you're just thinking about the answers, you're still moving
toward clarity. So let's start with your body. What are you
physically feeling right now? Where do you feel that tension
sitting?
Emily: And then consider what might be contributing to that
feeling? Are your physical needs cranking up your emotions? Do
you need to eat or sleep or move? Maybe what feels like a
crisis at 4pm is just low blood sugar and a body that's been
sitting too long.
Heidi: I feel called out. It's humbling how often "I can't
handle any of this" is actually "I skipped lunch," so check the
basics first. And then move to identifying how you want to feel
and what you need to do in order to feel that way. If you want to
feel relaxed, what would help you relax?
Emily: And then zoom all the way out. Is the pressure coming from
outside of me, or am I the one putting it there? Am I holding
myself to unrealistic expectations? This is one I
struggle with because it's easy to think that having high
standards is a way to maintain control of a situation where you
don't get a lot of say, but all that does is add to your stress.
Heidi: The point of this first step in the Overwhelm Buster is
that when you finish it, you can answer the question underneath
all of the panic: What is most important right now? And that
brings us to step two. Now it's time to make your to-do list.
Emily: This is where a lot of time management advice starts
and stops. Just write down what you need to do. But a raw list
of everything can make you feel so much worse because now you're
responsible for moving a whole mountain. Look at all those
things you got to do.
Heidi: And yet getting all of the tasks out of your head is
still the right first move. When all of those tasks are just
swirling around up there, your brain keeps pinging you about
them like alerts. Did I forget something at the store? What
about that email? I need to remember the laminating.
Emily: And it turns out your brain is terrible at list
management, so it won't let go of an open task, and it keeps
looping in your brain. The moment you write it down, you're
telling your brain, "Hey, you don't have to remember this. I
wrote it down."
Heidi: Then, with everything laid out on paper or in an app,
if you're a digital planner, the next step is identifying what's
essential from what's nice to have and what can be dropped
completely.
Emily: There just isn't enough time to get it all done, so you
need a filter for figuring out what matters most. In episode
270 we gave you a whole system for prioritizing your tasks
around students' needs. So go back and check that out if you
want the full details. But if you want a shortcut, think about
your readiness anchor.
Heidi: We have talked about readiness anchors before, but
here's a quick version. Picture yourself walking up to your
classroom door on that first morning back.
Emily: And maybe you've been into the school a dozen times
over the summer. That would be me, or maybe it's your first
time back. You put your key in the door and you step inside.
How do you want to feel in that moment? Maybe you want to feel
prepared or calm or excited. Whatever that feeling is, that's
your readiness anchor.
Heidi: The nice thing about a readiness anchor is that it acts
like a filter. If you want to feel prepared, which tasks will
build that feeling? If you want to walk in excited, what do you
need to plan so that you feel excited?
Emily: So look at your list and flag the tasks that move you
closer to that first morning feeling. Those are your
priorities, and everything else is real, but it's secondary.
Heidi: Now, ideally, in a perfect world, all of your back
to school prep would be helping you create that feeling. But as
you know, some tasks are just inevitable. You've got to
arrange the desks. You've got to send the welcome newsletter. You
just you can't get away from that.
Emily: But since you can't get out of those responsibilities,
your best strategy is to find some way to get into them. Team
up with a friend. Get yourself a little treat. Do whatever it
takes to make the tedious feel at least a little bit enjoyable.
Heidi: So by now you know exactly what needs to get done,
and you know which tasks need your attention first. This is
such a huge help in managing back to school overwhelm, but
it's not quite enough to get you ready on your own. The thing is,
you actually have to do those tasks.
Emily: That's always such a bummer. I love making the list,
but doing the stuff on the list is a whole different beast.
Heidi: Yeah, that's definitely my downfall. But one way to make
sure you get things done is to add where and when to each task.
So it's not just send the welcome email sitting on your
list forever. It's, send welcome email Thursday afternoon during
nap time.
