January is tough, but February can be a surprisingly powerful reset if you know how to use it. In this episode, we share why this month often feels draining, how hidden energy leaks show up across your day, and how a simple February energy audit can help you make small, strategic shifts that protect your time and capacity. Our goal is to help you stop drifting through February and start using it to refill your tank before the rest of the year ramps up.
Prefer to read? Grab the episode transcript and resources in the show notes here: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/podcast/february-teacher-energy-tips/
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This is episode 242 of Teacher Approved.
Heidi:You're listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast helping
Heidi:educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I'm
Heidi:Heidi.
Emily:And I'm Emily. We're the creators behind second Story
Emily:Window, where we give research based and teacher approved
Emily:strategies that make teaching less stressful and more
Emily:effective. You can check out the show notes and resources from
Emily:each episode at secondstorywindow.net.
Heidi:We're so glad you're tuning in today. Let's get to
Heidi:the show.
Emily:Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today's
Emily:episode, we are talking about how to manage your energy so
Emily:that you can have the best February yet. Plus, we're
Emily:sharing a Teacher Approved tip that might be a little
Emily:controversial, but has the power to change your whole month.
Heidi:But first, let's start with a try it tomorrow, where we
Heidi:share a quick win that you can try in your classroom right
Heidi:away. Emily, what is our suggestion for this week?
Emily:This week, how about sending a 'one good thing text.'
Emily:At the end of your school day, you know, like before you leave
Emily:the building, or right when you get home, text one person and
Emily:share something good that happened that day.
Heidi:Now your good thing does not have to be big. It could be,
Heidi:oh, a kid who's been struggling finally got something today, or
Heidi:I actually ate lunch sitting down, which is always a win. But
Heidi:the magic is that this forces your brain to scan the day,
Heidi:looking for something good, and then sharing it doubles the
Heidi:boost.
Emily:And this is especially helpful this time of year when
Emily:the days are gray and cold and dark and it's easy to just drive
Emily:home and replay everything that went wrong in your head. So try
Emily:this tomorrow or hey, today, depending on when you're
Emily:listening, pick one of your favorite people and send them
Emily:one good thing from today.
Heidi:And if you find that this podcast is one of your good
Heidi:things, would you take a second to leave us a five star rating
Heidi:and review in your podcast app? It really helps other teachers
Heidi:find us and we read and appreciate every single one.
Emily:And you can include it in your one good thing text, if you
Emily:want when you text.
Emily:All right, Heidi, so can you believe it? It is almost
Emily:February. I feel like January is 1 million years long. So it does
Emily:feel like a relief to get here after the slog of January.
Heidi:Oh yeah. It is the worst. Fully the worst. When I was
Heidi:teaching, January was my least favorite stretch of the entire
Heidi:school year. Nothing else even came close to how much I hated
Heidi:it, because I would come back from Christmas break. You know,
Heidi:you're already mourning the loss of the break being over, and you
Heidi:come back and the festive December sparkle is all gone,
Heidi:and immediately I would have to jump into catching up my
Heidi:mountain of grading.
Emily:Yes, because in our district, term two didn't end
Emily:until that first week back. And so that meant when we got back
Emily:the report cards and the parent conferences were just there
Emily:waiting for us right out of the gate.
Heidi:And now, if I'd been on top of it, this would have been
Heidi:something I did before the break, but that happened exactly
Heidi:zero times. And when we had conferences, we did not have it
Heidi:easy, like these young teachers nowadays, like we did not have
Heidi:half days for conferences for us.
Emily:No, no, and, and I don't know if it's just around here
Emily:that they're getting those half days. Maybe some people are
Emily:suffering the way we used to suffer, but it was a long day.
Heidi:Yeah, we had to go straight through. So we taught
Heidi:all day, and then we had conferences 3:15 to 9. And if
Heidi:you were lucky, at some point, you got 15 minutes to sneak away
Heidi:for some PTA prepared lasagnas in the faculty room. And you
Heidi:just had to hope there was food left by the time you got the
Heidi:time you got in there.
