20 Easy Back-To-School Teacher Tasks You Can Totally Do from the Couch [Episode 201]

Heidi  0:00

This is episode 201 of Teacher Approved.

 

Heidi  0:06

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  0:36

Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today’s episode, we have 20 simple tasks that you can get done from the comfort of your couch, and we’re sharing a teacher approved tip for creating back to school success. But first, it’s time for try it tomorrow, a favorite quick win that you can try in your life right away.

 

Heidi  0:54

Our try it tomorrow for last week was to write your summer no list. This is a list of all of the things that you are not going to do in the summer, no guilt, no working on weekends, no redoing your class decor. This is your to don’t list, kind of, maybe. But this week, our suggestion is to make a summer yes list, or maybe your must do list.

 

Emily  1:16

So before you get too far into your summer break, make a short list of five things you do want to say yes to this summer. Think rest, fun, connection. Maybe it’s yes to leaving my phone in the other room during dinner, or Yes to reading a book just because I want to, or Yes to saying no without guilt.

 

Heidi  1:34

Your yes list becomes a little guide post. It reminds you that boundaries aren’t just about saying no, they’re also about saying yes to what matters most. Put it on your fridge or stick it in your notes app, or you could even take a screenshot and make it the home screen for your phone. Do whatever makes it feel real and visible.

 

Emily  1:51

This simple shift can help you make more intentional choices this summer, even if your calendar is already filling up.

 

Heidi  1:58

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 that new listeners find us. So every rating and review really is a huge help to us.

 

Emily  2:11

Well, over the years, we have really created an extensive library of back to school products. So to help you find the tools that will make the start of the new year easier, today we are spotlighting one of those back to school products, which is our back to school readiness checklists, which is a new one from last year. Heidi, can you tell us more about them?

 

Heidi  2:29

Yes, I’d love to, because I love this so much. If you used our end of year roadmap, this is the same idea, only you know, for the other end of the year. Instead of wrapping up, we are launching the new year and helping you get ready for the most successful year yet. So there are lots of different checklists to help you prepare in the six areas of readiness. So we have thought through so many things, and we have added a bunch of new lists this year. It’s all in Google Sheets, so it’s all editable, and you can access it anywhere you are. If you’re in the middle of the store and like, oh shoot, what did I need to get at the craft store, you can pull it up. It’s right there. It’s so handy. I’m so excited about this, and I think teachers are gonna love it.

 

Emily  3:09

And if you don’t remember from last year, the six areas of readiness are that you need to have your classroom ready, your supplies ready, your procedures ready, your welcome ready, your first day ready, and yourself ready.

 

Heidi  3:21

Oh, no big deal. Easy peasy.

 

Emily  3:23

No big deal. That’s why we need 34 checklists to meet all of those areas. So if you want help staying on top of your to do list in any of those areas, the back to school readiness checklists are made for you, and we’ll put a link to those in the show notes.

 

Heidi  3:39

Okay, teacher friends. We might not know a lot about you, but we can make a pretty safe bet that you are tired right now.

 

Emily  3:48

Yeah, being a teacher in June is a lot like being a balloon with a leak and you’re just slowly sinking lower and lower and lower.

 

Heidi  3:56

You know what? Good for you. You deserve to spend some time crashed on the couch or curled up with a book. You have spent nine months giving your whole self to an impossible job. You are due for a little R and R.

 

Emily  4:09

But we want to make sure we’re spending this downtime recovering and not just drifting like that sinking balloon. So go back to Episode 197 where we break down the types of rest you might need.

 

Heidi  4:21

And we promise that that topic is not as dry as it sounds, and if you listen, you will come away with a restorative plan for meeting your summer needs.

 

Emily  4:30

But unfortunately, just because you don’t get paid for your time off doesn’t mean there isn’t work to do and that there aren’t work tasks that need your attention.

 

Heidi  4:39

So how do we manage the work tasks that are waiting for us without losing our summer downtime? Well, we need boundaries.