Emily: This is a strategy called implementation intentions. The
idea is that instead of just holding a task in your head, you
make a plan for when to do the work. Next time I sit down to
watch Love Island, I'll fill out the student birthday bags.
Heidi: The research on this shows that deciding the when and
the where ahead of time makes you way more likely to actually
follow through. Your brain doesn't have to relitigate it
every time because you've already decided.
Emily: So, organize my classroom library, stays vague forever.
But Thursday morning at 10, right after swim lessons, I'm
doing the library. That is the difference between a wish and a
plan.
Heidi: Now don't feel like you have to come up with the where
and the when for your whole task list at once, it would probably
make you crazy. But take a look at your top three to five
essential tasks and add when and where you plan to work on each
of those. And then, as you check things off your list, you can
add more implementation intentions to the rest of your
tasks.
Emily: Okay, step three: you've gotten clear, you've made your
prioritized list, you've scheduled the big rocks. Step
three is planning your next steps, and this is where you
make the whole thing lighter.
Heidi: So, in this step, start by asking, "What's my biggest
obstacle right now? and then consider what's available to
help you lighten the load, or even better, what can you drop
from your list completely?
Emily: This is why clarifying your priorities in step two is
so valuable. Creating custom vinyl for your book bins is a
fun idea, and it would probably look super cute. But when you're
in a time crunch, adhesive labels do the same thing in a
fraction of the time.
Heidi: Now, if custom vinyl is not your particular roadblock,
figure out what it is so you can navigate around it. In a
stressful season, you will have to settle for good enough
sometimes. That's unavoidable.
Emily: And when you reach that point, it's better if you decide
for yourself what falls into the good enough category. That way,
you make sure you're skipping the low priority tasks like book
bin labels rather than essential things like setting up for meet
the teacher.
Heidi: That's a trap I fell into so often, like every every dang
year, I would get so caught up in the big idea of what I wanted
to get done that I frequently pushed important things like
first day plans to the bottom of my list. Honestly, for the first
few years of teaching, I did not even start on my first day plans
until the evening before school started, which, now that I think
about it, maybe why I was so stressed all the time.
Emily: It's funny how that works. So you just got to be
smarter than we were and give your priority tasks your
priority energy. You can also come back to book bin labels in
a few weeks if they still matter, but at least you can be
sure your essentials are all in place first.
Heidi: Another way to lighten the load is to break big tasks
into smaller pieces, so it stops feeling like a wall. This idea
comes from the classic productivity book, Getting
Things Done by David Allen. He says that we run into trouble
when we add a whole project to our to-do list because our brain
tries to take all of that in at once.
Emily: Yeah, if you see set up classroom on your list, that's
definitely going to spike your blood pressure every time you
see it. So instead, break it down into tiny steps.
Heidi: Maybe the first step is finding out when you're allowed
back into your room, and then finding out when family or
friends are available to help you move furniture. Next, maybe
you want to sketch out a new room layout and measure bulletin
boards. Those are the kinds of tasks that should be on your
to-do list, not the big projects.
Emily: And the bonus of approaching your task this way
is that you get the satisfaction of crossing lots of little tiny
things off your list more often, and that's just a mood boost.
Heidi: So go through your list, break down big projects into
their subtasks. Figure out what can be skipped, postponed, or
delegated. Look for shortcuts like buying something you plan
to make yourself. Try to get this list as lean as possible.
Emily: And then for your remaining tasks, what can you
batch? This works well with your implementation intentions. If
you've got five things that all involve the workroom, do them in
one trip. If you've got a bunch of little computer tasks, knock
them out in one sitting instead of scattered across the week.
Heidi: There's good research about why batching helps. A
researcher named Sophie Leroy studied what happens when we
jump between different kinds of tasks, and she identified what
she calls attention residue. When you switch from one task to
a totally different one, a piece of your attention stays stuck on
the first thing, so you're not fully into the new task yet.