Emily:Right. And I usually had a few conferences before school
Emily:too. So it was, it was a marathon day. And, you know, we
Emily:deserve some kind of reward for having to do that in the
Emily:beginning of January, especially.
Heidi:Yeah, or, you know, some bonus pay or something.
Emily:Ha! Wouldn't that be nice? Well, on top of ending the
Emily:semester, January brings all the mid year reset pressure too,
Emily:which is important. And we talk about doing mid year resets for
Emily:sure, but it can feel like another big thing to manage. And
Emily:while you're trying to fix everything that drifted off
Emily:course in September, your students are also crawling out
Emily:of their skin because of the cabin fever.
Heidi:Yeah, it's relentless this time of year. I remember
Heidi:finally making it to February and just being in this fog where
Heidi:I was hopping from task to task with no real strategy, you know,
Heidi:just moving the stacks of paper around the room.
Emily:Yeah, and for me, it was the grading, because I hate
Emily:grading, I'd put it off, and then I'd finally catch them in
Emily:January, and then immediately fall behind again, because I had
Emily:dropped everything else to do the catching up on the grading.
Emily:And you know, it's just a vicious cycle.
Heidi:Now, looking back with some perspective, I can see
Heidi:though, that February offered some opportunities that I
Heidi:completely overlooked. You know, the conferences were done for a
Heidi:couple of months, the mid year reset push was winding down, but
Heidi:the testing panic had not kicked in yet.
Emily:Yeah, you do kind of get a bit of breathing room here,
Emily:but often you're so drained that you kind of just drift through
Emily:it.
Heidi:That is what I wish I had understood back then, February
Heidi:can be such a gift if you are aware enough to take stock of
Heidi:where you are and where you want to go.
Emily:That's actually why it's so important to think about the
Emily:school year in seasons, because February needs something very
Emily:different than December or March.
Heidi:This is the lens that we use inside the Teacher Approved
Heidi:Club to help you decide what actually matters right now,
Heidi:instead of trying to fix everything at once. So we are
Heidi:going to apply that same framework to our discussion
Heidi:today. We want you to have the kind of February that we didn't
Heidi:get to have.
Emily:That starts with reflecting on what you need from
Emily:the month and how you can use it to make teaching more
Emily:sustainable. So back in December, we shared our December
Emily:teacher survival kit to help you make a plan for how to manage
Emily:planning and teaching and hyper kids and prepare for January all
Emily:at the same time. And we got some very lovely feedback that
Emily:we wanted to share about that resource.
Heidi:Yeah, Jonathan reached out, and he said, I've been
Heidi:teaching for 14 years, and I recently came across your
Heidi:December Survival Guide, which I purchased. I just wanted to tell
Heidi:you thank you so much for this product, because this has been
Heidi:the quietest, calmest winter break I've ever had. I've not
Heidi:thought about school at all, and have just been able to relax
Heidi:because I know everything is all set from the prep I did through
Heidi:your guide.
Emily:I love it so much. Thank you for sharing that with us,
Emily:Jonathan. Kind of got a little teary the first time I read it,
Emily:because that's exactly what we hope the December guide will do
Emily:for you. So we got to thinking about what teachers might need
Emily:in February, because even though the challenges look different,
Emily:the weight this time of year isn't any easier to carry.
Heidi:And so, allow us to introduce our newest product,
Heidi:the very cleverly named, February Teacher Survival Kit.
Emily:Hey, it's a good name. It says what it is.
Heidi:It is, you can, you know exactly what you're getting.
Heidi:Now, this is much smaller than the December version, because
Heidi:there are fewer moving pieces this time of year, but we wanted
Heidi:to give you the tools that you need to take advantage of this
Heidi:little reset that February can offer.
Emily:So there are 14 exercises, and they're organized
Emily:into five planning categories: evaluate, clarify, plan, sustain
Emily:and look ahead. And those will give you the perspective you
Emily:need to take advantage of this moment without adding to your
Emily:overwhelm. Unfortunately, we can't go into all of them in the
Emily:time that we have today. So we had to pick the one we think is
Emily:the most important.
