We’ve all had those days when dismissal comes and goes, but somehow we’re still at school hours later. In this episode, we break down why teaching work never really “ends” on its own, and how creating a clear system helps you leave work at school. We walk through how to close out the day with intention, reset your brain for focused work, decide what truly needs to get done, and set a hard stop you’ll actually keep, all so you can head home knowing tomorrow is handled and today is done.

Prefer to read? Grab the episode transcript and resources in the show notes here: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/podcast/leave-school-on-time-teacher-tips

Resources:

1. A Gentle Rain
2. Candle wick trimmer
3. Join the Teacher Approved Club!
4. Connect with us on Instagram @2ndstorywindow.
5. Shop our teacher-approved resources.
6. Join our Facebook group, Teacher Approved
7. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts.
8. Leave a comment or rating on Spotify.

Related Episodes to Enjoy:

1. Episode 243. How to Protect Your Planning Time (So You Can Stop Working For Free)
2. Episode 242. 6 Small Tweaks that Can Save Your February Teacher Energy
3. Episode 94. A Great Day Before School Even Starts: Your Perfect Teacher Morning Routine at School
4. Episode 169. Our Best Teacher Tips for Finding Pockets of Prep Time to Get Ahead for January

Mentioned in this episode:

Is your class acting like spring break erased every expectation you've ever taught? Try the Teacher Approved Club free for 10 days and get this month's training on keeping expectations alive — plus last month's Quiet Your Chatty Class Challenge. Join at https://secondstorywindow.net/trial

This is episode 244 of Teacher Approved.

You're listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast helping

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

Heidi.

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

Window, where we give research based and teacher approved

strategies that make teaching less stressful and more

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

each episode at secondstorywindow.net.

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

the show.

Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today's

episode, we are talking about the art of leaving school at

school, how to actually end your work day with intention so you

can go home and have a life. And we're sharing a teacher approved

tip for protecting your personal time each week.

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

share a quick win that you can try right away. So Emily, what

do we have for this week?

This week, try setting up an errand basket by your

classroom door. So find a basket or a tray or a box, who cares,

and put it somewhere near your door if you have the space. And

then anytime you have something that needs to go to another part

of the building, you can drop it there. So if you need to return

a book to the library, put it in the basket. If you borrowed some

math manipulatives from the teacher down the hall, into the

basket they go.

I love this. It gives all of those random items a

designated home so they're not getting lost in the clutter of

your room or adding to the clutter of your room. And then

you can grab everything when you are headed in that direction

anyway, instead of having to make a bunch of separate trips.

Yes, so smart. You can even ask a student to add things

to the basket for you so it's out of your hair as soon as

you're done with it. And it's really a small thing, but it

keeps those little tasks from piling up and eating into your

time, and, you know, helps cut down on the clutter in your

room.

If you like this idea, or anything else that we share here

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

rating? Ratings and reviews are one way that new listeners find

us, so every single one really is a huge help.

All right, let's talk about something that so many

teachers struggle with, that moment at the end of this school

day when the kids leave and you look around your classroom, and

you think, Okay, now what?

And then somehow, it's 5:30 and you're still there, or

you finally leave, but you've got a bag full of papers and a

mental to do list that follows you all the way home.

Yeah, it's like, you know that scene in A Christmas Story?

And maybe if you haven't watched A Christmas Story as much as we

have watched A Christmas Story over the years, this won't

immediately come to mind. But if you too watch this a lot at

Christmas time, like our family, you can picture this. It's when

the family's sitting down to dinner and Ralphie's mom is

like, finally getting ready to take a big bite of food. And

then the dad asks for more, like, cabbage, wasn't it?

Yes, I think it was cabbage.

And so she gets up and takes care of that, and then she

sits down again, and Ralphie asked for more potatoes. And

grown up Ralphie narrates, "My mother had not had a hot meal

for herself in 15 years."

Yes, yes, that is exactly what trying to leave school

feels like. And you know, you can always count on us to have

the most current cultural references.

I mean, A Christmas Story is timeless, Heidi. But you do

know how it goes. You tell yourself, I'm gonna leave at

four o'clock today. And then as you're walking out the door, you

notice the class library books are a mess, so you stop to fix

them, and that'll be quick, right? And then when that's

taken care of, and you go to leave again, a co-worker stops

by, needs to borrow something, and by the time everything gets

handled and all your distractions, it's 4:30.

And just like Ralphie's mom, you are making sure

everyone has what they need, but at a huge personal cost.

