4 Tricks to Reset a Rough Day of School with Heidi and Emily from Teacher Approved [#154]

You know, those days when the kids are going absolutely crazy. And you are going a little crazy too. And you’re like, how am I possibly going to make it through this day? We’ve all been there. So today I have my good friends, Heidi and Emily from teacher approved podcast. And a second story window. They are two teacher, sisters who really know their stuff, and I’m excited to have them back on the podcast again. They are going to share it there for tricks that are going to help you reset even the roughest day.

 

And I have to say, tip number four is my absolute favorite. So make sure that you tune in all the way to the end.

 

Welcome to educate and rejuvenate the podcast  for tricks to be set a rough day of school. Let’s go.

 

Welcome to educate and rejuvenate the podcast to help you revitalize your teaching, renew your spirit and reignite your passion for life. I’m your host, Kelsey Sorensen, a former teacher, current homeschool mom, published author, and certified life coach. Whether you are a teacher in a traditional classroom homeschool from your kitchen table or Or anywhere in between.

 

I am on a mission to help you not only survive as an educator, but thrive. Get ready to uplevel your skills with incredible insights from guest experts and discover the missing piece, rejuvenating yourself. Are you ready to both educate and rejuvenate? Let’s go.

 

Welcome to educate and rejuvenate the podcast. I am so thrilled that you’re here, whether you were a longtime listener or first time listener, a new listener. I’m so thrilled that you have hit play on this episode. And I made it all the way through the intro and you’re still listening. This is a good one.

 

So glad you’re here. And these past few months here on the podcast and just in the educate and rejuvenate world in general have been such a beautiful whirlwind. I’ve loved the work I’ve been able to do the way I’ve been able to connect with so many of you through all of the lives they did for the launch of the educate rejuvenate book.

 

It was so much fun. We’re now diving into the book club for everybody who’s purchased a copy of the book. Every other week, we are getting together and discussing the concepts of the book and it has been beautiful and powerful. We’ve been on zoom so we can see each other’s faces.

 

, last week when we had our call, it was just incredible hearing. People share so vulnerably and openly and seeing that we are not alone in all these struggles as teachers. I really don’t want us to feel like we’re alone. And that is a lot of what I do here. Educate and rejuvenate is helping us to get to know ourselves more and also connect with each other.

 

So it has been beautiful, wonderful, launching this book, by the way, we also sent, if you are on our email list, make sure if you missed it. We sent out our first freebie for hitting 25 reviews of the book. We will send another freebie when we hit 50 reviews. If you’ve read the book and have not left a review on Amazon yet. Please do that.

 

It makes my absolute day. I read every single one. And when we hit 50 reviews, we will send another freebie out to our email list. And  if you’re a member of the education rejuvenate club and you’re like, I already have all your resources, by the way, when I say freebie, I mean a full sized resource that we’re going to send everyone, but our members already have them.

 

So we’ve got you covered too. If you are one of our members who you, the resources don’t do any good because you already get them in your membership. , we are doing a prepaid and Starbucks card for our members. So even more fun for educate. Rigidity club members. So leave your reviews on the book. Also the other fun thing that has been going on in the educate and rejuvenate space is we are now soft launching our educate and rejuvenate out to the public.

 

Meaning we haven’t done a big, like everybody get in the app or whatever, but go ahead and download the app. Right. So it started out only for our members. They were the first ones using it. And then the book buyers, cause we have a full section in the app that gets unlocked. When you purchase a copy of the book, it has so much stuff and all the book club replays and everything, but now anybody who goes and downloads educating rejuvenate app. the app store or Google play or whatever.

 

You will be able to get in. You, there will be some free meditations for you. We have a free coaching clip of the week, every week, a little clip from one of our coaching calls. The podcast is right in there. You can watch the podcast, the video version of these podcasts, and we’re actually thinking we’re going to post them behind the scenes for free, like last week we had some major bloopers in the episode that were kind of funny, but it was like, I don’t want to end the Polish one, but maybe we’ll put the bloopers in there.

 

I’m going to talk to Megan on my team about that. She’s the one who’s been editing these podcasts and putting them together. So thank you, Megan.  So it was a lot of fun. Just download the app.  Definitely in the beginning stages, but there’ll be more as it comes. Also, speaking of the app, we are hosting our next winter educated rejuvenate event here soon, and it is going to take place in that app, all of the sessions.

 

So you can watch them on the go. Our members and platinum pass holders have already loved being able to watch the summer sessions in the app. And winter is going to take place right inside the app to make it really. easy to attend the event to watch sessions to join in. It’s going to be such a great time. , And we have locked in our keynote for the winter event.