Heidi:This was a tough decision, but we finally decided
Heidi:that the February energy audit was the key to making everything
Heidi:else work. By this time of year, teachers are often moving
Heidi:through the day on autopilot. You know that feeling. It is
Heidi:very likely that some of the things you are doing right now
Heidi:could be easier with just a few tweaks.
Emily:Especially if you can plug any energy leaks. An energy
Emily:leak is a repeating drain that costs more than it should. It's
Emily:often invisible because it's just part of the regular
Emily:routine.
Heidi:So these are things like that afternoon transition that
Heidi:takes five minutes longer than it should. I just felt my blood
Heidi:pressure spike, just thinking about it. Or, you know, it's the
Heidi:email that you check real quick that pulls you out of your
Heidi:morning prep, or it's the crating that follows you on
Heidi:because you couldn't get it done during your planning time.
Emily:What makes energy leaks sneaky is that they don't feel
Emily:like emergencies. You don't notice because nothing is
Emily:forcing you to really look, you're just trying to get
Emily:through but every one of them is depleting your battery like an
Emily:open app that's running in the background.
Heidi:Okay, so here's how we're going to make this energy audit
Heidi:work in an audio form. We're going to walk through six areas
Heidi:of your day where energy leaks tend to hide, and for each one,
Heidi:we want you to rate it like a traffic light. So green means
Heidi:that this area is working, and these are the things that you
Heidi:want to work hard to protect.
Emily:But if you're rating somewhere is yellow, it means
Emily:it's draining more than it should, and something here could
Emily:probably be better. And obviously, if you go to red, it
Emily:means this is actively costing you, and something that needs to
Emily:change.
Heidi:So you can do this right now as we go through the
Heidi:episode, you know, in your car, on your commute, just listen and
Heidi:rate each area in your head.
Emily:Although if you're the type who needs to write things
Emily:down, you maybe want to wait until you're parked, or you can
Emily:listen and then maybe at the end, come back and zip through
Emily:and write down what you want to write down, because we do not
Heidi:Yes, no accidents, please. It's a hot take, but
Heidi:want to be responsible for any accidents.
Heidi:that's what we're standing on.
Emily:Yes, yes. That is a firm teacher approved stance.
Heidi:Okay, let's start with before school. This is
Heidi:everything that happens from when you arrive until the kids
Heidi:walk in. Now, do you ever find yourself trying to wrap up all
Heidi:of that morning prep while the kids are walking in? So you
Heidi:know, now you're half prepping, half greeting, half answering
Heidi:questions.
Emily:That's three halves.
Heidi:Well, that is exactly how it feels. You are doing 150% of
Heidi:a job, and probably none of it well.
Emily:If you only reflect on one part of your school day,
Emily:this is the one. Energy leaks here can be extra sneaky,
Emily:because they often look like productivity. You're at school
Emily:early, you're working! But if you look closer, sometimes that
Emily:time is leaking like a colander.
Heidi:So take a second here think about your before school
Heidi:time. Is it green, yellow, or red? If it's yellow or red, take
Heidi:a few minutes to examine your morning routine. It might help
Heidi:to write it down, and we've got a page for this in the February
Heidi:guide, if that's helpful. So think about what you're doing at
Heidi:that time and what is eating into your time.
Emily:And even if you don't have the guide, just writing
Emily:this down on any paper will help you see what's happening. Maybe
Emily:you need to batch similar tasks. Maybe certain things should only
Emily:happen on certain days.
Heidi:Or maybe the key to the whole thing is prepping your
Heidi:morning before you leave the night before. I know this can be
Heidi:so hard to manage when you're tired, but think of it as a gift
Heidi:to your future morning self. You also will not have the time or
Heidi:energy to do the tasks that you're putting off right now.
Emily:Right. You're going to be tired probably both times. But I
Emily:often am more motivated to help future me than I would be just
Emily:to help now me.
Emily:Okay, let's look at area two, during instruction. This is the
Emily:time you're actually teaching.