 

Emily  4:47

So check out episode 199 if you want some guidance for how to set boundaries around your summer work so that you can get some things done without losing your whole summer to back to school prep, which is a big goal around here.

 

Heidi  4:59

One of the work boundaries that you might want to set is around time. Set specific times when you’ll tackle work projects and, more importantly, set times when you won’t. This lets you enjoy summer without guilt and without pressure.

 

Emily  5:12

Now, this won’t be for everyone, but one of my favorite times to get a little work done is when I’m relaxing on the couch. I want to be clear that rest on its own is entirely productive. You do not need to justify taking a break by adding work to your relaxation time. However, something I find relaxing is knocking a task off my to do list. So why not combine the best of both worlds with doing something easy while I take it easy.

 

Heidi  5:37

We call these types of tasks TV tasks. A TV task is anything that you can do on your couch without having to stress too much. You don’t need a ton of materials. You probably just need your phone or your laptop.

 

Emily  5:49

So the key to making TV task time useful is to make a list of tasks ahead of time that you can do while you kick back. Your tired self doesn’t have the brain power to create a list of ideas and go looking for something to do, so you can help that tired self out by jotting down some ideas now.

 

Heidi  6:06

So what makes a task a good TV task? Well, anything that doesn’t require too much focus or too many materials is ideal. Kind of think of it like if it’s something you can do with real housewives or survivor on in the background, you know it’s a good TV task.

 

Emily  6:21

To help you kick off your own TV task list, we’re sharing 20 simple ideas that might help you get a bit ahead without adding to your stress. So Heidi, kick us off with our first TV task.

 

Heidi  6:30

Well, let’s start by organizing our ideas. If you have a bunch of Pinterest boards, or you have bookmarked ideas on Instagram or Tiktok, take some time to revisit those ideas. There’s probably a few things there that don’t interest you anymore.

 

Emily  6:44

There’s probably even a few things that you can’t even remember why you saved them in the first place. So just delete that content now, so you can more easily find the ideas you do want to remember.

 

Heidi  6:54

Another organization task is to organize your digital files. If you have got stuff saved all over the place, try corralling that content into a nested system. Maybe you have a large file for each term, and then within the term, you break it down into smaller files for subjects, and then units, weeks, and then down to individual lessons.

 

Emily  7:14

Think of it as a nesting doll situation with large categories being broken down into smaller groups until you know exactly where to go to find the content for teaching your third geometry lesson on measuring angles without having to go search for it.

 

Heidi  7:28

And while you’re organizing your files, go ahead and delete anything you don’t need anymore. If you’re worried about losing something that you might want to reference later, you could set up a separate file for just in case content or I might want this someday materials.

 

Emily  7:42

Since we’re on the decluttering track, let’s clean out that email. You do not need to keep that reminder about Field Day anymore. Think of it as liberating yourself from a bunch of old expectations.

 

Heidi  7:53

And how about another easy digital task? If right now you don’t want to have to make a bunch of decisions from your couch, here is just a low mental effort task. Gather all of your passwords in one place. Make sure you’re storing them someplace secure but also accessible. You’re not going to be very happy with yourself if you know down the road, you have to track down a password to be able to find your passwords.

 

Emily  8:14

Yeah, that’s how I got locked out of LastPass. I swear I have it right too. I think LastPass is possessed. Well, there are five TV tasks to get you started, but we’ve got plenty more to go. If you haven’t already, definitely check out the TV show Traders on peacock. That is the TV part of this TV task. The task part is maybe a little less fun, but still important. Clean up your teacher website, your canvas or your other learning management system.

 

Heidi  8:42

Yes, that is less fun than Traders and way less fun than Alan Cumming’s crazy costumes, but when your LMS is happily decluttered, you can start on something more interesting, like searching Spotify for kid friendly playlists.

