Back-to-school exhaustion isn't just about long hours or a heavy workload! In this episode, we explore the surprising reason behind back-to-school fatigue and explain how a lack of automaticity creates extra mental strain. We also share practical systems that help you build external structure, reduce decision fatigue, and free up more of your energy to focus on connecting with your students during those critical first weeks of school.

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

Resources:

• Preorder our book Structure and Spark (and get bonuses!)
• The Smallest of Joys by Diane Shiffer
• When Gavin Met Stacey by James Corden and Ruth Jones
• Travel tissues
• Mildliners
• Tell Try Tally Talk Slides
• Procedures & Routines Planning Guide and Checklist
• Join The Teacher Approved Club
• Connect with us on Instagram @2ndstorywindow
• Shop our teacher-approved resources
• Join our Teacher Approved Facebook group
• Leave a review on Apple Podcasts!
• Leave a comment or rating on Spotify

Related Episodes to Enjoy:

• Episode 77. 3 Reasons Why a First Day of School Script Will Save Your Sanity
• Episode 144. How to Plug-And-Play Your First Day of School Plans
• Episode 215. Here’s EXACTLY What to Do in the First 20 Minutes on the First Day of School
• Episode 143. The Easiest Back to School Tip
• Episode 270. The Smart Way to Tackle Your Back to School To-Do List
• Episode 154. 5 Steps for Classroom Procedure Success

Mentioned in this episode:

Join the Teacher Approved Club, where members get seasonal morning work pages for grades K–5 this month to add fall and holiday fun without throwing off their routines: https://secondstorywindow.net/club

This is episode 276 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 why back to school drains you in

a way that no other season does, and it's probably not for the

reason you think. Plus, we have a teacher-approved tip for

adding a little joy to a stressful time of year.

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

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

our suggestion this week?

Okay, so this week, take a minute to consider your

teacher bag. I feel like most teachers have bags, but if you

haul back and forth with something besides a bag, think

about that too, and then think about is this bag or whatever

you're using something that you chose on purpose, or did you

just grab it because it was handy? And then, more

importantly, is it working for you? Because if it's not, we

want you to think about what would make it a better fit for

what you need.

And if your bag is not working, decide if you need to

buy something new, or more likely, if there's something in

that stash of bags in the back of your closet that could work

even better.

Or maybe you don't even want a bag at all, and you would

rather have a bin or a tote that you can wheel around. I mean,

I've talked on here before, I freaking love my Hulken bag, and

if I had had this when I was in the classroom, it would have

been so amazing for hauling to and from my car and my house.

And now they do have a cheaper version from Costco. I will say

the reviews are mixed. Some say that the wheels are not as good

and they don't hold up as well, but it's affordable enough. It

might be worth a try. And there's just no right answer

here, though. The key is just knowing what works best for you.

So take a look at what you're using, decide if it's meeting

your needs or if something else would be better.

And 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 and a kind review?

So, have you ever noticed that during back to school you

can work for eight hours in your classroom, but it feels like you

were digging ditches for 16 hours? You are so tired, but

somehow the rest of the year you can teach all day, answer

emails, you know, work with your team, and you're tired, but you

can still function after. It's not that kind of tired that you

are in the back to school season.

Yeah, I know that feeling well, and yes, the start of the

year brings endless meetings, the room set up, and the work of

planning for kids that you have never even met, and that all

contributes to the exhaustion. But those things don't fully

explain it.

Yeah, right now it takes you out, but in a few months you

can have a week that's just as packed, and don't feel like you

come home and need to lie down on the floor.

I've spent time on that floor. The couch is just too far

away. So I would say that it's more than just the workload

creating that back to school exhaustion. For example, for me,

the last week of October used to just knock me flat. It was the

end of our first term, and so after all of the work that goes

into teaching all day, I then had to manage conferences and

report cards, and inevitably spend several evenings panic

grading because I was never on top of that task. Even as

overloaded as I was, that level of October tired could not touch

the exhaustion of the first weeks of school. You know, at

least I made it to the couch before I collapsed.