Heidi:Now, you know teaching is tiring. This is just true.
Heidi:Standing in front of humans all day and having to be on is
Heidi:inherently demanding. But there's a difference between,
Heidi:teaching is hard, and, something about my instruction is draining
Heidi:me more than it should.
Emily:If your kids are disengaged during instruction,
Emily:that might be a huge energy leak. You're working so hard to
Emily:deliver this lesson, and it's just crickets and fidgeting, and
Emily:that one kid who's definitely building something out of eraser
Emily:bits.
Heidi:Oh my gosh, the eraser bits. You know, and so that
Heidi:leads to another leak, off task behavior. When kids aren't
Heidi:engaged, they find something else to do, and then you're
Heidi:spending energy managing behavior instead of actually
Heidi:teaching.
Emily:It's so exhausting, you leave those lessons feeling like
Emily:you ran a marathon but somehow also lost the race. So consider
Emily:your during instruction time. Would you rate it green, yellow
Emily:or red?
Heidi:If it's yellow or red, think about the balance between
Heidi:structure and spark or novelty. We talk a lot about this because
Heidi:it is foundational for everything that happens in your
Heidi:class. To add some spark to your lessons, try adding more active
Heidi:student response.
Emily:And we did a whole episode on this episode, 161
Emily:where you get every student participating, instead of just
Emily:the hand raisers. You can also try a new lesson format,
Emily:something that encourages exploration or discovery or
Emily:play. Even just turning a lesson into a game can completely shift
Emily:the energy.
Heidi:All right, you've thought about the before school moments
Heidi:and instruction time. Now let's talk about one of the big ones,
Heidi:those in between moments. Think about your transitions, the five
Heidi:minutes it takes to get from the carpet back to desks, or the
Heidi:five minutes to switch from math to reading. On their own these
Heidi:long transitions might not seem like a big deal, but if you have
Heidi:got three transitions a day that take an extra five minutes, that
Heidi:adds up to 45 hours a year.
Emily:Oh, yikes. Those last moments really do add up fast.
Emily:Another energy drain is the time lost to interruptions. It's hard
Emily:to get through a lesson when someone is knocking on the door,
Emily:the phone is ringing and a kid needs to go to the nurse. Those
Emily:constant, small disruptions break everyone's focus.
Heidi:So think about your in between moments. Would you say
Heidi:they are green, yellow or red? If transitions are your leak, we
Heidi:have three episodes that can help you with this. Episodes,
Heidi:48, 49 and 50.
Emily:Yes, we did, in fact, spend three episodes talking
Emily:about transitions, because they are so tricky, and getting them
Emily:right is really important to the flow of your day. It really can
Emily:make or break the whole day.
Heidi:Oh, seriously, that's not hyperbole. And I think with
Heidi:transitions, one of the most effective ways to plug any
Heidi:energy leaks is to have clear bookends to your transition. So
Heidi:bookend beforehand by making sure you have everyone's
Heidi:attention while you're giving directions. That will clear up a
Heidi:lot of confusion and wandering around. And then bookend at the
Heidi:end by making sure you have created what we call a landing
Heidi:pad activity. This is something that engages students the second
Heidi:they arrive at the next spot.
Emily:And landing pads can be so simple, it can be drawing a
Emily:picture, playing the quiet game, taking out a book, discussing a
Emily:silly question with a neighbor. But if kids arrive somewhere
Emily:with nothing to do, they will find something to do, and I
Emily:promise you, it will be disruptive.
Heidi:Yeah, that's that's a threat, and that causes an
Heidi:energy leak, because when you have to spend time and energy
Heidi:getting their attention all over again, that easily eats another
Heidi:five minutes. And if you consider how many transitions
Heidi:you do in a day, that's a lot of leaking energy.
Emily:All right, we're halfway through. How are you doing out
Emily:there? Still with us, I hope. Let's look at area four, after
Emily:school. This is the time between dismissal and when you actually
Emily:leave the building.