 

It is actually our first time doing a winter event publicly not only for our members, anyone is going to be able to come. And  we’ve done it that way for summer, but it’s our first one for winter, but there are some things we’re doing differently is going to be a little bit more of a like reset. We’re going to have some like fun sessions that are a little bit different because we know it’s not like you’re going to want to be bombarded with content.

 

You’re going to want to laugh. You’re gonna want to feel connection. You’re going to want to maybe. Boost your confidence, maybe even your style. Lots of fun things that keeping in mind that winter is more for refresh and the summer is more for content diving in a little deeper. You have more time, right?

 

So winter is going to be. A really fun, little bit of a different event than the summer ones. So if you love our events, make sure that you stay tuned. There’s some really exciting announcements to come with the winter educate and rejuvenate conference. Okay. So without further ado, let’s dive into today’s episode.

 

It’s an incredible interview with my friends, Emily and Heidi from second story window. I just love them. This is their second or third time on the podcast. I’m so happy to have them back. So I’m not going to do a formal intro cause they kind of talk about themselves too. but they are just amazing.

 

You need to follow them if you’re not already.  so we are talking about the four tricks to reset a rough day at school. Like I’m raising my hand that I need that. Right. These reminders were so good. And whenever they were like saying their answers, I just found myself like wanting to jump into bank.

 

Oh, yes. I so agree with that. And It really goes along with a lot of what we’re talking about here, but doing it with the students. And I love it so much. So. I just want to get right to this interview. Let’s go.

 

📍

 

Heidi, Emily. I’m so thrilled to have both of you here back on educate. Would you be at the podcast? It’s been a little bit and I can not wait to chat today.

 

Hi, thank you so much for having us on the show, Kelsey. For those of your listeners who don’t know us, I’m Emily. And I am Heidi.  We are two sisters and former classroom teachers who love to help other teachers elevate what matters and simplify the rest.  We are so excited to talk to you today about how to reset a rough day of school.

 

Like, probably all of you, we have lived through our fair share of bad days in the classroom.   So, we want to share some tips about what has worked for us and also the hard lessons we’ve learned of what not to do.

 

I love this topic so much. And I’m so glad that you brought it to the show today because all of us have definitely had those days. I had them in the classroom. I have them not with homeschool my own children, it can be so hard to get back on track sometimes, especially with all the emotions that we feel.

 

And I know we’re going to be talking about that. So I feel like this topic is perfect because not only is it like classroom management and dealing with children, but it really does tie into a lot of what we talk about here with coaching as well.  Super thrilled to be talking about this today.  The first question that I have for you. Is why do you think it’s so tempting to slog through, to the bell on tough days, rather than take a moment to reset?

 

Well, for starters, we’re all really tired,  so tired. So it feels a lot easier to just ride the wave to the end of the day. Sometimes it feels like that would be easier  and getting through the rest of the day.

 

Sometimes. is all you can do. That’s  , all you can personally handle is just slogging through to the end. But I think we sometimes discount how much energy it actually takes to slog through to the end.  It’s not a direct path to go just to make it through to the end of the day. It’s still really draining to put up with all of the things that are going wrong in your classroom.

 

It is actually maybe worth it to put in that effort to try and salvage the day. Even if you were,  in the last 45 minutes of the day, it is probably still worth it to put in some energy to try and just regroup and get everything back on track, even though dang, you are tired.

 

So tired, right?  That’s my teacher, tired is a big thing. You see all the time on Instagram, we have a lot going on, but like you said,  even though it might be the path of least resistance to just keep slogging through the day. It actually is harder. Right. It’s kind of like, we need to choose our heart.

 

Is that like, do we want the heart of having to slog through the day or the heart of, okay. Let’s take a moment. Let’s consciously do something to reset. So we’re going to talk about how we can do that today. So I’m really excited about that. So the next question, a lot of time. So the next question, a lot of times we’re having a tough day, but we’re like, oh no, we need to make sure I get through all this stuff.

 

And if I take a moment to reset, what am I going to do? So the next question, what tips do you have for balancing the immediate needs of the classroom? especially when you’re having a rough day.  With the longterm curriculum goals.

 

As a teacher, I have played that mental game. I don’t know if tennis is the same. the right analogy of the back and forth. I need to stop and regroup and redo this, but also time is ticking and we have to get the math lesson done because we have to get the science lesson done because if we get behind on these things, then like I’m going to be extra behind and I have You know, how the math goes,  trying to figure out like every minute in this day has to account for something because there’s just so much that has to get done.

