Three years of Teacher Approved—can you believe it?! In this special anniversary episode, we’re looking back at our most popular episodes from each year, sharing top teaching strategies, and revisiting some of our all-time favorite teacher approved tips. Plus, we’ve got some fun extra credit recommendations! And since we’re celebrating, we’d love your support. Please take a moment to leave us a quick rating and review to help more teachers find the show!

Prefer to read? Grab the episode transcript and all resources mentioned in the show notes here: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/podcast/top-teacher-approved-podcast-episodes/

Resources:

• Hiccaway straw
• Luminette glasses
• The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion
• Puzzle board
• Derry Girls
• Tunefind
• Connect with us on Instagram @2ndstorywindow.
• Shop our teacher-approved resources.
• Join our Facebook group, Teacher Approved
• Leave your review on Apple Podcasts!

Related Episodes to Enjoy:

• Episode 127, 10 Ways to Motivate Students at the End of the Year
• Episode 46, 20 Best Inside Recess Ideas That Your Students Will Love
• Episode 18, Procedures for Success!

Heidi 0:00

This is episode 187 of Teacher Approved.

Heidi 0:05

You're listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast helping educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I'm Heidi.

Emily 0:13

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 0:28

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

Emily 0:35

Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today's episode, we are celebrating three years of the Teacher Approved podcast with our top three episodes, tips, and extra credits.

Heidi 0:48

Let's start with a Try It Tomorrow, where we share a quick win that you can try in your classroom tomorrow. Emily, what is our prompt this week?

Emily 0:55

This week, why not let your students skip a question or two on one of their assignments? This time of year, we could all use a reason to smile. An easy way to add some surprise and delight is to give an assignment and then tell your students that they can choose two questions to skip.

Heidi 1:10

Letting students have a little choice over an assignment is a great way to boost engagement. If there is a certain problem on the page that you really want students to do, you could always exempt that problem from being skipped. So for example, you could say something like you can choose two problems to skip on this page, except for problem five. Everyone has to do problem five. Otherwise, pick any two problems and draw a big X over them.

Emily 1:34

You can probably imagine how excited your class will be for this little treat. If you like this idea or anything else we share here on the podcast, would you take a second and give us a five star rating? Ratings and reviews are one way new listeners find us. So every rating and review is really a huge help to us, and it would be a wonderful gift to us as we celebrate our anniversary. Yes, This month marks a big milestone for us and the teacher approved podcast, because it is our three year anniversary.

Heidi 2:02

Yay. I kinda can't believe that we have a toddler podcast now.

Emily 2:05

I know it's crazy.

Heidi 2:07

When we first started this podcast, we were not sure if we were going to keep it up. Doing a podcast, as it turns out, is a lot of work. Yes, our goal was really just to make it to a year. And now here we are three years later, and we are so happy to be hitting this big milestone.

Emily 2:24

In celebration of our three year anniversary, we wanted to highlight the top podcast episode for each of the three years of the podcast, and it just so happens that these are three episodes that we love, so we're excited to revisit them with you today.

Heidi 2:38

Emily 2:54

Heidi 3:08

And the funny thing is, when we started this podcast, we didn't think we would be talking about procedures.

Emily 3:13

No, the podcast has really evolved into its own, its own idea from what we started with.

Heidi 3:19

In this episode, we shared the three steps to establish efficient procedures in your classroom. Step one is to determine what procedures you need.

Emily 3:28

Step two is to teach your procedures. This is when we first shared our method for teaching procedures, which we call Tell Try Tally Talk. But in this episode, we hadn't added the talk step yet. So it is really early days.

Heidi 3:43

Yeah, look how we've grown. And then step three is to evaluate your procedures, adjust as needed, and then re teach when necessary. Unfortunately, procedures aren't a set it and forget it kind of process.

Emily 3:55

No, not if you want them to keep working as well as they should, you have to keep an eye on them and see if they need to be adjusted, and at some point in the year, you will inevitably need to reteach the procedures to get your students back on track.

Heidi 4:08

The whole of episode 18 is definitely worth a re-listen, but we are sharing a short clip of the episode here with you right now.