Emily: And then every time you bounce from emailing a parent to
cutting the lamination to answering a text to setting up
desks, you're paying a little tax on each switch. Part of your
brain is still back on the last thing.
Heidi: And that's why a fragmented afternoon leaves you
so wiped out, even when you can't point to having
accomplished very much. It wasn't just the work; it was all
the switching. So when you batch the similar tasks together,
you're not just saving steps, you're letting your brain stay
in one mode for a stretch, and that is way less draining.
Emily: So now you've trimmed down your to-do list to just the
essentials. But before you jump in, let's build some positive
momentum. Take a look at what's left on your list and find
something small that you could do right now.
Heidi: This does not have to be a high priority task. The goal
is just to get a little win right out of the gate, even if
it's small, to help motivate you to get more things done. Like we
said at the beginning, action is a really great antidote to
anxiety. But now you can be certain that the actions you're
taking are moving you closer to your goals.
Emily: But we do have one last question to consider before you
finish planning. Take a minute to ask yourself, what's the most
loving thing I can do for myself and the people around me right
now?
Heidi: Sometimes the answer to that is finish making welcome
slides so tomorrow's easier, or the answer might be close the
laptop and go to bed. Either option may be helpful as long as
it's the right option for you and not something that you're
defaulting to.
Emily: Okay, so let's pull all of this together. When that back
to school panic starts rising, don't just throw yourself at the
nearest task. First, get clear. Check your body and your
expectation. Think about what's in your control and what
actually matters.
Heidi: And then make your to-do list and sort it against your
readiness anchor. Flag the tasks that move you toward how you
want to feel, and decide when and where you will do each one.
Emily: And then plan your next steps. Let go of what you can.
Batch, find a quick win, and ask what the kindest next move is.
The goal is not to finish everything on your list. The
goal is to walk through the door on the first day feeling the way
you want to feel without any ER trips in the process.
Heidi: Too soon, Emily.
Emily: I think you've had like 25 years to recover from that,
so I think you're okay.
Heidi: Well, now I'm hurt that it's been 25 years.
Emily: Sorry, the truth hurts. If getting ready for the school
year in a calmer, more intentional way is exactly what
you're craving, that's the whole heart behind our new book,
Structure and Spark, comes out very soon, and it's all about
working with the natural rhythms of the school year instead of
against them.
Heidi: You can pre-order it right now, and pre-orders tell
bookstores that our book is worth recommending to other
readers. So, if you've been thinking about it, grabbing it
early makes a real difference to us. So, head to the show notes
for the link.
Emily: And if you pre-order, we have some really fun bonuses
coming your way. So go and fill out the form on
secondstorywindow.net/book, and we will make sure you get your
special pre-order bonuses when the book comes out.
Okay, 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 plan now to make inside recess easier.
Let's hear it, Heidi.
Heidi: Well, this is one small addition to a list you're
already making. So when you're putting together your supply
list for parents, add a coloring book or an activity book to that
list. That way, on those rainy gray, nobody's going out to
recess days, you will have something ready to go that isn't
more screen time.
Emily: And two things to think through so that it doesn't
become a headache. First, you need a way to label whose book
is whose because if one kid picks out a Spider Man coloring
book, he's gonna expect to get that Spider Man book when it's
time to color.
Heidi: Now, of course, kids can always swap books if they
choose, but you can prevent future arguments by labeling
things as soon as they come in. And also consider where you're
going to store these between rainy days, so they're not in
the way, but they are handy to access when the clouds roll in.
Emily: And if you teach older kids who might be too cool for
coloring books, you can adapt this by asking students to bring
in any activity book. So parents might appreciate it if you
provide a few examples of the type of thing you're looking
for, and you can check out what's available at a local
dollar store to provide some affordable options.
Heidi: All right, to wrap up the show, we're sharing what we're
giving extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your
extra credit?