Heidi:And for a lot of teachers, or maybe I'm just
Heidi:adding my own bad habits, this is where the wheels completely
Heidi:come off. If you don't have a plan for how to handle this
Heidi:time, it's really easy to just putter around for an hour and
Heidi:still somehow not be ready for tomorrow.
Emily:Yeah, but you'll feel productive because you're doing
Emily:stuff. But unless you know exactly what needs to happen for
Emily:tomorrow, what you're doing may not actually be helping.
Heidi:So reflect on your after school time. Does it feel green,
Heidi:yellow, or red? This is why an end of day routine helps so
Heidi:much. When you have a routine, you don't have to figure out
Heidi:what to do. You just do the next step.
Emily:The February survival kit has an end of day routine
Emily:planner that walks you through building one, but even just
Emily:writing down, first I do this, then I do this, then I leave,
Emily:gives you something to follow when your brain is mush.
Heidi:Now we're going to be talking about this more in the
Heidi:next couple episodes, plus we'll be talking about how to do a
Heidi:planning time routine. So make sure you're subscribed to this
Heidi:podcast so you don't miss anything. We want to help you
Heidi:figure out the right routines that support your needs, so your
Heidi:job is not any harder than it has to be.
Emily:All right, let's check out area five, at home. This is
Emily:how school follows you home. You know how it goes. Grading on the
Emily:couch, planning on Sunday, answering emails at 8pm while
Emily:you're trying to watch TV with your family, but you just can't
Emily:turn off the teacher brain.
Heidi:Yeah, the leak here is doing school tests at home,
Heidi:which means you're never actually off. So think about
Heidi:your at home time. Is it green, yellow, or red? If this is red
Heidi:for you, let's think about what's usually following you
Heidi:home.
Emily:And I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's probably
Emily:grading.
Heidi:Oh yeah, grading is like laundry. You're never done. So
Heidi:do what you can to make it more manageable, if possible, only
Heidi:grade the bare minimum.
Emily:Yes, this is your permission slip. You do not need
Emily:to grade every bit of student work. You can mark things pass
Emily:fail. You can look at one or two questions on each page, and that
Emily:will tell you if the student understands it or not. Figure
Emily:out how much information that you need to assign a grade, and
Emily:then don't grade any more than that.
Heidi:And if you do morning work, don't grade morning work.
Emily:Oh yes, please don't.
Heidi:Yeah, correct it as a class, everyone is learning, and
Heidi:you're saving yourself a huge headache.
Emily:Yep.
Heidi:Okay, so let's look at our last area, emotional labor.
Heidi:This is the invisible category. It's the effect of all of the
Heidi:worry and concern that you're carrying.
Emily:This might not even show up on your to do list, but
Emily:compassion fatigue and decision fatigue and seasonal depression
Emily:are all out there, stealing your energy. So is your emotional
Emily:labor green, yellow or red?
Heidi:This one is a lot harder to fix, but there are things
Heidi:that help. First, try naming what you're carrying. Just tell
Heidi:yourself, I'm holding a lot right now. That awareness alone
Heidi:can make a huge difference.
Emily:Second, treat yourself gently. Gretchen Rubin has a
Emily:saying that you should treat yourself like a toddler. And I
Emily:know it sounds silly, but it's actually great advice, because
Emily:toddlers need rest, snacks, play and someone who's patient with
Emily:them, and you need those things too.
Heidi:And also, you know, like a toddler, give yourself a
Heidi:bedtime. Make sure you're getting more in your diet than
Heidi:caffeine and sugar. Take time to do something that's just for
Heidi:fun, and when you're struggling, be as patient with yourself as
Heidi:you would with a tired three year old.
Emily:There are so many factors that go into teaching that you
Emily:can't control, but you can build your capacity to handle them,
Emily:and sometimes that starts with a snack and an early bedtime.
Heidi:Yes, a snack and a rest are never a bad idea.
Emily:Yeah, I think those solve a lot of your problems.
Emily:All right, you just rated six areas of your day. So let's talk
Emily:about what to do with what you found. For your red and yellow
Emily:areas, you basically have three options. Option one, strategic
Emily:swaps. These are the small shifts that reduce the drain
Emily:without overhauling everything. So for example, instead of
Emily:planning from scratch, you lean on what worked last week and
Emily:just tweak it.