Heidi 4:15

It is not exciting or flashy, but it's true. In order for learning to happen, your students need to know how to function in your classroom. They need structure and predictability. And here's the thing that maybe no one has mentioned to you before, even if you don't teach procedures, your students will still use procedures. Around every regular action that will happen in your classroom, whether it's getting a pencil or turning in work, a standard of behavior will develop.

Emily 4:44

So you have a choice as the teacher. You can intentionally establish the efficient procedures you want to see, or you can just let them develop on their own. In the first case, you get to set the course for how you want things to go for your class. This year. But in the second situation, you have little control. By letting the procedures develop on their own, you'll end up spending your time managing consequences instead of expectations.

Emily 5:13

Don't we sound so young in that clip?

Heidi 5:16

Or maybe not so young.

Emily 5:18

If you want to hear more, be sure to check out episode 18 to hear more of that very popular episode.

Emily 5:24

Heidi 5:31

Emily 5:41

And the best part about this episode is that it isn't just a bunch of our ideas, even though, obviously we have amazing ideas.

Heidi 5:49

Obviously. Yeah, we talked to our community and gathered up all of their amazing ideas for inside recess too. And there are some really, really good ones in there.

Emily 5:58

One of my favorites is the idea of having a different type of activity based on which recess it is. So, for example, in morning recess, you might want to do brain break videos. At lunch recess, you might offer board games. And if you have an afternoon recess, maybe you do group games, like heads up, seven up. If you live someplace that is prone to having several days in a row of inside recess, you will be grateful to have this guideline to help you keep each recess feeling fresh, and the kids' behavior may be a little more managed because they're not bored of all of your same old inside recess ideas every recess.

Heidi 6:34

Here is a clip from episode 46 where we talk about this very tip.

Heidi 6:39

That was such a smart idea to make a different plan for each recess.

Emily 6:42

I know. If you're in for multiple inside recess days, the kids are going to get bored doing heads up, seven up three times a day. So it really pays to plan for a variety of different types of activities, and then the kids know what to expect each recess if they're in for the whole day.Poor you and poor them.

Heidi 7:00

Another way to do that is to maybe coordinate with other teachers, and then you can offer different activities in each room. Maybe one room has a dance video, another room has checkers, another room has drawing, whatever. And that way kids can still see their friends in other classes, and then maybe get a little break from their classrooms. And it definitely comes down on the planning.

Emily 7:19

Oh, I love that idea, but just make sure the kids know they have to pick a room and stick with it the whole recess, or you'll have them wandering around everywhere all recess long.

Heidi 7:28

Bless their hearts.

Emily 7:31

Heidi 7:39

Emily 7:54

We will surely be talking more about that issue in future episodes. But if you're struggling with student motivation already for the end of the year, this episode is a great place to start.

Emily 8:04

Typically, when a class is overrun with behavior problems, the solution is to increase either novelty or structure. But at the end of the school year, the solution isn't that straightforward.

Heidi 8:15

Unfortunately, right? Usually, when novelty is high, like, you know, before winter break or before a field trip, we can increase our classroom structure to rebalance the energy in the room. But when we reach the end of the school year, novelty is at peak levels as kids anticipate summer break. But if we increase our class structure in our typical ways, like practicing procedures, narrowing choices and upholding consequences, we are actually fueling the no-motivation-itis outbreak. The solution to this is to increase novelty and structure at the same time. And don't let that sound overwhelming, we have got 10 easy ways to increase your student's motivation without it turning into a free for all.

Heidi 9:03

This episode is a must listen for these 10 ideas for increasing novelty and structure to get your students more engaged.

Emily 9:10

One of my favorite tips from this episode is to change locations. You can change location by doing your typical lesson in a new spot in your classroom or somewhere completely different, like the gym or outside, or you can mix up the location by doing rotations with your team.

Heidi 9:26

The sky is the limit on this tip, assuming, of course, that your locations aren't disrupting to any other classrooms. You don't need to get your coworkers mad at you just trying to make your kids happy.

Emily 9:36

Heidi 9:49

Thank you for joining us on this adventure. We absolutely would not keep doing this podcast if it weren't for you, our fabulous listeners. Hopefully you are planning to stick with us for the next three years. We've got some exciting things planned.