Okay, so it's obviously not the workload. So what else

is contributing to that back to school collapse? It turns out

that the culprit is the lack of automaticity.

Maybe you recognize that word from your literacy

training. Automaticity means being able to do a task without

having to think through every step. When we are teaching

reading, we want students to have a large bank of sight words

that they can read fluently. If they have to stop and figure out

every word they come to, it really hinders their

comprehension.

But automaticity applies to more than just reading. If

you can brush your teeth without needing to stop and think

through every step, then that's automaticity in action. If you

can drive a car without having to consciously remember which

pedal is the gas and which is the brake, that's automaticity

too.

And you've had experience with that teaching a new driver

this year.

Yeah, she was having to think which was which for longer

than I preferred.

But besides helping us drive safely, automaticity has

the benefit of freeing up our brains. When you don't have to

manage every minute step, you can focus on the big picture

stuff.

Okay, so what does all of this have to do with the start

of the year? Well, in the first few weeks of school, you are

missing the automaticity. You don't yet have internal

automaticity, which tells you exactly what to do next.

Plus, you're missing the external automaticity, where the

kids know the routine, because no one is in the flow of things

yet. Every single minute of the day has to be planned, prepared,

and explained by you.

Yeah, and that is a monumental task. You know, we

love to talk about the balance of structure and spark.

Structure is all the predictability that makes your

room run, and spark is the novelty that keeps it

interesting.

Now, you might think that the back to school season is

heavy on structure because you are spending so much time

teaching policies and procedures, but you have to

spend all that time on those tasks, not because of structure,

but because of spark.

Right. Everything is 100% new in those first few days,

which means the level of spark is off the charts. It's as high

as it will ever be. And what do we do when spark is high? We

reset the balance by adding structure.

And unfortunately, in the first few weeks, you are the

structure. There are no rules, expectations, or habits to hold

the day together. It's just you.

Well, just you, and then the herd of confused kids that's

waiting for you to shepherd them through every second of the next

six hours, anything that happens in those first days happens

because you are personally making it happen.

And that is why you go home and collapse. We often talk

about the toll and imbalance of structure and spark takes on the

kids, but it also takes a toll on teachers. Correcting an

imbalance takes a lot of effort from you.

Unfortunately, you're going to have to build a lot of

structure from the start of the school year. There's just no way

around that. But if we can't escape this problem, then we

need a way through it.

And that means making sure that you are not the sole

source of structure for an entire classroom. You need to

borrow some external structure to get you through the first

weeks, but unfortunately, this is another thing you're going to

have to build.

But the good news is that this is all stuff you can do

ahead of time, maybe even from the comfort of your couch, so

that lifts the burden a little bit. You do all the thinking

before the big day, so you can concentrate on what's unfolding

in front of you when you're actually there in the classroom.

This is actually a principle used in a lot of

high-performance fields. Pilots use pre-flight checklists. Event

planners use run-of-show documents. Restaurants use

opening and closing routines. None of these professionals rely

on memory during their busiest, highest stakes moments.

And all this comes down to one idea: don't carry it in

your head if you don't have to. So the goal at the start of the

year is to get as much information as possible out of

your brain and into some kind of system.

If you're not sure where to start, you are in luck

because that is exactly what we're talking about today. We've

got six systems that can help you create some external

structure, so it's not all on your shoulders, and we're

starting with an oldie but a goodie. Write a first day

script. Tell us about this, Emily.

Well, if you've been with us for a while here on the

podcast, or if you joined us for Teacher Summer Talks and you

joined in on the first day plan challenge, then you've heard all

of this before, but it's worth a revisit. The idea is that you

need to write out everything that has to happen in order, in

as much detail as possible for that first day. So everything is

ready to reference when you need it.

This is an idea from Harry Wong's First Days of

School book, and it is a game changer. It's basically like

writing subplans for yourself, really the more detail you use,

the better. My first day script was usually eight pages.