Exactly. But here's the thing about that scene, if

Ralphie's mom had just put the food on the table so everyone

could serve themselves, it would have been a completely different

story, and that's what we're talking about today. If you can

create a system that supports efficient planning, you can

leave school at a reasonable hour.

I think that every time I watch that scene, like, woman

just put the pot on the table. You know, because teaching work

does not have a natural stopping point, like a lot of jobs do,

there's no finished, right? There's just, I guess I'm gonna

go home now. And if you don't decide when your work day ends,

it will not end on its own.

And we do know this from experience, because neither one

of us was good at this when we were teaching. We had no system

for knowing what was actually a priority. We just stayed until

we were too tired to function, because there wasn't a way to

know if we were ever, like, quote unquote, done with work,

because you'll never be done with work.

Yeah, and I, I, honestly, I had co-workers who literally

worked through the night.

Oh gosh.

More than once, and multiple co-workers, like, more

than 24 hours straight in the building.

Oh my gosh. And I was gonna say that I had co-workers

that were leaving the minute that they could possibly leave

every single day. And I was thinking, Man, how do you go to

that? So I guess we've got both extremes. But let's see if we

can figure out how to be somewhere in the middle, because

it's so easy to let the work expand to fill whatever time you

give it.

Yeah, and teaching work is just notorious for that.

Yeah, and remember how we were gonna, we set up a time

that we were gonna go after school to the gym, to our ladies

gym.

We don't need to get into that.

Yeah, we are getting into that. Heidi and I decided that

we were going to meet at the gym after work a few days a week,

and that way we could hold each other accountable and get some

exercise. We could catch up while we're working out. It was

gonna be such a good plan.

Well, it was a great plan in theory.

Yeah, because I would get there and I'd be waiting.

Eventually, I'd be like, girl, are you coming? And you'd be

like, Yeah, I'm gonna leave in just five minutes. I just have

to finish this one thing!

Because I hadn't even left by that point.

Oh, I know.

But in my defense, like it was just one more thing, and

then, you know, the one thing turned into another thing, and

I'd look up and Emily had been sitting there for like, 20

minutes. I'm really sorry.

I'm sure I was an absolute delight about it too.

And it's not like we had the smartphone. So it's not like

she could have been reading Instagram or something.

Nope. But come on, that just one more thing trap is so

real, and that's exactly why having a system matters, not

because you're bad at time management, although maybe Heidi

is, but because teaching will always ask for more. There's

always one more thing, so you have to be the one who decides

when enough is enough.

Which is what we are calling a shutdown ritual. We

are always telling teachers to use routines with their

students, because routines reduce decision fatigue and they

help things run so smoothly. But often we skip this step for

ourselves.

Yeah. So today we're going to walk you through a step

by step process for closing out your school day so you can

actually leave, and not just physically leave, but mentally

leave, too. So we've got six steps because, gosh, we love a

step, a system with steps, so good, and we're going to break

each one down for you.

Well, let's dive in with step one, which is to close the

school day in a way that sets you up for success. And this

starts before the kids even walk out the door. You know that 10

to 15 minutes at the end of the day when the kids are packing

up, that is your time too. You can't leave school on time if

you haven't packed up already.

So instead of just standing there monitoring and

waiting, try to use that time strategically. Assign class jobs

for anything that students can manage. If a kid can sharpen

pencils, change over the calendar, or reset the

attendance board, let them do it. Your time should be spent

doing the things only you can do.

And make sure your students know your expectations

for how the room should look before they leave. If you're

coming in after dismissal, and then you have to spend 20

minutes cleaning up after them, that's a problem we can fix.

While the kids are tidying up, you can be tidying

your desk, putting away any resources you had out, closing

computer tabs you don't need anymore. It would be tricky to

do anything more complicated than a few light tasks, but

getting even one or two things done before the bell rings helps

you start your planning time with positive momentum.

And really a bit of momentum can make all the

difference in how your after school prep goes. If it helps,

you could create a class end of day checklist, things like

blinds down, projector off, desks clear, library neat, all

of that. When everyone has a clear picture of what's

expected, you can hold the kids accountable to those standards.

All right, step two, once the kids leave, you need what

we're calling a reset, a way to switch modes on purpose.

This is something most teachers skip, and it costs

them. When you're in teacher mode, you are on. You know how

it is. You're busy and responding to whatever's

happening in the room. You're making 1000 tiny decisions every

minute. Planning mode, though, is completely different. It's

reflective, focused, quieter, and it's really hard to just

flip a switch between them.