 

Emily  8:55

We have a few posted on Spotify if you want a starting point. Search for Teacher Approved, and then select playlist. All of our playlists start with Teacher Approved, so you know it’s ours. We’ve got kid friendly pop, quiet background music, and even a fun romance free Valentine’s Day playlist. And if there’s a playlist you’d like for your classroom but can’t find anywhere, let us know, because Heidi loves to make them.

 

Heidi  9:19

I really do like making playlists. I don’t know what it is.

 

Emily  9:22

Could be your side hustle?

 

Heidi  9:23

Yes, somebody pay me for it. I’m doing it for free these days. But besides audio playlists, you can make video playlists from your couch too. You can look for videos that fit with specific topics or fun brain break videos. You could put together a playlist for videos for inside recess or something that you might want to save for a sub.

 

Emily  9:43

Yeah, it’s always nice to have something engaging, educational and low prep that you can leave for a sub. And it’s much easier to look for this stuff now than when you’re doubled over with food poisoning. Just, you know, ask me how I know that.

 

Heidi  9:54

Oh, that’s a rough one. You can also add videos to your time filler activity kit. You. Having a bunch of activities already picked out to fill a few random minutes is a lifesaver. When the guest speaker is late or your math lesson ends 20 minutes early, you can easily turn to your list of time fillers without having to pull the perfect activity out of thin air.

 

Emily  10:15

There’s lots of time fillers besides videos that you might want to add to your list. Classroom games like heads up, seven up are a classic. You could set aside a couple picture books to save for those random pockets of time too.

 

Heidi  10:27

I always loved Action Songs like Tooty Ta and My Aunt Came Back. Add them all to your list while you’re catching up on White Lotus. And there is a sheet for this in the back to school readiness checklist if you need a central place to write all your ideas down.

 

Emily  10:39

There are plenty of other lists you can work on from the couch too. This is a great time to write down all your wins from the year on your Ta Da list and what you want to improve on your fix it list.

 

Heidi  10:50

You can find blank ta da lists, fix it lists and tons of other to do lists in our free end of year roadmap. Since it’s set up in Google Sheets, you can easily work on these from your phone, and you can grab the link to that in our show notes.

 

Emily  11:02

You can also start your list for back to school shopping. This might be stuff for yourself, your classroom or your own kids.

 

Heidi  11:08

And you can start on your parent supply list, if you haven’t already made one.

 

Emily  11:12

Parents will also want your meet the teacher letter. So you can go ahead and start drafting that now and then, all you have to do is tweak it when back to school rolls around.

 

Heidi  11:21

Our next suggestion is one that I have not tried myself, but it does look like a lot of fun. This is to make your own Bitmoji. You need the Bitmoji app if you want to do it from your phone, then you can insert your Bitmoji into your digital classroom materials, and I’m sure the kids would get a kick out of it.

 

Emily  11:37

Oh, it’s so cute. That is a perfect thing to do from your couch. Another idea is to organize your photos. Set up albums on your phone for classroom photos and anchor chart photos, and, of course, photos of your students. When you have to reference something down the road, you’ll be so grateful that it’s easy to find.

 

Heidi  11:53

Well, these are our first 15 suggested TV tasks. Are you ready for the last five? Let’s just kiss this unpleasant frog and get it over with. Our number 16 task is to clean out your teacher bag. I know it’s the worst, but your August self, she already has enough she doesn’t want to be doing. Don’t make her also unearth the moldy banana that got buried in there in May.

 

Emily  12:15

Yeah. And a task that’s slightly less smelly is to write thank you notes. Think how much your coworkers, admin, support staff, or even really helpful parents will appreciate the reminder that you notice the way they showed up.

 

Heidi  12:26

Thank you notes are one of those things I always intend to do but never get around to. So grab a clipboard and some flare pens and plunk them on the table next to the couch. Now, you know you still might not get around to writing the notes, but you are more likely to do it if the supplies are handy.

