5 Easy Teacher Tasks for March That Pay off Big at Back to School [Episode 249]

Heidi 0:00
This is episode 249 of Teacher Approved.

Heidi 0:04
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. Today we are talking about five things you can do to make teaching easier right now that will also set you up for a smoother back to school, seriously. And we have a teacher approved tip for making sure everyone pays attention while you give directions.

Heidi 0:54
Our try it tomorrow this week is a little different from our usual classroom strategies. This one is just for you, that hard working teacher. So Emily, tell us about this.

Emily 1:03
All right, so tomorrow, grab a sticky note and write one word on it. March. Put it somewhere you’ll see it, like your desk, your monitor, your plan book, wherever. And the next time you feel yourself getting really frustrated with student behavior or just the general chaos of this time of year, look at the note.

Heidi 1:20
Yeah, March can feel like such a slog. Why is it 31 days? It’s such a long month.

Emily 1:26
The longest month.

Heidi 1:28
Seriously. And sometimes just having that reminder is enough to give yourself a little grace.

Emily 1:33
Yes, you’re not doing anything wrong. It’s just March. It’s just March.

Emily 1:37
If you enjoy what we share here on the podcast, we would love it if you would take a second and leave us a five star rating and review. It’s one of the easiest ways to help new listeners find us.

Heidi 1:48
All right. Are you ready to take a look at five things you can do in March to prepare for back to school?

Emily 1:55
I bet you anything, there’s like nobody has blog posts about this. There are not other podcast episodes on it, and we promise we have not lost our minds or our calendars. We are well aware that the first day of school is still five, six months away. So today is not about handing you a list of August tasks to start tackling in March, because that would be completely unhelpful.

Heidi 2:21
Definitely. But even though the first day is still months away, March does provide a brief window of opportunity for helping make that time a little easier. That’s because you are in the thick of things right now. You know exactly what’s working and what makes you want to close your door and eat lunch alone.

Emily 2:41
Which, for the record, is sometimes the right call.

Heidi 2:44
Totally. Zero shame about that. But it’s important to recognize that the clarity you have right now is valuable but fleeting, and by July, a lot of everything you’re aware of right now is just gonna fade into a general blur.

Emily 2:57
So today we’re talking about five small things you can do today that will pay off later. This is the definition of working smarter, not harder. You’re making sure that the effort you’re putting in today makes both the end of this school year and the start of next school year a little easier to manage.

Heidi 3:14
That is like our favorite kind of magic trick. So let’s look at our first suggestion, which is to reflect on what you already know about next fall.

Emily 3:23
And really, this could not be simpler. You’re probably doing some version of this in your mind already.

Heidi 3:29
Yeah, by now, most teachers have probably turned in their letters of intent, so you know at least a few things about next year. Are you staying in the same grade or switching grades? Are you staying in your room or moving? Are there any team changes that you need to account for?

Emily 3:43
And all of that is just floating around in your head taking up space. So this first task is to get it out of your head and onto paper. We are calling it a next year parking lot, a running list where you can drop anything that comes to mind about next year as it surfaces.

Heidi 3:59
The key thing here is remembering there’s no pressure to make decisions. You’re just giving those thoughts somewhere to live so your brain can let them go and you can deal with everything else on your plate right now.

Emily 4:10
Yeah, because that background stress is real and it’s really draining. When you’ve got a dozen unresolved ‘what about next year’ questions that are just floating around, they add up even when you’re not consciously thinking about them.

Heidi 4:23
Exactly. It’s like having open tabs in your brain, and that makes me nuts. So grab a big sticky note, a scratch paper, or even your notes app, and start a list of what’s changing, and then for each change, jot down a quick note about what that might mean for you.

Emily 4:39
So if you’re moving rooms, you might need to remember to save boxes. If your team is gaining or losing a member, then you might need to figure out a new distribution of responsibilities.

Heidi 4:49
But you really, you can figure all of that out down the road. You don’t need to know any of these details right now. You just need a designated space to park all those thoughts that keep racing through your brain. That’s the perfect kind of task for March, and it will save you from having to recall all of those questions five months from now.

Emily 5:06
Once you’ve got your thought parking lot started, you can turn your attention to our second March task, which is to declutter with intention.

Heidi 5:14
March is actually a really good time for decluttering for two reasons. One, the clutter from the last six or so months has probably built up quite a bit by now, if your room is anything like mine was, and that clutter makes an already chaotic classroom feel worse. When spring fever is at its peak, reclaiming your physical space gives you back some sense of agency. It’s one of the few things you can actually control right now.