Heidi:Now, we gave you some swaps for each of the six areas
Heidi:already in this episode, and there are more in the February
Heidi:survival kit, but the guiding principle here is to look for
Heidi:small and targeted and sustainable tweaks.
Emily:Your second option for managing your yellow and red
Emily:lights is to set boundaries to protect your time and energy.
Emily:Try a hard stop for leaving school or being clear with a
Emily:chatty co worker. Oh, that's hard.
Heidi:Yes, yes. Boundaries definitely feel uncomfortable at
Heidi:first, especially if you are not used to setting them. It's like
Heidi:a muscle you have to train, but they're how you keep those
Heidi:energy leaks from taking over.
Emily:And then we have option three, channel your inner Elsa
Emily:and let it go. This is the hardest one for a lot of
Emily:teachers, because we care so much, we want to do everything
Emily:well. But not everything that's draining you is essential, so
Emily:some things you can just stop.
Heidi:So for example, maybe you could stop sending the weekly
Heidi:newsletter that no one reads, or turn over bulletin board
Heidi:decorating to your students. They would be thrilled. If it's
Heidi:not mandatory and they aren't paying you extra to do it, let
Heidi:it go.
Emily:So hopefully, today's energy audit helped you identify
Emily:a few strategic shifts that will help you use February to refill
Emily:your tank.
Heidi:If today's episode helped you see what's actually draining
Heidi:you, that's huge, but knowing what's wrong is only half the
Heidi:battle. You still have to figure out what to do about it while
Heidi:teaching and grading and managing the 100 other things
Heidi:you juggle in a day.
Emily:And so most teachers end up doing the same thing,
Emily:scrambling for random solutions for whatever problem's bugging
Emily:you the most at 10pm on Sunday night, or just white knuckling
Emily:through the chaos because that feels easier than fixing the
Emily:problem.
Heidi:But what Emily and I have learned over the years is that
Heidi:many of the challenges that come with teaching are actually
Heidi:predictable. February boredom happens every year. Extra
Heidi:chattiness is coming in March. Sorry if that's a spoiler.
Heidi:December, chaos is not a surprise. We can see it coming.
Emily:So we created the Teacher Approved Club to give you real
Emily:solutions before you need them. Every month, we deliver
Emily:strategies for what's actually happening in your classroom
Emily:right now. And these are not generic tips like, batch your
Emily:copies. Although that's a good idea, you should batch your
Emily:copies.
Heidi:Yes, do that.
Emily:But what we're offering is specific tools for the exact
Emily:challenges of the season you're in.
Heidi:When we get to April, you're not going to be Googling
Heidi:how to manage spring fever, because you've already got it
Heidi:locked down. You got your April strategy on the first. And when
Heidi:December rolls around again, you won't be drowning in festive
Heidi:overwhelmed because your November prep already included
Heidi:your holiday management plan.
Emily:The club is set up to give you structure and spark in
Emily:action. We have monthly strategies and easy, quick win
Emily:challenges to help you take action and live calls with us
Emily:and a community of teachers who get it, so you can say goodbye
Emily:to the midnight googling.
Heidi:So if you are tired of figuring this out alone, if you
Heidi:want to actually prevent the problems instead of just
Heidi:reacting to them, come join us. Head to
Heidi:secondstorywindow.net/club to learn more, or head to the link
Heidi:in the show notes.
Emily:Now for our Teacher Approved Tip of the Week, where
Emily:we share an actionable tip to help you elevate what matters
Emily:and simplify the rest. This week's teacher approved tip is
Emily:create some bonus prep time. Tell us about it, Heidi.
Heidi:Okay, I know this is going to ruffle some feathers,
Heidi:but I am okay with that.
Emily:You're taking a stand.