And that probably sounds like overkill until you start

listing out every detail you have to remember for the first

day, and then you're like, "Oh, okay, maybe I need 10 pages.

There's so many things."

Yeah, you really don't realize how much goes into a

school day until you start listing it all out. You know,

because your students don't know the morning routine yet, you

need a detailed outline for your welcome activity. You need a

reminder to stop for a class bathroom break because the

bladders are still on summer break. You need to plan what

time to start teaching lunch procedures so you're not having

to rush through the 25 steps it takes to get everyone fed.

And then you also need to think of backup activities for

all of the planned activities in case things end really quickly.

We did a whole episode on how to build a detailed script back in

episode 77, so go grab that for the full walkthrough of creating

your first day plan.

I'm kind of liking the idea of calling it a run of show

instead of a script. I think that paints a clearer picture of

what it does. Teachers sometimes hear script and think it's

locking them into a rigid plan, but it's really doing the

opposite.

Right. A script, or I guess we can call it a run of

show, lets you offload the details, like remembering which

pedal is the brake, so that you can focus on the important

stuff, like being present and connecting with your new

students.

Yeah, it's really hard to build that connection with a kid

who's, you know, pouring their heart out about their pet dog,

but all you're doing is thinking through everything you need to

remember for dismissal. So do yourself a favor and just write

down the details.

And think how happy you'll be next year when you go

to plan the first day, and you already have a detailed list of

everything you did the year before. You just need to maybe

update a few things, and you're all ready to go.

I actually planned my whole first week in this kind of

detail. It was such a relief to be able to consult my list

anytime I needed a reminder. It really made the whole first week

a lot smoother.

And I am so guilty of thinking when I when I'm about

to teach something of like, I don't need the play by play. I

know what I'm going to do. I'm flexible. I'll wing it, and it

will be fine. And it's never fine. I always end up in some

awkward moment of like, oh shoot, I didn't think through

that. You know, like, just don't set yourself up for that,

especially at the beginning of the year, because you're out of

practice. The kids, everything's new to the kids. Do yourself a

favor and just get that external structure on your clipboard with

those daily scripts for as many days as you think it would be

helpful at the start of the school year.

Our next suggestion will not come as a surprise, but that is

to plan your procedures in advance. You knew that we were

going to mention that at some point in this episode.

Yeah, it's inescapable with us. Your goal at the start

of the year is to know the exact steps you need students to

follow, and then have a plan for how to teach them. It's a lot to

take on, but it is one of the best investments you can make at

the start of the school year.

And if you want some help with this, we're here to help.

We've got a procedures and routines planning guide and

checklists to guide you through each step in the process.

And there are links to all of that in the show notes.

And then we have maybe my favorite product we've ever

made, our Tell Try Tally Talk slide decks. This is as close as

we can get to showing up and teaching your procedures for

you. All you have to do is add the steps you want students to

follow, and then you can add a photo if you want. And then the

rest of the lesson is already prepared for you.

And make sure you come back to the podcast on Thursday

for our Can't Miss Classic episode, because this week it's

all about how to plan procedures step by step, and that is a

great resource if this is a new process for you.

But also, don't forget to check out last week's Can't Miss

Classic episode where we talked about how to soften the back to

school landing. Simplifying and automating your personal life is

another way to get some external structure.

Anything that you can put on autopilot before school

starts becomes one less decision you have to make in a moment

when you are so overloaded with decisions. So if you can pick

out all your clothes for the first week or plan to eat the

same lunch for a few days, you free up time and energy that go

toward getting the school year up and running.

So make sure to grab that episode if you missed it. All

right, you are working on your first day script. You're

planning your procedures. You're automating decisions in your

personal life. All of those systems are giving you a huge

boost of external structure, so you don't have to carry so much.

Emily, what is next on our list?

Our fourth system is to use checklists. This is

different from your to-do list. These checklists are to help

ensure you're remembering every step in your process. Even if

you're stepping into the same routines you were using last

May, it is still worth writing down each step.

Yeah, because it's been a few months. You're probably a

little rusty, and if you're like me, it's really easy to overlook

a step or two. So consider these like your pre-flight checklist.