Emily 5:39
And the second reason is to think of decluttering as a gift to future you. Fewer materials now means less to pack, less to move, and less to organize in August. Every item you let go of in March is one less item on your end of year list.

Heidi 5:53
Now, if you are someone who thrives with a big project, maybe you want to come in on a Saturday and knock it all out for once, and good for you, if that lights you up. But for us lesser mortals, without that kind of stamina, you can take this on a tiny bit at a time. Just start by picking out one small area to focus on each week, that could be a drawer or a cabinet even.

Emily 6:16
Or even just one shelf in a cabinet. The nice thing about doing this now is that you really have time for small steps to make a big difference. If you’ve got 12 weeks left of the school year and picked one area to declutter each week, you could make pretty good progress on deep cleaning most of your room.

Heidi 6:31
We have a whole episode, episode 60, all about spring cleaning your classroom. Check that out if you want some more tips. But the thing to keep in mind is to be discerning about what you decide to keep.

Emily 6:43
Yeah, I think this is a common trap for teachers. Getting rid of something potentially useful, even if it’s something you have never actually used, can make you feel panicky. There’s often the worry that you might need it someday.

Heidi 6:55
That is how I held on to a set of coin rubber stamps for years. I got them at a workshop early, early in my teaching career, and I could never figure out what to do with them. I just did not have it in me to manage ink pads. They were so nice, and they seemed so special, and I just couldn’t let them go. And when I left second grade, you know what happened? They went to a new teacher, never even having been opened after taking up space in my math cupboard for over a decade.

Emily 7:26
Oh yeah, that is a cautionary tale that most of us can relate to. You need space for things that will actually help your students now, not things that might help future students someday. When you unearth one of those treasures, ask yourself, have I touched this in two years? If the answer is no, it’s not a someday item, it’s a museum piece.

Heidi 7:44
And you have our permission to let it go. Donate what’s still usable, recycle the rest. Another teacher will be so grateful to have it. And if it helps, consider that it is doing more good being used by students, even if they’re not your students, rather than sitting on a shelf.

Emily 8:01
You know, we need to get a custom, like, easy button that you can use, that that sings, let it go. So when you like find something, you hit the button and it’ll sing to you, and you’ll be like, All right, I’ll let it go.

Heidi 8:11
Perfect.

Emily 8:11
And while you’re at it, take a look at your classroom library. Are there books that never get picked up? Are some falling apart or outdated? We know it goes against a book lover’s heart to part with a book, but sometimes it’s the right choice.

Heidi 8:24
Yeah, even public libraries clear out old books all the time. I follow some librarians on threads, and they’re always talking about that, and people are shocked that libraries get rid of books.

Emily 8:34
They’d be stuffed.

Heidi 8:36
Yeah, and a little weeding now means a fresher, more functional library in the fall, without having to do a big overhaul in August, when you’ve already got 65 other things on your list.

Emily 8:48
And your room’s so hot and you just don’t want to be sitting there digging through your library. Plus, if you clear out unused books, you’ll have shelf space to buy new ones, just in case you’ve accrued some scholastic bonus points this year.

Heidi 9:00
Buying new books is always the right answer. I don’t care what the question is.

Emily 9:04
Nope, correct. If you ever need us to back you up on a book purchase, just send us a message, and we are more than happy to help you justify it.

Heidi 9:11
I’d say that’s one of our gifts maybe.

Emily 9:14
Yep.

Heidi 9:15
Okay, so you’re thinking about upcoming changes. You’re slowly working away at decluttering. Emily, what is next?

Emily 9:23
Well, our third tip for March is to save student work as future teaching tools. This one is so easy, it almost feels like you’re getting away with something.

Heidi 9:31
I love a sneaky good idea.

Emily 9:33
And there are so few of those in teaching, so you’ve got to grab them when they come by. Okay, if you’re staying in the same grade, right now you’re teaching content that you’re going to teach next year. And one of the most powerful things you can do when you introduce a new assignment is show students examples of what the work actually looks like.

Heidi 9:49
Of course, you can always make that example yourself. You probably have done that plenty of times, I know I have.But kid-generated models land so much better than anything teacher-made. When students see work from actual kids, they see that the standard is achievable.

Emily 10:03
And that creates a real shift, and it’s so easy. While you’re teaching these units right now, be intentional about saving a few pieces. Grab examples that clearly show what you’re looking for, maybe even include different levels, like a strong example, a middle example and a still developing example. Seeing that range helps kids understand the expectation.

Heidi 10:22
Just for privacy, remove any names before you share anything with a new class, and you’re good to go.

Emily 10:27
Yeah, you don’t need your second graders telling, you know, third grade Johnny, hey, we saw your work today, and it wasn’t the good example.