Heidi:I am on this one. So since January is wrapping up, we
Heidi:want to challenge you to carve out some time during school this
Heidi:week or early next week to plan for February. Now, if you
Heidi:remember, back in December, we talked about claiming pockets of
Heidi:prep, just a few minutes here or there, so you can get ahead on
Heidi:all of the work that's waiting for you. And that's what we're
Heidi:going to do here, but on a bigger scale. Now, a whole day
Heidi:would be ideal, but an afternoon, or even just an hour,
Heidi:if that's all you can find, can completely change your whole
Heidi:month.
Emily:So here is what that looks like in action. Instead of
Emily:teaching lessons, you're going to keep your students involved
Emily:in independent work. Maybe you plan a small group review
Emily:challenge, get out math games from last term, or use
Emily:flashlights to stretch reading time just a little bit longer.
Emily:Maybe you're going to have the kids do online activities, or
Emily:you're going to use a work packet or show a Wild Kratts
Emily:video.
Heidi:There are so many options to keep kids engaged
Heidi:independently, but while they are doing all of that learning
Heidi:on their own, you're going to be at your desk actually planning.
Heidi:This is your chance to pause and really look at what needs to
Heidi:happen next month, figure out what you need to prepare, or
Heidi:deal with that mountain of grading. This lets you finally
Heidi:get ahead instead of playing catch up for the next four
Heidi:weeks.
Emily:Now, I can feel some of you panicking through your ear
Emily:buds right now. I can't do that! My principal would have a fit!
Emily:So let's talk about it. First, as long as your students are
Emily:engaged in meaningful learning activities, you are not short
Emily:changing them. Reading is learning. Games that practice
Emily:skills are learning. Review work is learning. Educational videos
Emily:are learning. Your students are still benefiting from
Emily:instruction, even when you're not standing at the board,
Emily:delivering a lesson.
Heidi:Second, one day, or one afternoon a month without small
Heidi:groups, is not going to hurt any student's progress. And in fact,
Heidi:if you look at the big picture, this might actually help them,
Heidi:because this month, you will be able to more strategically meet
Heidi:their needs, instead of just plunging forward without any
Heidi:idea of your destination.
Emily:And third, let's be honest, you will never be given
Emily:the time you need to do your job well, so you have to get
Emily:creative about using the time you have. If you can't take a
Emily:whole day, rearrange your schedule. Put all your lessons
Emily:in the morning, and reserve the afternoon for independent
Emily:activities.
Heidi:And honestly, your principal may not love it, but
Heidi:until they start paying teachers overtime, do not feel guilty
Heidi:about using work time to do work tasks.
Emily:If you're worried about doing this all in one chunk and,
Emily:you know, whatever your principal might think about it,
Emily:you could also do a few smaller chunks over a couple chunks over
Emily:a couple of days. So maybe just show a short video every day for
Emily:three days, three different videos. Don't just show the same
Emily:one three times. That would be wasting the children's time, but
Emily:do three quality videos over three afternoons, and you can do
Emily:it that way if that feels a little more comfortable to you.
Emily:And the February kit has planning pages that make this
Emily:planning time even more effective. There's a one small
Emily:step page that helps you sort through everything and pick the
Emily:one thing to focus on, and a finished, strong focus page that
Emily:helps you clarify your priorities for the rest of the
Heidi:Hopefully this is something that you can make part
Heidi:year.
Heidi:of your monthly routine. Maybe you schedule it the last Friday
Heidi:afternoon of the month. Your kids will feel like they're
Heidi:getting a treat, and you will feel like you won a prize,
Heidi:because you actually have a chance to be the kind of teacher
Heidi:that you want to be.
Emily:I love it.
Heidi:To wrap up the show, we're showing what we're giving
Heidi:extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your extra
Heidi:credit?
Emily:I'm giving extra credit to hinge toppers. Did you
Emily:already give extra credit to this one time? I can't remember.
Heidi:I did. But I have different ones than you do.
Emily:That's true. So I just loved the idea so much when you
Emily:shared about it, about these little magnetic cutie things.
Heidi:They're about an inch tall.