And a fair warning: I'm not a pilot. I'm basing this

information off the internet. But if Google is to be believed,

pilots are supposed to run through a checklist before every

flight, no matter how experienced they are.

Now, obviously, the stakes of forgetting a step in

your end of day routine are not quite as high as forgetting a

step before flying a plane, but you still don't want to be left

scrambling when a sticky note could have saved the day.

So let's think about sometimes when one of those

checklists can come in handy. I am a big fan of having a morning

routine for tasks to do before the kids arrive, and then

another routine to do after they leave. And both of those are

great candidates for a step-by-step checklist.

And you can expand that to an end-of-week checklist for

everything you need to do on Friday to set up for Monday. Or

a checklist of what to remember when you start pulling small

groups or introducing centers.

Remember, the goal is to keep from carrying details in

your head if you don't have to. So grab some post-its and draft

a few checklists. It's a simple way to keep everything on track.

And if you want some support with that, we have a whole set

of back-to-school checklists to help you walk through all of

this. Really, it's tons of details. Probably more

checklists than you need, so it can give you the right structure

to get your ideas all organized and in one place.

Plus, you'll get the satisfaction of going through

them, being like, "Oh, check, check, check! I don't need that.

I already thought of that, and that's just such a boost.

Okay, our next system is to put your room to work, like the

actual room, not the kids in it. Although they should definitely

be helping too. But the goal here is to make the structure as

visible as possible.

So here we're going to think labels. These are a great

tool. Label the pencil cup and the lunchbox station and the bin

for homework folders. Label anything that has a designated

spot.

And even if you don't want to keep those labels up all

year, having them out for a few weeks can greatly reduce the

number of questions that you will be asked.

And you can also get your walls involved, make lists for

how you want things done, and then post them. It's even better

if you can include an image, either clip art or a photo, of

exactly what's expected. That way, before it's time to line up

on day three, you can post the list as a reminder.

This is a great tip for any time of day. So pull out

your list and review the steps before having students turn and

talk during a lesson, or before walking through the halls to get

to music class. Again, you don't have to leave these up all year.

But you will probably be really glad you have them all

year. In January, when the lineup routine is getting

sloppy, you're going to be so glad that you can reach for a

lineup poster that's already done, so you can review your

expectations right in the moment when it's needed.

All right, that brings us to our last system for getting

the details out of your head. One of the kindest things you

can do for yourself is to stop expecting future you to remember

everything. Future you will be busy teaching, redirecting,

answering questions, solving problems, and making 100 tiny

decisions. So leave behind some breadcrumbs to show future you

the path.

Yeah, you can't assume that you're going to remember

the details when you are at max capacity, as Emily pointed out.

So think of breadcrumbs as trail markers in the woods. They are

small cues to help you stay on track.

An easy one here is to grab a highlighter in your first

day script. Ask what will future me have a hard time remembering.

Mark any key details like the time to switch between

activities or the steps for teaching students how to log

into their Chromebooks.

Or the one I always forgot on the first day: submit

attendance. If you need something to jump off the page,

highlight it. You can even make it cute. Those mild liners come

in lots of fun colors if neon is not your thing.

Another breadcrumb is alarms. This is my go-to. You

probably need to offer more bathroom breaks in the first

days of school before anyone has an accident. Schedule some

alarms so that you remember to pause for a break.

And I had to leave my lunch early for the first few

days so I could be outside before the bell ring because we

had to pick up our kids and take them inside. Otherwise, my

students would get nervous about when and where they were

supposed to line up because it was different than what they

were used to in first grade. So setting an alarm meant I could

inhale my sandwich in the 15 minutes I had for lunch without

having to watch the clock the whole time.

Or forget to go out early because you're so tired.

Yes, and another breadcrumb is gathering your

materials. In the first few days of school you're probably using

a lot of supplies that you won't use during a normal school day,

so make it easier to stay in the flow by having everything you

need for the day in one place.