 

But  if we are trying to push through and teach kids who are out of sync with what is. happening in the classroom, what we’re trying to do. It’s not like they are learning anyway. So all you’re doing is checking things off your list, but you’re not actually accomplishing anything. Oh, so true.  So you’re left with that choice between reteaching a whole lesson tomorrow or down the road, because they didn’t get what you were teaching today.

 

Or you can stop for 10 or 15 minutes and reset and regroup.  If you look at it that way, you’re actually saving time. By stopping and correcting the energy imbalance that has risen in your classroom, right?  📍 It’s  like taking the time to teach procedures really well at the beginning of the year, that if you take that time that feels like, Oh, I need to be getting into curriculum, but you take the time at the beginning of the year, you save time longterm.

 

Well, that same principle applies here on these tough days.

 

Yes, this is the same thing I’ve been preaching to, especially for those who’ve been listening to the podcast or especially if you’ve read my new book, educate and rejuvenate. I talk about consciously creating a schedule and, setting aside your time and actually setting aside time to figure out your schedule.

 

And a lot of times teachers are like, well, how do I find time for that? But really it’s more, how do I not find time for that? Because it really is a time saver in the long run. So this principle is the exact same thing. It’s  the same thing with our students. Like when they’re having a rough time or our own children, again, if you’re working with your kids at home, Like we can take that moment to reset.

 

And in the long run, it is going to help us to make it further, right. To be able to teach them from a regulated place, from a place where we can actually make stuff happen. So I love this. What are some common signs that a classroom day is off or heading in the wrong direction? So how can we know? Okay.

 

Now is maybe the time that we need to stop and reset.

 

Well, the first clue is often the noise level. So if you start feeling like your class is getting a lot louder than usual, that’s a pretty good clue that you are heading off in the wrong direction.

 

And often you might find that like things that normally run well, like maybe centers did great yesterday, And suddenly you’re having all these little hiccups and kids are wandering and things aren’t getting done and materials are being misused.  That should trigger your little teacher antenna should be going out to be like, is this a situation where the kids don’t know what to do?

 

Or is this a situation where the day is going off the rails? Because your response to those two things is probably going to be different.

 

If it’s a question of the kids not understanding the expectations, right? You can just re explain what you expect them to do. Maybe model it a little more and everything’s gonna get back on track. If it’s a question of the energy in the class going in an unproductive direction, you might have to do a little more.

 

It’s going to be a little. I think loosey goosey, less checklist y things, but we do have a few clear tips that you can use to apply to these moments

 

when all the little chicks are running all over the farmyard and you gotta get them back in place.

 

It really can feel that way sometimes. How, like we’re just chasing all these chicks in a million different directions. It’s like, what on earth am I supposed to do with all these different kids meeting different things? And I’m also supposed to get through this curriculum. And then sometimes that leads us to, again, maybe get dysregulated or maybe think thoughts like, oh my goodness, I just can’t do this.

 

Or whatever that causes us to feel overwhelmed, that caused us to feel stressed. That caused us to feel anxiety. What do we do when we feel like our classroom climate what’s going on in the room is just too overwhelming.  we feel like, oh, what am I supposed to do here? Like with myself, with the students.

 

Well, we love a list, especially a list that all starts with the same letter.  So how we remember the four things that you can do to turn around your bad day is the four C’s. So change, Connect, create, and center.

 

And you may need to do a combination of these things.  Now, of course,  they all start with C, but it just, I gotta say, it annoys me that the English language is such that they all start with C and there’s all the kinds of different C sounds. It’s true.  We can only do so much the way English is.

 

what I do love about it though, is that it helps us to remember, right. Okay. The four CS . That’s amazing. So tell me about the first one. How can we use change to help reset the day?

 

a handy little way to remember this is to do a change of place or a change of pace. So if your kids are at their desks and the work’s not getting done and they’re talking to each other and they’re fighting over pencils and crayons or whatnot, you could try changing the place.

 

Have everyone come to the rug  for. a different activity as a change of pace doing work in a new place. It’s suddenly going to feel like a treat, something special. You can also do it the opposite way. If you have an activity where kids are supposed to be working in small groups and  the climate in the class is just getting a little out of control.

 

Small groups might be too big. You can cut it down into pet partners. So there’s less opportunity for goofing off or if kids are working in partners and that’s still too much of a excuse to get off track, you could, turn the activity into an individual project. so kids are working on their own or at their desks.

 

So changing place, you could also,  do a lesson in an unusual spot. If you always do read aloud in one spot of the room, maybe try doing it in a different place of the room. Or if you, Really want to change the place you could go out to somewhere else in the school, you go out to the playground.