Heidi 10:37
Avoid that, avoid that at all costs. And when you have your pictures, drop them into a folder on your drive, something simple, like a label of work examples organized by subject, will help you know exactly where everything is, and that’s it. When these units come up again next year, you won’t be scrambling to create samples from scratch, or, you know, trying to remember what good work looked like. You’re going to have the real thing all ready to go.

Emily 11:00
You can extend this same idea to anything else you might want to reference in the future. Photograph anchor charts before they come down, take a picture of a strong notebook setup, and definitely grab photos of any bulletin boards you like. You tell yourself you remember, but you won’t remember. It’s like every year I have to look at last year’s pictures of how I set up my Christmas decorations, or my mantle and shelf decor. I’m like, How did I do this? I never remember, and you won’t remember either.

Heidi 11:28
Okay, ready for tip four? This is for the version of you who has a running wish list of things that they always say they’re going to implement next year.

Emily 11:37
This is my chronic downfall. Every summer, I would build this vision of the kind of classroom I was going to run this year. And this would be the year for the consistent morning message. This would be the year I figured out rubrics for grading. This would be the year for weekly family communication that didn’t feel like a chore every week. And then August would hit, and it’s just 100% survival mode. So those ideas would get pushed back again. And when I finally came up for air in October, it felt too late to start something new, so it got pushed again to next August, rinse and repeat over and over.

Heidi 12:11
Well, you know for sure, I was not any better at that. In fact, I was probably enabling a lot of your bad habits.

Emily 12:17
I guarantee it.

Heidi 12:19
But it’s just such a draining cycle to be trapped in. You can see how these ideas would benefit your classroom and your students, but figuring out how to manage new systems on top of starting the school year is almost guaranteed to fall apart. So if you want to have something different, we need to do something different.

Emily 12:38
And that is why our fourth tip is to try out the thing you’ve been wanting to try. Whatever that might be, a new grading system, a new type of technology, or a new class routine, March is your moment for greatness.

Heidi 12:50
Or you know, if not greatness, at least giving it a solid effort. That’s because right now, you have something valuable, a class that already knows your routines. They trust you. So when you introduce something new, you’re not also managing new relationships and new schedules and new everything at the same time.

Emily 13:08
Yeah, you just get to try the thing. Think of it as a low stakes prototype. Start that morning message, test a different end of day procedure, or try a new transition routine. See what actually takes too long, what needs tweaking, and honestly, what you don’t enjoy as much as you thought you would.

Heidi 13:24
Yeah, definitely pay attention to that part. There are ideas that sound great in theory and feel exhausting in practice. Finding that out now with students who are already used to you is so much better than finding it out in week two with a brand new class.

Emily 13:40
Okay. And that brings us to our fifth March task, which is something you are going to thank us for. Next week, we are kicking off the Quiet Your Chatty Class Challenge inside the Teacher Approved Club, and we want to invite you to join us by starting a free trial.

Heidi 13:54
Spring chatter is real and it’s here. You maybe have noticed that. The energy is high, focus is scattered, and getting students to actually listen while you’re giving directions can feel like a full time job on top of your full time job.

Emily 14:09
But we can help you manage that. As part of the challenge, you’ll get three already-done-for-you mini lessons and systems specifically designed to address classroom talking. Plus you’ll get printables, a teacher’s guide, and a daily video with us, so we can help walk you through it.

Heidi 14:24
You can use all of this right now with your current class to get things a little quieter during work time. But here’s the back to school piece, and this is what we love about it. When you go through the challenge now with those students that already know you, this will be your practice run. You’re learning how the pieces fit together, getting all of the materials prepped, figuring out what works, before you ever have to introduce any of it to a brand new group of kids.

Emily 14:50
So then when fall rolls around, you’re not trying something new, while also building relationships and teaching first week procedures. You’ll already know the system and have your materials all prepped. It means you’ll be implementing something you’ve already tested.

Heidi 15:03
If you have ever introduced a system you’ve never tried before, while simultaneously doing everything else September requires, you know exactly how much easier it will be to figure things out now.

Emily 15:14
You can start your free trial through the link in the show notes. So come join us for the challenge. Get some real relief from the spring chatter, and walk away with materials and systems that will be already prepped for you in the fall. So it is a double win.

Heidi 15:27
Okay, those are our five tasks you can do in March to get ahead for back to school. And we promised you they wouldn’t be overwhelming, and they weren’t, right?

Emily 15:35
I agree, yes, right. I’m speaking for the listener. They’re nodding along.

Heidi 15:39
Thank you, Emily. So number one, reflect on what you already know about next fall. Start a next year parking lot to get those floating thoughts out of your head and onto paper.