And we would love to hear what your favorite episode is from our podcast so far. Come share with us in the teacher approved Facebook group.

This week, we chose three of our favorite teacher approved tips to revisit in celebration of our thirds episode. Emily, what is the first blast from the past teacher approved tip?

This tip comes from way back in episode 19, and it is to teach your students games to play at recess. In our experience, most recess issues are caused from kids who don't know what to do, so they end up causing problems, or kids who do know what they want to do, but they can't all agree on the rules. So then it escalates into arguing. I bet you're familiar with both of those scenarios. Teaching your students some games so the whole class has ideas for what to play and an agreed set of rules for how to play is a game changer for recess behavior issues.

This tip is one that we often share at back to school time. And back to school is a great time to do this, but another great time to teach recess is right now.

Yeah, at the end of the school year, there's a good chance your class is getting more fed up with each other and arguing more, and they are also probably tired of the same old games they always play.

So choose three or four new group games and teach them to your class this spring. It's a great way to get some extra time outside and add some novelty and structure to your day.

To hear more about this tip, listen to episode 19. Heidi, what's our second blast from the past teacher approved tip?

Well this is a great one. I love this one. Our second tip comes from Episode 54 and it is to take pictures of your procedures. Tell us more about this one, Emily.

If you expect that you're going to be mainly teaching the same procedures next school year that you're using now, you can have your students help you teach them to your next class. All you have to do is take some photos or videos of your students completing each step of the procedure.

I love this idea so much. Think of how happy your future self will be when in the fall, when you're getting ready to teach the procedures to your new class, and you have photos of actual kids showing each step of the procedure in your room with your materials. This will be such a powerful resource to have on hand.

Seriously, such a game changer. And kids are way more engaged learning from another kid than from their boring teachers, right? Doing this tip now is also a great way to review your current procedures and get ahead on work for the fall that will benefit next year's students. So it is a win, win all around.

And how often do we get those in teaching? Not often enough. If you want to hear more about this tip, tune into Episode 64. Okay, Emily, what is our last blast from the past teacher approved tip?

Our third tip comes from episode 121, and it is to teach your students how to take a test.

Now, watching your students taking a standardized test can be extremely frustrating. Oh, the mistakes they make. You know, they know the content, but they are just making silly mistake after silly mistake, and some of that is because the wording on these tests is so confusing, and that is done on purpose, unfortunately.

And standardized test questions are kind of like their own genres. So you can teach it to your students in the same way that you've taught genres like fables and biographies. You can plan lessons that highlight the features of a test and give them practice working with those features.

Some skills you might want to highlight are how to go back to a certain place in a text, and how to go back into the question to find information. And you might want to practice how to decide when to choose the option all of the above in a multiple choice question.

Yeah, that's a tricky one. If you want to hear more about this tip, you can head to Episode 121.

To wrap up our special anniversary show, we are each sharing three extra credits that we have chosen in the past and still love. Okay, Emily, what is your first extra credit?

It was actually hard to narrow this down to only three, but I picked three that I love so much that I could just as enthusiastically give extra credit to today as the time I did it before. And I think I did manage to get one from each year of the podcast. So the first one is for the TV show Derry Girls.

I love this show so much.

I know, I still think it is one of the funniest and most endearing shows I've ever seen. And it's a UK show, so it has like, what, 18 episodes?

Maybe, max.

It is the story of four teenage girls and a wee English lad in 1990s Ireland, where they attend a Catholic girls school and they get themselves into the most ridiculous situations all set against a really compelling background of the troubles that were happening in Ireland at the time. So just a heads up, though, for strong language, if that bothers you and you might need subtitles to keep up with the very fast dialog and thick accents.

Yeah, the accents are no joke, very humbling, and you learn a lot of words, like "the wee'uns." Where are the wee'uns off too?

What's your extra credit, Heidi, your first one?

Well, for an extra credit from 2022, I have to go with the hiccaway straw. I love it so much that I gave it extra credit twice in 2022 and if you have joined us since then, maybe you have missed out on this wonder, and I could not in good conscience keep you from it. So what is just kind of a funny shaped straw that's designed to help stop an attack of the hiccups. You have to, you know, put it in a little bit of water, and then you have to kind of suck funny.