 

How excited would your class be to get to do math on the playground one day  now that could have the opposite effect of making kids more hyper instead of calming them down if that’s your goal. So, you know, Use wisely. Yes, this is a powerful tool. So you have to wield it well and know  which thing would make the most sense in the current situation based on what specifically is not going well in the moment.

 

Besides the change of place, you can also do a change of pace, meaning switch up your activities. So if you’re doing centers and it’s not going well, switch to having kids work at their desks on, Worksheets, because that’s what they can handle right then, or if kids are too drained and they’re not getting things done, you know, like a spring afternoon where your room is hot and they’re all wilting, change things up and do something a little more active or try.

 

Doing something as a whole group Changing the pace can inject some energy in the room Or it can drain some of the excess energy depending again like change a place depending on how you use that tool To meet the needs of your class that day.

 

Looking at you with your use of the English language and all of this. I love change of place. Change of pace, again, super easy to remember, but I do. I think that these things are going to be so helpful because switching it up really makes things exciting again for the kids.

 

Might re-engage them gets their brains activated again, instead of being in the same old, same old. . So I love this idea. I think it is a great way to reset and like it’s very conscious because you have to be okay, what change am I going to make? So I love this. Okay. The next C is connection.

 

And I think this is so important. And I talk about this a lot of times in coaching to that.  and we even say  you need to connect before you correct. Right. A big part of teaching is connecting with the kids, but I want to hear, what do you have to say about this? How can teachers use connection to re-engage students during those overwhelming moments?

 

one of the best things you can do if what your class is needing is connection is a group activity. And there’s a million things you could do as a group activity, but that’s a good one to have in your back pocket.

 

A group activity is a great way to get grounded and help everyone come together as a class and you can do something productive for your group activity like writing kind notes for the office assistants or Maybe something productive like going outside to clean up the playground and return to the office The random balls that are out there or something like that.

 

Those sort of activities can be a change of pace or change of place as well as a connecting activity.  Yeah, it’s really powerful for kids to get, to participate in something that has a measurable benefit to other people, you kind of get that helper’s high.

 

And that can be a powerful way to reset the energy in your classroom if things are,  if you’re all facing a rough day, but an activity doesn’t have to be that big to have the power of resetting. You could just, , call everyone in to the rug and share a story.

 

That’s one of them. I’ve probably mentioned that several times already in this podcast, because it’s just such a powerful way to reset. You’re sharing this community, this space together, and you’re having this shared experience where you’re all, you know, the way. You want to watch movies with a friend because it creates this shared experience.

 

So this is just a mini tiny version of that when you’re reading a book aloud.  Yeah, a read aloud at the carpet is a go to for connection for sure. And this is especially helpful if you can choose like just a fun book that you can enjoy together. We love the book with no pictures by BJ Novak. That’s just like kid humor at an 11.

 

Mm hmm.  Because laughing together is just such a powerful tool for connection.

 

Oh, my goodness. Yes. I so agree with this. In fact.  in my book, educate and rejuvenate, I talk about seven ways that we can complete the stress cycle that came from the research from Emily and Amelia Gosky. And a lot of times when we have a rough classes, actually a lot of dysregulation, both with our students and with ourselves.

 

And laughter is one of the seven ways we can do that. Laughter and connection. And you’re getting two in one with that. When you’re reading funny books or telling jokes, or just laughing together. So another thing that’s come up a lot in coaching with teachers and parents is accountability with kids. Like getting kids   actually take some ownership right. Of it, turning around the day and their own behavior and their part in this rough day. So how can you. Help students and encourage them to take ownership of helping to make that shift. During a difficult day.

 

Probably my go to strategy on a really rough day of school really leans on connection.

 

And what I do is I bring everybody to the carpet and we have a class meeting. And so we discuss how the day is going. I asked them how they think it’s going. I share any concerns that I have about. What’s happening in our classroom that day and then I involve them in the discussion about what we’re gonna do to fix it so we talk about what they can do to help turn the day around and You’ll be surprised at the good suggestions that they will have to fix the problem, and they’re going to be so much more invested in changing their behavior and helping  write the school day onto the right course again.

 

When they’re part of the solution, being part of the solution really helps those kids feel connected as a class, and it helps them have a personal sense of ownership over what’s going on in the classroom and what can be done to help.  And I think having a meeting about or at least a discussion about what’s going on and what needs to change can also help.

 

Make kids aware of the problem. A lot of times, you know, kids, kids are a bit oblivious. If you haven’t noticed,  they’re very much in their own little worlds. That’s part of being a kid.  So when we can help call attention to what is going wrong.