Emily 15:49
Number two, declutter with intention. Set a goal to sort through one small area per week. Let go of the museum pieces, weed your classroom library, and enjoy the mood shift that comes with a cleaner space.

Heidi 16:01
Number three, save student work right now as feature teaching tools. Next year, you’ll have real student samples ready to go, instead of scrambling to create something from scratch.

Emily 16:11
Number four, test drive the new management system or routine you keep meaning to try. Use your current class as your low stakes prototype, so you’re not figuring it out in week two of next year.

Heidi 16:23
And number five, start a free trial of the Teacher Approved Club and join us for the Quiet Your Chatty Class Challenge. Get immediate relief from spring chatter and walk away with systems and materials already prepped for fall.

Emily 16:36
Make sure you check the show notes for the link to start your free trial and join the challenge, we would love to see you there.

Emily 16:43
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 try the five finger game, and this is the perfect tool for helping reset shrinking attention span. So tell us more about it, Heidi.

Heidi 16:59
Well, this is such a good one for getting students to actually listen while you’re talking. The dream, right? So here’s how it works. When you are about to give directions, hold up your hand with all five fingers up. You know, don’t wave around in the air. You can just have your hand in front of you. And then ask your students to mirror you. They hold up their own five fingers against their chests. Once they’re ready, you just give your directions. Anytime someone talks out of turn, blurts or interrupts, you put down one finger, and your students then immediately mirror you. So they’re watching, they’re paying attention, and they are physically tracking how the class is doing as a group.

Emily 17:36
And because everyone mirrors every finger, students aren’t just managing their own behavior. They’re aware of the groups. They’re quietly holding each other accountable without you having to say a word about it.

Heidi 17:47
And that means you don’t have to give any warnings or call out names, and that shifts the dynamic completely. You just put a finger down and keep going, and the students will figure out the rest pretty quickly.

Emily 17:59
Just make sure you’re keeping the talking to the minimum, even the most focused student can only pay attention for so long.

Heidi 18:06
And if you teach younger kids, you might be able to keep them invested in this process just by making it feel like a challenge. “Let’s see if we can get everyone to listen to my directions without talking. Do you think we can do it with zero interruptions?”

Emily 18:19
If you teach older kids, though, they might need a bit more of an incentive. Tie the outcome to whatever motivates your class. If all five fingers are still up at the end of directions, maybe they earn a brain break, a couple minutes of free choice, an extra recess minute, or whatever works for your group.

Heidi 18:33
Try it this week. It takes about 30 seconds to teach, and you can introduce it before your very next set of directions.

Emily 18:41
And this pairs beautifully with the Quiet Your Chatty Class Challenge that we mentioned earlier. If spring chatter is wearing you down right now, that challenge is going to give you a whole toolkit of strategies, just like this one.

Heidi 18:51
To wrap up the show, we are sharing what we’re giving extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your extra credit?

Emily 18:58
I’m giving repeat extra credit to the TV show Shrinking. Season three is airing now on Apple TV, and I’m pretty sure I gave this extra credit in season one and season two.

Heidi 19:08
It’s just so good.

Emily 19:09
It deserves it. I think it’s the best show on TV right now. If you like humor and heart and found family, and Harrison Ford being the absolute best version of himself, I think maybe ever, you will love it. Every season just gets better. So what are you waiting for? Go watch it.

Heidi 19:27
Yeah. How rare is that this show gets better each season?

Emily 19:30
Yes, it usually goes the other way.

Heidi 19:31
Yeah, because I liked the first season, but I wouldn’t say it completely won me over. I think I was still, like, waiting for, like, a big, heavy drama twist. So I was bracing myself, and then you get to the end, you’re like, Oh, it was just, like, it was dealing with real things, but not in a way that left you emotionally wrecked.

Emily 19:49
Yes, which I do appreciate that about the show. It’s not just fluff. They’re covering real human emotions and experiences, but in a way that feels, what’s the word I want to say? I was gonna say wholesome, but that doesn’t feel right. It’s, it feels real but, but not too heavy and sweet, but not saccharine.

Heidi 20:10
Yeah, it’s, it’s like Ted Lasso, but maybe slightly less funny?

Emily 20:16
I think it’s funnier than Ted Lasso. But in a different way.

Heidi 20:19
Ted Lasso’s kind of broad humor.

Emily 20:22
Yes.

Heidi 20:22
And this is very like, intelligent, quiet moments.

Emily 20:26
Yes, it’s a little like, Wait, what did he say? Oh, it’s so good. I love it so much. What are you giving extra credit to, Heidi?