And if you really want a gold star for organizing. Try

stacking your materials in the order that you will need them.

So put end of day materials at the bottom and start of the day

at the top.

And then after you do that, grab your end of day

checklist and add "put away today's materials" to the list.

We're not starting day two with a pile of clutter.

Yes, say no to clutter, at least at the start. There's

only so much you can do once the year starts going on.

Okay, those are our six systems for creating external structure,

so that you don't have to carry every detail in your head. Write

a first day script or a run of show document. Plan your

procedures in advance. Simplify and automate your real life

during back to school. Use checklists, put your room to

work, and leave breadcrumbs to show yourself the path.

Each of these systems work because they reduce demands

on prospective memory. That's our ability to remember to do

something in the future. Prospective memory is especially

vulnerable when we are interrupted, stressed, juggling

multiple tasks, or in a new environment.

So yeah, all of that sounds like the first day of

school. And the goal here is not to become better at juggling all

of that. The goal is to stop juggling as much. So until the

automaticity is in place, do yourself a favor and create the

extra structure you need so that you can enjoy the magic of

getting to know your new students.

If this discussion was helpful, you definitely want to

grab our soon-to-be-released book, Structure and Spark. In

it, we walk you through every season of the school year and

offer you all of our best tips for meeting the specific needs

of that season.

comes out august 18, and so you still have time to

pre-order. And once you do, come to secondstorywindow.net/book,

and there's a form there so that you can tell us you pre-ordered.

And then we have some really fun bonuses for you if you

pre-order.

There's a link to the book in the show notes, and if

you have already pre-ordered, thank you so much. Pre-orders

tell booksellers that our book is worth recommending to

readers, so they really are a huge help, and we appreciate

every single one.

And if you pre-ordered but you haven't submitted the

form, go ahead and do that because you can still get your

bonuses.

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 to add

some joy. Tell us about it, Heidi.

Well, if you remember a couple months ago, back to our

summer reading episode, I mentioned that the smallest of

joys by Diane Schiffer was on my TBR list. I have finished it

now, so gold star for that, I guess. And it is as lovely and

comforting as she is, but she has an idea that I want to

borrow for today. She recommends setting happy traps, and I'm

just going to read how she describes them because I can't

do it justice.

So she says, "Happy traps are little gifts to yourself. They

are sweet surprises you prepare for yourself, a gentle sort of

trickery meant to coax a smile on a hard day, or give your

weary spirit something kind to land on. Creating happy traps

isn't about buying expensive treats or curating someone

else's idea of the perfect lifestyle. It's about tuning

into what makes you feel light and warm and delighted. What

gives you relief from the stress, or the boredom, or the

heartbreak, or whatever it is that is blocking your own joy,

do that."

And I think that's such a beautiful way to show compassion

for yourself. And if anyone is in need of some self-compassion,

it's teachers at the start of the school year. So before you

get too lost in the thick of things, what surprises can you

tuck away to lift your heart on a long day?

Oh, I love this! It's so cute. It's like that feeling of

finding like $5 in your coat after you take it back out in

the fall and you put it on for the first time. And it's like

ooh! But you're just going to be creating that feeling on purpose

with your happy traps.

And I think, like for me, an easy way to do this would be

to get one or two favorite treats and then hide them. You

could, you know, tuck them in the back of your desk or in a

closet where no one in your family is going to stumble on

them and take them. And then when you come home after 12

hours at school putting up bulletin boards and arranging

desks, you know you've got something lovely waiting for

you.

And it doesn't even have to be a physical treat. You

could create a folder on your phone and add all the photos

that make you smile, or write yourself a note of encouragement

to read on a hard day.

I keep meaning to save like all those videos that make

me laugh, so I have them all in one place. You know, when I need

a little boost. So maybe this will be my my kick to get that

going.

Yeah, that's a good idea.

All it takes is thinking about what you love and then

finding a way to add more of it to your life. Everyone needs

more of those kinds of tasks on their to-do list instead of what

we spend so much time on.

