Maximize Teaching Time [episode 1]

Hey, there, I am so excited that you are joining me today for the very first episode of Wife, Teacher, Mommy: The Podcast. I’ve been a podcast lover for a few years now. So the fact that I’m here today recording one is pretty exciting and pretty crazy for me too. I didn’t think I would be here. But I’m super excited to be here.

I’ve loved connecting with educators with wife, teacher mommy over the past seven years. But I think this podcast is going to be a great way for me to share my ideas, tips and tricks with you. And to celebrate, we’re going to be doing an amazing, huge giveaway that we have never done before. We are going to give away an entire year of wife, teacher mommy club to one of our listeners, all you need to do to enter is write a review on Apple podcasts. And then send us a screenshot at hello@wifeteachermommy.com or DMus on Instagram @wifeteachermomy and we will get your entry counted. If you don’t use Apple podcasts, you can just send us a message with your review and we’ll get your entry counted that way.

So to start, I just want to tell you a little bit about wife, teacher, mommy, and how my journey has led me to starting this podcast today. So I started Wife Teacher Mommy in 2014. It was the end of 2014. I had my son Parker in April. And I decided that I didn’t want to teach full time anymore. At that point, I wanted to be able to be home and spend more time with him. But I did still love teaching I have a passion for teaching. Once a teacher always a teacher. So I decided to sub to be a substitute teacher. And I loved it. It was so fun to get to have experience with a wide variety of grade levels, different kids, different schools, so much fun. But the one thing I realized while I was subbing is that many teachers didn’t have a very thorough, very great sub plans for me to use.

And you know, I’d been a teacher before. So I know that it is so hard to do sub plans. Like what other job is it harder to call in sick than to go to work? Like I can’t even think of another one. And that’s why it’s a running joke in education, why we just go to school sick, you know, and I thought that is a huge major problem, that should not be the case. So I decided to open up a TPT store. And I started creating the sub plans, the kind that I like to see as a substitute teacher, I felt that I was kind of in a unique spot that had been both on the teacher side and on the sub side. And I thought if I can even help just a few teachers by doing this, it will be worth it. And it took some time. But eventually, they gained some traction and teachers really loved them. And we even got feedback over the years on how to improve them even more.

And it’s just grown from there. We don’t only do sub plans anymore. We support teachers, we support homeschool parents, we create all kinds of resources. I even have had the opportunity to hire team members to help me with this mission to help teachers as much as possible. And it’s been so fun because now not only do we create resources, but we’ve been blogging and helping teachers that way for years now. We have Instagram, we have Facebook group. But really, it all led to me creating Wife, Teacher Mommy Club. And we launched that in September of last year in 2021. And it is my favorite thing that we’ve done so far in the seven and a half years of having Wife, Teacher, Mommy. It is really amazing because the things that teachers have been telling us that they’ve been struggling with the most lately are meeting every child where they’re at.

With COVID It’s been such a challenge where the gaps have gotten bigger than ever, and also finding time for planning with all of the additional demands that just keep growing and growing especially with COVID. The Club offers both. It solves both of those problems and offers additional support. When teachers join the club they get access to our full library of over $4,000 worth of resources and growing. And we offer resources for pre K through sixth grade. So not only are you saving time planning with these print & go or even digital resources, but you can pull the same resource for different grade levels to meet different kids where they are at. And that is what club members are really loving about this. And there’s no need to pay every time you need a resource, you just have everything you need at your fingertips to grab any time, no need to watch for sales at the best price, you’re already getting the best price, you’re getting everything. So it’s really great.

And we even when we plan our content I have two curriculum designers who are working full time making resources, like we are churning out products in this membership, and we take member requests on what they want to see. So a lot of the resources we’ve been creating lately, like we’ve created an SEL resource, we’ve created an amazing guided reading resource. They’ve all been requests from our members. So we listen to our members, and we really create what they want to see. The other fun thing is we send swag to our members. So every annual member who joins gets a tumbler. And we’ll be sending that to the winner of this giveaway too. And then, at one year, after joining, we’re sending an awesome teacher bag bundle to everybody. It’s so cute, I’m so excited to hit one year from when we offer the memberships, we can start sending these teacher bags out. It’s going to be so much fun. And that’s why this prize is so amazing. We’ve never given this give away before. A full year of the club, it’s worth $299. That’s how much an annual membership is.

So make sure to leave a review of this podcast so you can be entered to win all of this support, it’ll be so much fun. Because we’re giving that away to one listener, they’ll get the stainless steel tumbler, they will get the year of access to the club. So be sure to email us your review at hello@wifeteachermommy.com or DM us on Instagram before April 1, our giveaway will be open until then. Love the idea of the club and know you want to join now? Make sure to enter the giveaway. But if you don’t want to wait, you can join now because we are offering our lowest pricing one last time through April 3. If you’ve been following for a bit, you might think oh I’ve seen her offer this pricing before. But this is really the last time because as you’ll hear more about in episode three, we are adding life coaching to Wife, Teacher Mommy club. And we are super excited about this. But the coaching alone is worth more than $29.99 a month. And the resources alone are also worth more than $29.99 a month. So the fact that we’re offering $19.99 a month for your first few months or $1.99 for your first year is an incredible deal. And this is the last time we can offer that. So make sure to go to wifeteachermommy.com/club for more details and to join now. So you can get that lowest pricing right away. And then if you’re chosen as a winner, we’ll refund your purchase. But then you can claim the savings right away and get access to the resources and coaching and everything now. So you don’t have to wait until April 1 to see if you win.