Heidi 20:34
Well, my extra credit is going to the Proper Mountain Woman’s Club.

Emily 20:38
Yahoo.

Heidi 20:39
Which is something that you Emily introduced me to, and we’ve had so much fun doing this the past few months. Our mom even joined us. It’s just been so much fun. And don’t let the name intimidate you. It is not about survival skills.

Emily 20:51
No rope tying required.

Heidi 20:55
Instead, it’s more like Girl Scouts for grown ups, but with a fun theme, instead of, you know, I don’t know what Girl Scout badges, I wasn’t in Girl Scouts.

Emily 21:03
No, me neither, sadly.

Heidi 21:06
But each season has a different focus. And then there’s a list of possible merit badges you can earn. And the badges are all digital, which was kind of sad, but if you earn enough of those badges, you qualify for a physical patch. So that’s been really fun.

Emily 21:21
Yeah.

Heidi 21:22
And this week we are wrapping up the winter session, which has been all about Emma M Lion.

Emily 21:28
Which is the book series that we love.

Heidi 21:30
Yes.

Emily 21:31
That’s an extra extra credit for this week that we’re both giving double extra credit to, because I know we’ve given it before, but it is so good, best book series. I just finished going through it for a second time on audio. It’s so good.

Heidi 21:44
Oh, that’s so fun. So we have earned merit badges for having tea parties, making Valentine decorations, and even howling at the moon. But it does also have practical suggestions like deep cleaning your bathroom, finishing a project, tidying your desk, which I still have not done.

Emily 21:59
I know I need to, I should like right now go do my washing my makeup brushes one.

Heidi 22:04
Oh, there you go. Yeah, that’s an easy one. So I bring this up now because the spring season is starting March 20, and if you want a gentle invitation to be more present in your life, this might be what you’re looking for. I feel like it has been so good for me to have these little nudges to just add some whimsy to my day, like wearing a brooch on Thursdays is one of the merit badges. And you know, honestly, it did not make me a more productive person to wear a brooch, but it just felt so ridiculous that it made my Thursdays have a little more of a sparkle. I feel like it made winter a lot more enjoyable. So I’m looking forward to it.

Emily 22:39
I feel like, especially in winter, it’s nice to have these, but I mean, at any time, I think it’s good, and whimsy is my word of the year, so I was already looking for ways to add whimsy to my life. So this, like, has just worked out to be perfect. And you can just do whatever merit badges you want. You don’t have to do any that don’t speak to you.

Heidi 22:58
Yes, like, there’s one that was like, spend 50 hours outside or something.

Emily 23:02
No, it was 100.

Heidi 23:02
Oh my gosh, yeah, we’re not doing that.

Emily 23:03
In winter?

Heidi 23:03
I did not even give it a second thought.

Emily 23:03
No, and I’m also not going to learn how to make Beef Wellington. Like, I’m just not. But there are plenty of things on here that, like, maybe I wouldn’t have necessarily thought, like, oh, I want to do that. But it was just interesting enough that I’m like, I’m going to try that. And then, and then it was so fun. Like, when we made the, we did foil embossing for Valentine’s Day decorations, and I had never even thought about that before, but it was so much fun.

Emily 23:31
And the kids did it with us.

Emily 23:33
Yeah, it was great.

Heidi 23:34
We went to a fountain after dark and threw in a coin.

Emily 23:36
Yeah, we’ve had tons of fun.

Heidi 23:38
Yeah, learning about Victorian poets and composers and all kinds of things.

Emily 23:42
Memorizing Queen Victoria’s children.

Heidi 23:45
I got cards to make flashcards, so I can still get that one. We do not have a discount code if you want to sign up for this, but I know there are some out there, so if you do want to sign up for this, definitely look around for a discount before you join.

Emily 23:58
If I see any for the spring season, I will put them in our stories on Instagram.

Heidi 24:03
Smart, perfect.

Emily 24:04
And if you like earning merit badges, I just have to put a little plug. And this idea came to me before we did this club. You’re going to really like the Summer Teacher Summer Talk Session.

Heidi 24:16
So we’re already hard at work on it.

Emily 24:17
Yes, yes, it’s going to be so fun this summer.

Heidi 24:21
That is it for today’s episode. Pick one thing from today’s list and use it not only to make March a little easier, but to make back to school a little easier as well.

Emily 24:30
And if you want to join us for the Quiet Your Chatty Class Challenge, the link to start your free trial of the Teacher Approved Club is in the show notes, and we would love to have you there.

Heidi 24:41
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Teacher Approved. I’m Heidi.

Emily 24:44
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 24:51
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 24:58
Bye.