Oh yeah. If you try to jump straight from one to the

other, your brain is very likely still going to be buzzing from

the day, and that's when it becomes really tempting to grab

your phone and scroll for a few minutes to decompress.

It's a trap. Don't do it, because that is how you end up

losing 20 or 30 minutes of your after school time before you've

even started working, then you're behind before you begin,

which makes everything harder.

And we're not going to shame anybody for needing to

scroll your phone, but if you focus now, you can go home and

scroll your phone on your couch. So let's pivot. Okay, try giving

yourself a real reset, something that helps your nervous system

transition without sucking you into a time vortex. This could

be listening to two or three calming songs with your eyes

closed, or taking a couple laps around the building to get your

blood moving and let the stress of the day go.

You could also try answering a couple reflection

questions, something like, what went well today? What actually

needs my attention now? You know the key is just to keep it

simple, this is a bridge, not another task you have to keep up

with. Think of it like putting the cabbage on the table. It's

how you take care of yourself so you can actually focus when it's

time to work.

And it's probably easiest to pick one ritual to start

with, but you may find you need different resets on different

days. If you're extra tired or carrying a lot of stress, the

walk might be perfect. If you're feeling scattered, the breathing

and music might be better. Try keeping a little list in your

desk so you don't have to think about it in the moment.

All right. Step three. Once you've reset, it's time for

what we are calling the triage question. And it's it's just one

question, what must be done today so students will be okay

tomorrow? Usually, this is the things like making copies,

prepping materials, maybe entering a critical grade, or

writing an important note. Just stick to the absolute essentials

to start with.

If it doesn't affect tomorrow, it doesn't actually

have to happen today. Hopefully you have some time and energy

left after handling the essentials. But if you don't, at

least you can leave knowing tomorrow is covered.

Which brings us to step four, the power block. This is

where any extra time gets used intentionally.

So your power block is just going to be a single focus

work session where you tackle one category of task instead of

a little of this and a little of that, and trying to multitask a

bunch of things at once, which is how I usually work, and then

I'm like, gosh, I didn't get anything done.

I know that feeling. And we talked about this in last

week's episode, Episode 243, about protecting your planning

time. We called it choosing your lane. You don't have time or

energy to be hopping all over the road. Pick one lane and stay

in it.

So your power block might be grading or planning or

organizing and prepping, but avoid doing all three in one go

if you can. Switching between task types drains your energy

and leaves you feeling like, I worked so hard, but nothing's

done.

You might even want to assign one type of task to each

day of the week. I know this is a really common hack for you

know, business people. Mondays are for making copies. Tuesdays

are catching up on grading. On Fridays, you plan out the next

week, just whatever makes sense with your schedule.

And we talked about this last week, about how you could

do the same kind of thing with your planning time during the

day, and so it could be the same task after school to just

continue whatever you didn't get done during planning time, or

maybe you want it to be different, but that is a great

strategy to make sure you know what you want to focus on every

day. And if you have regular after school meetings like

Heidi's school did faculty meetings on Mondays and

collaboration on Wednesdays, you might need an adjusted routine

for those days.

Yeah, that schedule really made things tricky,

especially when I had after school bus duty. Some days it

could be like 30 minutes. So you might need to get creative with

your plans. On meeting days, maybe you only focus on what

absolutely has to be ready for tomorrow, and then you go home.

On other days, you build in extra time to make up for it.

It will likely take some experimenting to find a system

that works, but the time you spend figuring it out will pay

off.

To make the most of your power block, before you start

decide what "done" looks like. It might help to finish the

sentence, At the end of this block, I want blank to be

finished.

That needs to be a specific, measurable task, not

"catch up on grading," because that's so vague, doesn't give

you a clear endpoint. Something specific, like grades entered

for one subject, or slides done for this week's math lessons.

That helps you know exactly what needs to get done during this

time, and when you're done.

Yes, because if you don't know what finished looks like,

you'll just keep working until you run out of steam, and then

it'll be tomorrow morning.

Okay, step five is the hard stop. This one sounds

simple, but if you've tried it, you know, it can actually be

really hard to maintain. Definitely the hardest for me.

Yeah, we know how it is.

I do know.

This is where you set a non negotiable leaving time, and

when that time comes, you leave. Theoretically. Yes, absolutely

do it, set an alarm if you need to, you know, set it on your

phone.

And when the alarm goes off, give yourself like, five

minutes to wind down. So save your work, close your tabs, turn

off your computer, pick up your bag and then walk out the door.

And if you find yourself thinking, Ah, just five more

minutes, that's a red flag. That five minutes turns into 15,

which turns into 30. Ask Emily how many times she waited for me

at the gym.