Emily: Well, I'm giving extra credit to our new game of the
summer, which is Piles. So this is a card game where there are
sets of laundry on the cards. So you want four cards that are the
exact same piece of laundry, like a certain, like an ankle
sock, and they're all different colors, but they're the exact
same item. And so then while you're playing, you all start
out with a certain number of piles of cards in front of you
that are turned face down, and then there's a few cards in the
middle. And the thing I love about this game is that it
checks all of my boxes of being super fast to play, and you
don't have to wait for your turn. So everybody's playing at
once. Love that so much.
So the way it works is you turn over one of your piles of cards,
which has four cards in it, and you look at the cards that are
available in the middle, and you start trying to make your
matches. And so then you can turn that back over and pick up
another pile. You can only have one of your piles in your hand
at a time, but it goes faster than you would think. You start
going through, seeing what you have, you trade things into the
middle, and then trade it back to yourself when you get going.
And the more people that are playing, the more chaotic it
gets because we're all scrambling for the stuff in the
middle at the same time.
But it is so much fun and so easy to play, and everybody
loves it. My teen took it to a party tonight. I mean, a going
away party, not like a party party, but, so you know it's a
hit if all if all the ages love it so much. And I think one
great thing about it, if you've got kids that are on the younger
side, there's no reading involved, and I think it would
be really easy for even a young kid to pick up, a preschooler
could probably play this game easily.
Heidi: Yeah, it really is fun to play. I got drafted for a couple
rounds, and Emily's 10-year-old blocked me because she figured
out what I was trying to collect, and then purposely held
on to that card until the very end.
Emily: I know she's ruthless.
Heidi: It's easy to pick up the strategy.
Emily: And I don't let kids win in my house. Like, if they win
on their own, fine. But I'm not going easy on them. They have to
win it honestly.
Okay, what are you giving extra credit to Heidi?
Heidi: Well, my extra credit goes to the nonfiction book
Grandma Gatewood's Walk by Ben Montgomery. This was such a
fascinating story, and I had never heard about this. And I'm
going to guess probably most of our listeners haven't either.
So, in 1955, 67 year old Emma Gatewood told her family that
she was going on a walk, but she neglected to say that she was
getting on a plane to fly to Georgia, so she could start
hiking the Appalachian Trail. She didn't even have a sleeping
bag. It's the crazy thing. She just had like this tiny, she had
a tarp and some changes of clothes and some money and some
like canned food.
Emily: Oh my gosh!
Heidi: And along the way, people started noticing this grandma
walking along this trail. And so she ended up gaining national
interest everywhere she would stop. There would be reporters
who wanted to talk to her, and it created this whole mystique
around the Appalachian Trail. I think that at that point, not
very many people in the country had heard of it, and she loved
it so much. She returned several more times. She was the first
person to hike the full trail two times, and then beat her on
record and hiked it a third in her 70s.
Emily: Gosh, that's crazy!
Heidi: It's wild. So it was very interesting to me, and it made
me feel that perhaps I'm not living up to my potential. So
things to think about.
Emily: Or maybe you're not totally unhinged, like this
woman sounds like she, a little bit she might have been.
Heidi: I do not have any any part of my soul that thinks,
"Yeah, that's a good idea."
Emily: Oh my gosh, if if I went in the wilderness with just like
a tarp, I would be dead in two days. I would not last.
Heidi: Especially in the 50s. It's not like she could call for
help.
Emily: No way.
Heidi: Yeah, bless her. It was quite the story.
Emily: But it sounds super interesting. I'm gonna have to
check that.
Heidi: It was, and the book went really quick because you're just
like, oh wow, crazy, wild.
Emily: Love it.
Heidi: Well, that is it for today's episode. When the back
to school stress hits, remember to breathe, and then use the
three steps to clarify your goals and how to reach them.
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Teacher Approved. I'm Heidi.
Emily: And I'm Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow
or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss an
episode.
Heidi: You can connect with us and other teachers in the
Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.
Bye for now.
Emily: Bye.