Yeah, and it makes you work hard, which is the key to stopping the hiccups.

But whatever it does is magic. I love it so much. I bought two. So I keep one in my kitchen, and I put one in my bathroom cabinet to save me from any middle of the night hiccups when I don't want to have to go trek back to the kitchen to get the straw.

Oh yeah, we have one upstairs and one downstairs for that purpose, and one of my kids just needed it at bedtime, like two nights ago.

So handy. There's a link to it in the show notes. Definitely cannot recommend it highly enough. I do have to watch, I don't know what the mental block is, but I do have to watch a YouTube video every single time to make sure I'm like, sucking it the right way.

That's funny. I don't think it's that hard.

It's not!

I'll tell you the key. The key is that you have to start sucking the second you get it in the water. That is, for some reason, you don't want it to start filling with water, so you just have to be prepared, like, dunk it in there and immediately start sucking as hard as you can a whole bunch of times in a row. That's the key.

Sometimes you might have to do it a few times, but I've, I don't think I've ever had a problem where it's not worked.

No, me neither.

So 10 out of 10.

And I think this is basically extra credit to me, because I gave this to you.

You did! Yes, I owe you my eternal gratitude for that and many other reasons.

It's true you do.

Okay, Emily, what is your next extra credit?

My next extra credit is for my rotating puzzle board. If you've been around you know that I have become a jigsaw puzzle lover in recent years, much to Heidi's mystification. I think.

Well, I did just write a story problem about Emily and Neil doing puzzles, and what fraction of their puzzles they had finished.

Oh, I like it. We were just working on a puzzle together last night. Well, having a nice puzzle board has made the experience 1 million times more pleasant. Mine rotates, and it can also be propped up at an angle while you work, which is a really awesome perk. I don't use it that often, so it's probably not like a game changer if you want to just get the cheaper one, but I do sometimes use it, and I am always glad I have it when I do, and it's got built in drawers for sorting pieces. What I really like is it means I can easily remove the tray from the table when we need the table for other things. And I used to be able to slide it under my couch to store but we got a new couch, and now that doesn't work, but I do still love the tray, even if I have to set it on the couch for a little bit when we need to move it. It works. We make it work. It's worth it.

It's really big, but it's not as impractical to move around as you would think based on the size.

No, not. It really isn't. All right. Heidi, what's your next extra credit?

Well, in looking over my list of extra credits, extras credit? What's the plural there? Extra credits from 2023, there's a lot of good stuff on there, like the Oxo salad spinner, still highly recommend that, or the TV show crime scene kitchen, which is also really good. But the thing on the list that I still use all of the time is the Tune Find website. If you have ever heard a song on a show or in a movie, and then you're desperate to know the title, this is the website for you. Now, like, I know there's Shazam, and shazam is great, but I found that a lot of times that songs on TV shows aren't on Shazam because they're like, less popular songs. Or there is too much talking in a scene for Shazam to be able to pick up the music, and that is where the Tune Find website is a lifesaver. You can search on the website by show, and then all of the music for the episode is listed. Or I've also had this problem where I hear a song that I know I've heard in another show, I could search by song, and then it's just such a relief to be able to put a name to the song you recognize, but you can't remember what it's called.

Yeah, it's like needing to look something up on IMDb, where you're like, I know I've seen that guy in something before, and it's driving you crazy, like it's that, but with music.

I was just re watching an episode of Superstore, as a throwback there, and they are not allowed to have their phones out during work, and Garrett is desperate to know the name of an actor that was in a movie. And he's going nuts, and he's like, asking all the customers, and they're telling him on the wrong names. He's just like, just look it up on IMDb! Anyway, this is the music version of that brain itch where you just can't name the song.

I know, I don't know how we used to function as a society when we couldn't look up what movies these actors were from, other things they were in. Like, I very rarely watch a show where I don't pull up IMDB at least once.

We probably had a lot of deep-seated rage.

Yeah, I bet we did.

Yeah, frustration. Okay, Emily, what is your third extra credit?