Emily:Yeah, like figurines, they are magnetic, and you can
Emily:put them on the top of the hinges of your doors, you know,
Emily:just a few scattered throughout your house. And what kind do you
Emily:have, Heidi?
Heidi:I have dragons.
Emily:Oh, which is so cute. Well, you gave me some little
Emily:gnomies.
Heidi:They're so cute.
Emily:For Christmas, and I love them so much. I just put them
Emily:up, and they just bring me so much joy, especially because
Emily:they're not, the ones I got, they blend in with the hinge,
Emily:which I actually think is the best way to do it. You can do,
Emily:there's cute ones I've seen that are colorful, and that would be
Emily:fun too, but I do really like that they blend in, because then
Emily:they're even more fun when you notice them there, because it's
Emily:like a little surprise.
Heidi:Yes, this little sprinkle of whimsy, but it's so
Heidi:unobtrusive. And I don't, yeah, I don't think anyone has noticed
Heidi:my dragons unless I point them out, but it makes me happy. I
Heidi:love feeling like my doors are being guarded.
Emily:Yes, it's like adding just like a little secret to
Emily:your house. I think it's so cute.
Heidi:I'm glad you like the gnomes. I thought they were
Heidi:pretty cute.
Emily:I love them. And whimsy is my word of the year. So you
Emily:just front loaded me with some way to add some whimsy to my
Emily:year. So thank you. What are you giving extra credit to, Heidi?
Heidi:Well, I'm giving extra credit to the blue air invisible
Heidi:mist humidifier. I started using this, well I got it for
Heidi:Christmas, so a month ago. I have really enjoyed it. It does
Heidi:a good job. Now, my benchmark for what kind of humidifier I
Heidi:wanted was I needed something that was easy to clean. And this
Heidi:is, you do have to disassemble it a bit, but it's not too bad,
Heidi:and you can use tap water. That was the other thing, I don't
Heidi:want to have to, it doesn't leave, there's no that white
Heidi:residue anywhere.
Emily:Yeah, sometimes you get with humidifiers.
Heidi:Yes, and it's really easy to control in the app. The only
Heidi:problem I have is that when it is on night mode, you cannot
Heidi:turn the display all the way off. When it's just on regular
Heidi:running setting, you can turn the display out, it has like an
Heidi:LED display, you can turn it all the way off, but you can't do
Heidi:that in night mode. And I thought, okay, it might not, I'm
Heidi:just gonna Google it, and there, I guess you used to be able to
Heidi:and then they did some kind of upgrade, and it's not a function
Heidi:now.
Emily:What?
Heidi:I know, it's so bizarre. So the way around it is I just
Heidi:don't use night mode. I just set up a, like, a schedule, because
Heidi:it's not a big deal. I just set it up for like, the hours I want
Heidi:to turn on and the level of humidity I want, and then I can
Heidi:just turn the display all the way down, because I didn't want
Heidi:that blue light all night.
Emily:There we go. That makes sense, and that, I have a blue
Emily:air purifier in my room right now, and that is my complaint
Emily:with it, is that it's got this light on it that you can't turn
Emily:off, and it's so annoying, I've covered it up with stickers, but
Emily:I guess to see it through the little black stickers. But
Emily:anyway, that's good to know. I really need a new humidifier, so
Emily:I've got my eye on this.
Heidi:Yes, watch for sale.
Emily:I will.
Heidi:That is it for today's episode. Don't let February
Heidi:drift by. Audit your energy, find your leaks, and make one
Heidi:small shift. And remember to grab the February survival kit
Heidi:so you have a place to reflect and plan.
Emily:And if this is the sort of topic you want to hear more
Emily:of, be sure to join us in the Teacher Approved Club. Each
Emily:month we're preparing you to handle what's ahead so you can
Emily:protect your energy and enjoy your job.
Heidi:We hope you enjoyed this episode of Teacher Approved. I'm
Heidi:Heidi.
Emily:And I'm Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow
Emily:or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss an
Emily:episode.
Heidi:You can connect with us and other teachers in the
Heidi:Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.
Heidi:Bye for now.
Emily:Bye.