I don't even want to talk about it. I'm still mad. It's

been a decade, at least. Something that might help with

this is having a permission phrase you can tell yourself,

something like, I've done what I can with the time and energy I

had today, and that's enough.

Because, honestly, it is enough. You showed up, you did

the work, you're ready for tomorrow, so you're allowed to

stop.

Which brings us to our final step, which is step six,

the closure ritual. That's what I call closure. Oh, no, more

really recent cultural references! For some of you

young'uns listening, that's from a TV show called Friends. Okay,

so the closure ritual, this is about signaling to your brain

that the day is actually done. Before you leave, make sure your

room is reset for the morning. Maybe write an intention for

tomorrow or the top three tasks that you want to get done in the

morning. And then this part is important, leave the list at

school. Do not carry it out with you.

Physical actions can also help signal a clear shift in

your energy. Turn off the computer, turn off the lights,

close the door. This helps your brain know that work time is now

over.

And then think about what happens when you get home.

What's your transition ritual for closing the door in school

and opening the door to the rest of your life? This could be

taking a walk, doing some yoga, dancing to your favorite song,

playing with your kids, taking a hot shower, doing a puzzle. I'm

only laughing because I know realistically that a lot of

these are going to be hard to do when you get home and you have

to do your real life, but if you can, have something that you're

going to do right away that will help you release the stress of

the day and reconnect with another part of your life, it

will make that transition so much easier.

Yeah, and it doesn't have to be a 30 minute thing. It can

be a 10 minute thing, but it just helps your nervous system

reset and helps you engage with the life that's in front of you,

instead of having your brain halfway back in your classroom.

Right.

Because when your brain knows the work is contained and

tomorrow is handled, it can just actually relax.

And then, if you find yourself thinking about school

stuff anyway, just open the Notes app on your phone and jot

it down, or send yourself an email reminder. That's my go to.

And then your brain knows that that thought is captured

somewhere, and so you don't need to think about it anymore.

All right, Emily, give us a quick recap of our six steps

for a shutdown routine.

Step one, close the day while students are still there,

use that pack up time to get yourself ready too. Step two,

reset your nervous system before you start working. Give yourself

a real transition that is not your phone. Step three, answer

the triage question, what must be done so that students are

okay tomorrow? Step four, use your power block for one

category of task only. Decide what done looks like before you

start. Step five, set a hard stop. When it's time to leave,

leave. And step six, close the day with a ritual. Reset your

room, write tomorrow's tasks and create a transition for when you

get home.

If you want some help putting this together, remember

that the February teacher survival kit has a page that

walks you through these steps. It gives you space to plan out

your routine, track what's working, and adjust as you go.

And if you're someone who wants this kind of targeted

monthly support all year long, that's exactly what we do in the

Teacher Approved club. Each month we focus on a specific

shift that matches where you are in the school year. It's like

having a guide who knows what's coming and is there to help you

prepare for it.

And we would love to hear your tips for leaving school at

school, please come share your wins and your struggles in the

Teacher Approved Facebook group.

Now for the Teacher Approved Tip of the Week, where

we share an actionable tip to help you elevate what matters

and simplify the rest, and this week's tip comes from our

friends Ashley and Alicia at Rainbow Skies For Teachers. And

we love this idea. Tell us about it, Heidi.

Yes, and we love Ashley and Alicia. So this is such a

good tip. They suggest dedicating one afternoon each

week to leaving school as soon as your contract time is over.

This is just one afternoon where you commit to a completely

school free evening and do life for yourself.

I love this. And to make it easier, they suggest

scheduling something that forces you out the door, a reoccurring

commitment that you can't skip.

You know, like meeting up at a gym.

I guess I needed to get really brutal in my enforcement

so that you couldn't skip it.

I knew you had to love me anyway, or you could have

charged me, I guess.

There we go.

I know Ashley signed up for French lessons every

Thursday. She met her French teacher at a local coffee shop,

and they practiced something new. Even if she didn't become

fluent in those afternoons, the point was to have something on

the calendar that got her out of the building.

Oh, I love that. And Alicia took a similar approach.

She booked a four o'clock Pilates class each week. When

you know class starts at four, you have to be out the door,

right? Oh, that was, that was a good that's a good rhyme to help

you with this! When you know it starts at four, you have to be

out the door. There's no room for just five more minutes when

you have to be somewhere at a certain time.

Yeah, that deadline makes it so much more likely that you

will actually leave on time, and having that one protected

afternoon gives you something to look forward to each week.