So now that the club is going I’m now really excited to be starting with the podcast. It’s kind of the next step on how to support even more teachers because not every teacher will join the club, but I can support any teacher with this podcast. I’m very excited about it. Each week, my guests and I will be here cheering you on and speaking on topics such as managing your time, prepping lessons, activity ideas, and inspiration to take on each day with joy and ease. And I’ve also been on a mental health journey over the past few years. From 2019 until now I’ve gone from panic attacks that landed me in the hospital for days after having my third child to feeling in the best state of my life mentally that I’ve ever been in my entire life. And I’ve shared the story on Instagram and plan to share even more of that story specifically here on the podcast in the future. But for now, just know that on the podcast, you can expect a lot of encouragement on tips how to improve not only your teaching, but your overall well being too because you’re not just a teacher. We all wear so many hats, whether it be wife or husband, teacher, mommy or daddy, grandparent, sibling, aunt, uncle, friend, neighbor, the list goes on and on. Whatever hats you wear is one crazy yet insanely rewarding gig to be a teacher and all these other things, but it’s a lot to juggle. And that is why my team and I are here to support you with the podcast. Okay, so let’s get on to today’s show.

On today’s episode, I’m hoping to help you make some mindset shifts about what your time is really worth. So think about the question, really think about it, what is your time really worth. And we kind of break this down in our blog post that I’ll link to in the show notes. But I want to do it here today on the podcast as well. So think about all the things you do on a daily basis, and how you would use that to calculate a salary. So you know, we get paid a salary as a teacher if you’re a school teacher, but I’m talking about all the other roles that you take on as well. So for example salary.com They look at what the annual salary of a mother would be. And they include jobs like housekeeper dietician, daycare teacher, and roles like network administrators, social media communications and recreational therapist. According to salary.com, it is estimated that the annual income of a mother’s work is $178,201. And that equals out to $85.67 an hour. Your time is worth a lot. And there’s so much value in what you do. But not just potential monetary value either. Like money isn’t everything.

So many of us are feeling stressed and overwhelmed most days, and it’s no wonder with how much we have on our plates. So our time is worth a lot. What do we want to do with it? What are some ways we can simplify the amount of time it takes to accomplish the things we need to do so we can live our best lives. After all, we want to work to live and not the other way around, right? We love teaching but that doesn’t mean we want to spend all of our time doing it. There are so many other things we want to do. Spend time with family, read a book, take time to meditate or develop spirituality, or other talents watch a funny TV show. I love Schitts Creek and Jane the Virgin myself. I believe it’s important to make time for all of these things.

So let’s look at what are some ways we can simplify and maximize our time as a teacher and in our everyday life. And I think one of the first ones is taking a look at our priorities. I listened to an audiobook lately by Emily lay called One Less Becomes More. And one quote from it really stood out to me, she said, we must first unpack our commitments, evaluate each one and make a decision. Keep the non negotiable, and that which matters most and then toss the excess. So some examples, I thought about what teaching, for example, you’re looking at assignments, what needs to be graded, does this really need to be graded? And what are the most important things to be done, leave the rest, some you can leave for good, you’re like this doesn’t matter. I’m just not going to do it anymore. Others you’re like this does matter. But it doesn’t have to be today, I can leave work. And I can come back and I can pick this back up later. Really, I think a lot of it is knowing when to stop. And I am currently working on this myself too. But I think it’s very important to know when to stop. You can always pick it back up later.

Another tip that I have is making decisions ahead of time to save time in the long run. Think of how much time we spend just trying to make decisions. The more decisions you make ahead of time, the smoother your life will be. That’s why I was listening to a podcast where they talked about Steve Jobs everyday he wore a black turtleneck every day. And that was just one decision that he eliminated from his life. So when you’re a busy person, however many decisions you can make ahead of time, we’ll help you. And some ways you can do that. Or like what to eat, you could have a menu schedule. Like what I try is like you know, every Tuesday we do tacos, every Friday, we do pizza. And obviously we want some healthier options in there too. But if you kind of plan ahead of time, like meal planning for the week, that can help simplify things. So you’re not like oh, what’s for dinner and hitting the drive thru again, not that there’s anything wrong with that either.

Another thing you can do is set boundaries. One major one with teachers is having work email on your phone, I think it’s really important that we have our work times communicated. And then you don’t need to feel like you are constantly checking in. If you let parents and other co-teachers administrators know when you’ll be checking. And when you’ll be getting back to them. You can rest easier when you’re on your off times and not feel like you have to constantly be checking. And then you can just take your work email off your phone.