 

Emily  12:41

Yeah, you can make a little TV tasks caddy to keep next to your couch. I always love an excuse to make a themed caddy, I’m not gonna lie, and then it can have thank you notes and pens and sticky notes and whatever else you might need in there. But don’t forget that email thank you notes are still a very thoughtful gesture. So you don’t have to send it through the mail to make it meaningful.

 

Heidi  13:01

Our next suggestion takes some explanation. This is to make your plan B schedule for non routine school days. This is something we mention a lot around the holidays, but it can really help you any time of year.

 

Emily  13:14

So obviously, most of your routine school days will follow your routine schedule, but sometimes we have big disruptions, like needing a sub or having a two hour grade level program practice, or it’s the day before a big holiday, and there’s zero chance your students will get anything productive done. Instead of just trying to push through on those chaotic days, we like to make a plan B schedule.

 

Heidi  13:35

This is helpful because it frees you up from having to make a bunch of decisions in a possibly stressful moment, and it means you can plan ahead instead of scrambling for a plan. The simplest way to make your plan B is to take your regular schedule and automate it as much as possible. If you normally teach science from 2 to 2:30, decide once that on those Plan B days, you’re always just going to show a science video. Even if it doesn’t relate to your current unit of study, it still counts as science. Or instead of your regular math lesson, do a review packet at that time, or get out math games from earlier in the year, and then just have the kids rotate through math game stations.

 

Emily  14:12

Just make sure that one of the stations that day isn’t meet with the teacher. You want your plan B schedule to involve you as little as possible. That will make it easier to use the schedule for your sub plans. You don’t want to also have to leave small group math and phonics and reading lessons for your sub to do.

 

Heidi  14:28

No, that is just too many sub plans. Now, from your couch, it might be a little tricky to figure out the exact activities that you’ll have students do on those Plan B days, but you could still figure out your schedule. For each time block in your regular schedule, ask yourself, What can students do independently for this subject? And then go from there. Morning work can probably stay the same. Decide once on a set morning meeting for your plan B days, and then use the same greeting and game every time. Figure out what students can do independently for reading and math and for the rest of the day, and then when you need to adapt your regular routine, you already know exactly what needs to happen.

 

Emily  15:07

Our next suggestion is to prep student gifts now. So if you put together birthday bags, get the stuff and start loading up bags now.

 

Heidi  15:15

If you want to give students a little gift at your open house, you can also prep those now. Check out the show notes for a link to our cute wishing star printable. I love this so much. You can get a bulk order of star shaped stress balls. Then you just print off our cute star poem and package them all together, probably in, what, an hour or so?

 

Emily  15:34

Yeah

 

Heidi  15:35

And think how relieved you’ll be to have that task already managed.

 

Emily  15:38

For sure. And that brings us to our last TV task, and this is the simplest one of all, subscribe to teacher podcasts. Now, we don’t want you to listen to any other podcast but us, and if you’re not already subscribed to teacher approved, hit that button now. But you can also take some time to search around for other teacher podcasts after you’ve subscribed to ours. If you need some ideas, teacherpodcastrecs on Instagram shares lots of good recommendations.

 

Heidi  16:05

And if you like hanging out with us, you can always join us over on the Holiday Headstart Podcast for even more fun, even though we don’t really talk teacher stuff so much.

 

Emily  16:13

Yeah, but you know, you guys have lives outside of being teachers, too. So come talk to us about the holidays, and we can help you make the days that are special not the days that make you stressed. So whew, that is an impressive list of tasks that you can get done from your couch like a boss.

 

Emily  16:28

Just like we mentioned earlier, because there are things you can do in front of the TV, doesn’t mean you are expected to fill your downtime with to do lists. Relaxing is productive all by itself. You deserve to slow down and enjoy your time without having to check things off your list all the time.

 

Heidi  16:43

However, this stuff has to get done anyway, so you may as well do it where you’re comfortable. Maybe instead of thinking of TV tasks as adding work to your relaxation time, we should reframe it as a way to add relaxation to your work time.