And it doesn't have to be lessons or a fitness class. It

could be a weekly coffee date with a friend or a hair

appointment or a craft night or whatever works for your life,

just maybe not meeting with your sister who is too nice and will

let you get away with showing up late.

The point is that it's recurring. It's on the calendar,

and it's something just for you. It's not about, you know, making

every day special, it's about making sure you have at least

one afternoon where you prioritize yourself.

To wrap up the show, we are sharing what we're giving extra

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

I'm giving extra credit to the game. Game a gentle rain.

So I asked for this for Christmas, and mom got it for

me.

Is it digital?

No, it is a little, I don't know what to call it,

because it's not boards and it's not cards, it's actually like

little tiles. So it's a one person game. You can play with

two but it's designed to be a one person game. And that's what

I liked about it, because I'm like, Well, I like doing

puzzles, but it'd be nice to have something that was like,

shorter and quicker that you can just like, finish in one

sitting.

And so basically, the way it works is you have these little

tiles that are like triangle shaped, sort of, and they have

different halves of flowers on each edge of the tile. And then

you have to match them up. So you lay down one tile, and then

you just randomly draw out another and you try and match it

to another flower. And so you're trying to just grow out your

whole design here, but every time you're able to match it

where four of them are meeting together, so it's not exactly a

triangle. It's hard to describe the shape, but when you get four

that are all met together, you get to put a little flower token

in the middle of the four.

And so you're trying to get all eight of your little tokens down

before you run out of tiles. So it's kind of, to me, a lot like

doing a puzzle. It's very puzzle like, but it's shorter, easier,

it's tactile, it's chill. It's something I can do if I only

have 10 minutes, which is what I like about having a puzzle out.

But sometimes I don't have a puzzle out, so you can just grab

this and play the little game. And actually, my 15 year old has

been playing it multiple times a day, so she loves it too. It's

just so nice. I'm going to be looking for some other little

games like this, like one person puzzley kind of games that you

can do quickly.

Well, it's so nice to have something that you can just

unwind with that is not on your phone.

Yes, I need any more of those that I can get.

Or, you know, doesn't require a billion supplies, like

a craft can.

Yes, exactly, or a setup, like, there's not, you can just

grab it and immediately start playing on the table. You don't

need to, like, do anything elaborate.

Oh, that's nice.

What are you giving extra credit to, Heidi?

Well, my extra credit goes to candle wick trimmers,

which is really weird if you never thought about this. So I

got invited to a favorite things party in January, and the theme

was hygge.

It's Danish.

Hopefully there's no Danes listening to us right now.

We're so sorry.

But it's like the Danish art of coziness, which is what

you want in the winter, right? So we were supposed to bring a

favorite thing that helps us get through the winter, but it had

to be $5 or less.

That's so hard.

Like, I can't think of anything that's $5 or less. So I

was like, Oh, okay, so central to hygge is candles. Like so

much of coziness revolves around candles. And if you want your

candles to keep burning bright, you have to practice good candle

hygiene, and that means trimming the wick before you burn the

candle. So you can use scissors, but like, if your candle's in a

jar, it's really hard to get the scissors in there.

Oh, I know, I've tried.

I bought a special little wig trimmer that's kind of

shaped like an L so it can, like, just snip the little

candle. And I'll put a link in the show notes, if you have no

idea what I'm talking about, I sound like a crazy woman. You

can see what it is there, so you can just keep your candles

burning. I have strong opinions about this. I have a special

little foil wrap I put on it if it's starting to tunnel so,

like, the edges will all melt evenly.

Oh yes, I do that as well. Now that I know that,

like, you need to, like, make sure the whole top is melted

every time, or else it will, like, get that hole down the

middle. And now that I know that, I always make sure it

melts all the way to the edge, although it drives me crazy when

you still get, like, an edge that just won't melt down.

Oh my gosh, that is so funny, because right before we

started recording, I had this candle, and the edges were not

burning, so I got out, I have a little scraper, I was like, I

wonder if I can scrape this off. And sure enough.

Okay, so you have a little candle first aid kit at

all times. Well, I need a candle wick trimmer because I don't

have one.

Okay. Well, we'll have to get you one. I think the one I

put the link in the show notes too is rose gold, it's very

fancy, but mine is just silver.

Okay, well, I'll check it out.

That is it for today's episode. Start by planning your

after school transition ritual. Once you have that in place,

experiment with the rest of the steps to find what works for

you.

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

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

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

episode.

You can connect with us and other teachers in the

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

Bye for now.

Bye.