Another idea is having systems in place. So for example, you can have your sub plans ready ahead of time. That is one thing we really preach here at Wife Teacher Mommy and I actually have a freebie for you to get started with this. It’s our free sub planning starter kit. And I will link to that in the show notes. But it includes ready to go lessons that you can just print or assign digitally, as well as some forms for important info that your sub will need to know right at their fingertips is a great way to get started. And then if you want even more, we have sub plans and sub binders available for purchase in our shop or you could join us in the club to get access to all of it. Okay, another example of a system you can have in your classroom is attention prompts. These are great classroom management tool like no materials required. They’re just those column response prompts that you use in the classroom. But sometimes it’s fun to kind of refresh them to get students engaged with them again. So we created a crowdsource list of prompts from our email list and our Facebook group. And some of these are so fun. Let me just read a couple of them for you. So the first one is Teacher Ooh, it’s cold in here. And then students say there must be some learning in the atmosphere. Isn’t that a fun one? And then another one is the teacher says hi ho hi ho. Then the students say it’s off to work, we go. I think these are so fun. So definitely check out the show notes for a list of over 100 ideas here, there’s a ton. So that is another great way to create a system in your classroom.

Another example of a system you can have in your classroom is class jobs. Have systems in place for when you choose jobs, what kids need to do, etc. You can have fun names for them that get the kids excited about the jobs, and then make sure you have a system for keeping track of those as well. Okay, and then tip number three for maximizing your time as a teacher is don’t be afraid to ask for help. Ask your teacher team to share ideas, don’t reinvent the wheel, plan together and find each other strengths and play to them. You can also get parent volunteers. Ask and utilize parent volunteers if possible. I know that’s not always possible, but COVID restrictions and depending on how involved parents are in your area. But this can be another great way to get more help as a teacher. Another way you could get help is by joining us inside Wife Teacher Mommy club. You can think of us as your full time team working behind the scenes to make sure teaching for you goes as smoothly as possible. You know, I originally started doing Wife Teacher Mommy all by myself, I was doing everything. And eventually that just got to be way too much. And that is why I hired my team members, it makes it so I can do what matters most, which is create content for you like this podcast, and my emails. But then some of the other things that people can help with, like maybe they’re even better at it, they are there to support me. And that’s what we can be for you. We can be that team who makes a lot of these lesson plans and activities so you don’t have to, so you can really be there for your students.

Joining Wife Teacher Mommy Club, of course will cost you a lot less than hiring a full time team. It’s only $29.99 a month. But you’ll have me and my whole team working behind the scenes to simplify things for you and cheering you on. Plus, we have some really exciting announcements coming. As you will hear, we are now adding life coaching to Wife Teacher Mommy Club, and life coaching alone. If you’re familiar with any life coach with the Life Coach School, I don’t think you could find anywhere where you could get live coaching for just $29.99 a month. So the club is a great way to get help as a teacher.

And now I want to tell you a few other ways you can also ask for help in other areas besides teaching because like we’ve talked about, you have so many other roles too. One way that I simplify my life is I do grocery pickup, I do it with Walmart Plus, they actually do delivery now. So usually get them delivered to my door. And this is not sponsored or anything, but it’s just something that has helped me a whole ton. And the great thing about Walmart is wherever you are, there is probably the option for you to do that. Another thing that I do is I get a babysitter whenever I needed some me time or a date night out with my husband. For a while we didn’t want to pay a babysitter to do those things. But now I’m just like it is worth it to be able to have that time. And then also I use some fitness apps that helped me know what to do with my workouts, I would not know what to do if it weren’t for these apps. So there’s an app for everything. So if there’s something you’re struggling with, you could probably find an app to help you with that.

Okay, so to recap, your time is worth so much, you juggle so many roles in your life. And if you looked up everything you do on a day to day basis as a teacher and or parent or homeschooler, you’ll see the value of your time is huge, not only a monetary value, but the impact you make all the time. Plus, we want to make time for all the other amazing things we want to do in our lives too, like those hobbies and the things that we think are important. So some ways we can maximize our time as a teacher are setting priorities and boundaries, making decisions ahead of time to save time in the long run, and asking for help. There’s no shame ever in asking for help.

Thank you so much for joining me for our first episode. I hope you enjoyed it and that you realized just how valuable you are and how much your time is worth. Before you go. Don’t forget to enter our giveaway for an entire year of access to Wife Teacher Mommy Club and a stainless steel tumbler. Enter to win by leaving a review on Apple podcasts. And then DMing us a screenshot on Instagram or emailing it to hello@wifeteachermommy.com. And remember if you don’t use Apple podcasts, you can just write the review directly in your email or direct message and we’ll get you entered that way. And remember, you can also join now at wifeteachermommy.com/club To get our lowest pricing one last time before we never offer it again since we’re adding coaching to the membership. We will happily refund you if you are chosen as a winner. Have an awesome day and I can’t wait to see you in the next episode.