Okay, to wrap up the show, we're sharing what we're giving extra

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

Well, I'm giving extra credit to another boring thing

that proves that we're just old perimenopausal ladies over here,

because I'm giving extra credit to the new redesign of travel

tissues. So.

You showed me these; they are fancy.

They are so smart. Like I can't believe it took this long.

So you know, those little travel packs of tissues are always the

worst because when you first like take one out, it's all

right, and the little flap will tape back. But before long, it

won't stick anymore. And then as more gets out of it, the more

like loosey goosey it gets, and so it just sort of falls apart

in your purse, and the tissues are half hanging out, and it's

just the worst.

Or then all the crumbs at the bottom of your purse end up

in the bag with the tissue, so you go to pull out a tissue, and

it's already gross.

I know it's so stupid. So these are basically now they

look like itty bitty little baby wipes containers, is what I

would liken it to. They're so cute, and so the the shape of it

has been given a little bit more structure in the way it's

designed, to begin with, and then the top is like a baby

wipes opener, so it keeps it very firmly closed in your bag.

So you have the satisfying pop when you open it, then reach in

and get your nice little towel, and then snap it shut again.

This is so brilliant, considering that baby wipes have

been that way for quite a while with those kind of lids, I'm

surprised that it took travel tissues this long to get on

board. But I'm a fan.

Well, we're glad they got there in the end.

All right, what are you giving extra credit to?

Okay, well this is kind of niche, but I just finished

the audio book of When Gavin Met Stacy, and I I think I smiled

the whole time I was listening to it.

This is probably very niche. I don't know how much, we

watched this back in the mid 2000s, but I don't know if a lot

of Americans did. But hopefully, there's some out there.

I debated it even saying this, but I thought if someone

has watched it and loved it, they would definitely love this

book. So I'd feel sad not saying it, or maybe this will be your

push to start watching it. If you got a BritBox subscription,

so you could watch the Other Bennett Sister, all of Gavin and

Stacey's on BritBox, so you could catch up.

Oh, but we should probably give a disclaimer that

this is very British humor, so the language and the jokes are a

little bit wild by American standards. So just go in with

that in mind and don't hold it against us.

I think it's considered family viewing over there, like

everyone's sitting around on Christmas watching this. But

it's it's a little more grown up. Think Ted Lasso. I think

that's a very good comparison.

I'm remembering a few specific things from Gavin and

Stacy that might be a little farther over the line than Ted

Lasso.

Well, Ted Lasso had way worse language, though.

Okay, true, true.

Yeah. Anyway, let's come around all the way back to the

beginning here. Gavin and Stacy is a British sitcom, and it

started in 2006, and then true BBC fashion it ended in 2025.

Now, in 19 years, how many episodes do you think they made?

22. They made 22 episodes.

What is with British TV?

Don't get it. But this is the love story of Gavin, who's a

boy from West England, and then Stacy is a girl from Wales. And

if you don't know your UK geography, that's on the

opposite side. And because these two fell in love, two very

different families now have to mesh their lives, and it's just

quirky with a big heart, which is my go-to. It's all written by

Ruth Jones and James Corden, who play the best friends to Gavin

and Stacy, and it's just it's just lovely.

It has a lot of heart, and it is just so funny.

Yes. So if you enjoyed the show, I cannot recommend

this book highly enough. Ruth Jones and James Corden narrate

it, and it's basically like getting to eavesdrop on the two

of them chatting. I don't know if you would enjoy it as much if

you read it, because listening to them talk like they make each

other cry, they make each other laugh. Plus, in the audio book,

they include like snippets from the show when they're talking

about writing a scene or you know something like that. So it

was just it was the kind of experience you want from an

audio book about a favorite TV show. 10 out of 10, perfect.

Well, I will have to listen now because that sounds

amazing and I haven't read it.

Yes, you're in for a treat.

Okay, that is it for today's episode. Make time to work on a

system that can lend you structure as you start the

school year, so you don't have to carry it all. And don't

forget to plan some happy traps, so you have some fun surprises

to look forward to.

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

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.