Well, my last extra credit is another funny and endearing project, but in a whole other way, and that is the Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion. So good. This series of books is written as the daily journals of 20 something year old Emma, who resides in the quirky neighborhood of St crispians in 1890s London. And I love the witty dialog, the literary references, the charming cast of characters. Book eight came out in December, and I have been reading it so slowly because I don't want it to be over, but I'm to the point now that I'm enjoying it so much that I keep reading more than I intend to. So now I'm almost done, but this is expected to grow into a very long series. So you'll love this if you love to get into a fandom, which I love being part of a fandom. It's so much fun. And the Emma M Lion fans are super cool people.

Yes, they are lovely, the loveliest people on the internet.

Yes, I recommend reading at least the first three before deciding if this series is for you, because it takes a little while to establish. And I've heard some people say they didn't think they really liked it till they got through those first three. I kind of liked it off the bat, but I grew to love it more and more as it went on. And the bonus is the first few books are pretty short, so you can get through those really quick.

Yeah, the first three books probably would amount to like one regular size novel. They're not that long. Each book just covers two months in her life. So kind of know where you're headed.

I would say, in general, I don't love a book written in letters or journal entries. But for this one, the way she writes, it totally works for me. You kind of forget you're reading a journal entry most of the time.

Yes, she puts in a ton of dialog. So it basically is just like you're reading the scene.

Yes, and that's fine, fine with me. And I believe that Emma would write down everybody's dialog. So it's okay with me that it's that detailed.

Absolutely, it's so fun and just charming. If you like The Importance of Being Earnest or Cold Comfort Farm, it has very much kind of that same vibe of, like Emma's the only sane person in this quirky cast of characters.

And yet she always gets herself into the most ridiculous situations.

Very Anne of Green Gables coated in that one.

And it's a similar time period to Anne of Green Gables too, which actually kind of helps me when I'm having a hard time picturing the right time frame in London, because I feel like what I mostly read about in British Literature is more like 1820s. So when I want to make sure I'm picturing like the right fashion, thinking of Anne of Green Gables helps me with that.

Yes, and you know Anne and Emma would have been bosom friends, so.

Oh, 100%. All right, what's your last extra credit, Heidi?

For 2024 I have to mention the Luminette light glasses. These have made such a huge difference in the quality of my sleep. And now that we're friendly into spring, I think I can say that they helped a ton with my mood during the winter. I honestly don't know that I have made another purchase that's had such a dramatic benefit to my life. So what they are is they're just kind of these funny looking futuristic glasses. They don't actually go over your eyes like glasses do. They kind of sit above your eyes, and then they use mirrors to reflect a bright light into your eyes. It's not as blinding as it sounds, I promise.

So what happens is, it's important for your circadian rhythms to get early morning sunlight into your eyeballs. But you know, that's really tricky to do consistently. Who's got 30 minutes to sit outside in the sun in the morning, assuming you can even see the sun in the morning, right? But with these glasses, you get the benefits of morning light while you are still getting ready. It's just been such a game changer. Since I started using these, I'm able to fall asleep much quicker, and a lot of times I'm able to sleep through the night. And this is going from before where I was waking up almost every hour. So this has been a huge life changer. They are a little pricey, but I would pay five times the amount for the benefits it's given me, hands down, all the stars, all the thumbs up. I guess I only have two thumbs up, but all of them.

But if you had more, you'd give them.

I would give them. All the extra credit to those glasses.

And of course, we have to heap all of the extra credit and gold stars onto Sara and her wonderful team at Podcasting for Educators. They do all the hard work of making sure we have an episode ready to go every week. Heidi and I had talked for years about starting a podcast, but it wasn't until we met Sara that it was possible to make it happen and keep it going for 187 episodes.

Yes, we love you, Sara and team. Thank you so much for all that you do for us.

That is it for today's celebratory episode. Thank you for joining us for the third anniversary of the Teacher Approved podcast. All of the effort that we put into this podcast is for you, our wonderful listeners. We love to hear from you. So if you have anything you want to share, or have any questions, you can reach out to us at hello@secondstorywindow.net. And if you haven't yet, please consider giving us the birthday gift of a five star rating and review on Apple podcasts.

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 on the Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week. Bye, for now.

Bye.