 

Emily  16:59

I love that. If you want a place to write down your own TV task list, check out our back to school readiness checklists. We recently added a whole bunch of new lists to that resource, including a list for your TV tasks.

 

Heidi  17:10

All 20 of these TV tasks are already typed on the list, but if you do want to make your own list, we will quickly run through our suggestions again so that you don’t have to comb through the episode to find them.

 

Emily  17:21

First, declutter your Pinterest boards or ideas you’ve saved from social media. Second, organize your digital files. Third, declutter your digital files. Fourth, clean out your email. Fifth, gather all your passwords in one place. Sixth, clean up your teacher website or LMS. Seventh, find kid friendly playlists. Eighth, make video playlists. Ninth, add ideas to your time filler activity kit. 10th, make your to da list, your fix it list and your to do list.

 

Heidi  17:54

11th, start your back to school shopping list. 12th, make a parent supply list. 13th, write your meet the teacher letter. 14th, design your own Bitmoji. 15th, organize your photos. 16th, clean out that teacher bag. 17th, write thank you notes. 18th, make a schedule for your plan B days. 19th, prep student gifts for birthdays and back to school. And 20th, subscribe to teacher podcasts.

 

Emily  18:21

And by the time you’re done with all of that, you’ll have caught up on all the good TV that you missed during the school year.

 

Heidi  18:27

We would love to hear about your favorite TV tasks. Come join the conversation in our Teacher Approved Facebook group.

 

Emily  18:34

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 get ready to crush your back to school goals.

 

Heidi  18:47

Emily and I are so excited. Mark your calendars for our upcoming BTS Success course. The doors open June 26.

 

Emily  18:56

We’re working on some really fun updates to the course this year, and we think it is going to be a fantastic time. And we would love to have you join us in the group this year. We will be sure to share here on the podcast when the doors open.

 

Heidi  19:10

To wrap up the show, we’re sharing what we’re giving extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your extra credit?

 

Emily  19:15

I’m giving extra credit to the Hero Cosmetics four shield, super light sunscreen.

 

Heidi  19:20

Oh, wow.

 

Emily  19:21

I wear sunscreen every day, and it is especially important in the summer. And I love this sunscreen because it goes on so smooth and it isn’t too heavy. And also, what I really love about it is it’s super affordable. I get the tinted kind which looks super orange when you pump it out, but it blends in really nicely once you put it on.

 

Heidi  19:40

Oh, that’s good. I don’t want to end up looking orange in a way to avoid looking red.

 

Emily  19:44

Right. What are you giving extra credit to, Heidi?

 

Heidi  19:48

Well, I’m giving extra credit to Seed Probiotics. It’s a subscription service that sends you like six months of probiotics twice a year. And I had to stop taking them for a while because I was on an antibiotic. Which, I mean, I still could have taken them, but it wouldn’t have done anything. So I was really happy to get back to it. I hadn’t realized how much I missed it. And I really like having the subscription, because it means I always have it ready to take. In the past, I have tried to be habitual about remembering to take probiotics, but inevitably, I would run out, and then I forget to restock, and then it would be, you know, months and months. So the subscription makes it really easy, and I have been really happy with the probiotics. So yay Seed.

 

Emily  20:27

Yeah, and I know they’ll mail it to you monthly if you want, but I think you get a special discount, if you like, get several months at a time, like six months at a time. I think you get a discount, because that’s what I do, too.

 

Heidi  20:34

I was gonna say, that must be why. Because it’s like, oh, this is a lot all at once, but it just goes in the bathroom cabinet. It’s fine.

 

Heidi  20:42

That’s it for today’s episode. Write your own TV task list and make sure you join us in our BTS Success course later in June.

 

Heidi  20:50

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

 

Emily  20:56

And I’m Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss an episode.

 

Heidi  21:02

You can connect with us and other teachers in the Teacher Approved Facebook group. We’ll see you here next week. Bye for now.

 

Emily  21:09

Bye.