 

It helps open their eyes to what is happening around them and how they can be helping solve that problem going forward.

 

It’s just another way to give them tools to be problem solvers instead of always needing direction on the next steps that they should be taking.

 

I love the idea of a meeting of actually being very upfront and pointing it out because like you said, children can be so oblivious as a parent and a teacher. I have definitely seen that. So I love this so much. Okay. So we’ve talked about change, we’ve talked about connection. So what role does creating play in resetting a tough day?

 

Any kind of creative activity will work here, so that could be guided drawing activities, which can be a good way To bring the level down in your class if things are getting a little chaotic,  or you could have them build something together  or maybe individually.

 

So doing brain breaks together is one of our favorite ways to create some fun in the classroom or singing a silly song. This is something I always share about when I was in the classroom when I was really fed up with my class and they were just making me crazy.

 

I would have them do that tootie ta song because they looked so silly and I would laugh so hard you. That I would just fall in love with them again and they would get all their laughter out and we’d all have such a fun, memorable time together. So I would save doing that song for really rough moments only.

 

It’s so smart to have a backup like that, that you can just,  pull out in those tough moments. If you don’t have a favorite song. Or if you need a backup to 2DTA. Having a joke book in your class is a great way to just share some fun with your class.  The dumber the joke, the funnier the kids think it is.

 

Oh, 100%. They’re the easiest audience you’ll ever have. So just, reading a few jokes together can really go a long way. Yeah, because laughing together is such a great way to change a conversation. Everyone’s mood. And that alone can just turn the whole day around.

 

And another avenue for fun is probably your kid’s favorite.

 

And that is to give an extra recess, even if it’s only just a mini recess in the class and you get out the inside recess games or you all just, play heads up seven up really quick.

 

Or my favorite is lazy lions. This is such a good game  because the kids have to be quiet. So if you don’t know lazy lions, I’ve heard different versions of this, but we played. This is the version that was taught to me. So this is what I taught my class. So one kid is the lion tamer. Everyone else is a lion and what do lions do?

 

They sleep. So kids have to spread out around the room and they have to find a place to sleep. I didn’t make them close their eyes.  The  📍 rule was  they could breathe and blink, but otherwise they have to be completely still. And of course, with kids, you have to have those rules because, you know, kids will get you on technicalities every time.

 

So, they could be, anyway, so then the lion tamer walks around and be like, Oh, Ryan, I see you moved your foot. And I made them, again, kids on technicalities, I made them say, What the part of the body is moving  because otherwise the kids are, I didn’t know. And then I’d have to have a talk about you sometimes move and you don’t even know.

 

Anyway,  aren’t they delightful?  So the lion tamers are all right. And your foot moved. Now, Ryan Hop said, no, we have two lion tamers. And they go around trying to catch all the other lions moving.  And then I think the idea is to wait till you have your last line. And that becomes the next line tamer. I didn’t wait that long.

 

I wait till I waited till there were like three or four kids left. And, once. 16 other kids are yelling at them and you’re like, okay, everybody up, let’s start over. Let’s play a new round. Or you can just move on at that point. Like you’ve had a little break. You’ve had some fun together. You’re connecting.

 

This is all three of those C’s right together. The three C’s we’ve talked about so far, right? We’ve changed something. We’re creating some fun and we’re connecting.  That’s magic right there for resetting a rough day.

 

I love this, like these opportunities for creativity and fun and getting up and moving all of these are ways that we regulate too. So it’s just perfect. It really ties into a lot of what. We’ve been talking about to do for ourselves, but we need to do this with our kids too. I love getting out the music.

 

I love playing games. Love all of these tips. Okay. So the final one we haven’t talked about yet is centering, which is something I totally love. I want to hear how can centering, help reset a tough day.

 

Well, maybe we should have started with centering because it is so important and so effective. Mm-Hmm. . So when I’m, thinking of centering, I’m thinking of  calming, grounding, just getting back  in that plane where you are in control of your body instead of your emotions running the show.

 

And this is probably more important on days where the day is rough because the kids are hyper than it is  on days where,  it might be rough for other reasons, but if your kids are pushing all your buttons, I think the first thing to do as a centering tool is as the teacher.

 

To recognize how you’re feeling, that you got that tightness in your chest and your shoulders are tight and you’re about to lose it, right? The first thing is just to pause and breathe as the teacher.  We need to create some space so the rational part of your brain can catch up with the panicking part of your brain.

 

Because otherwise the panicking part  of your brain loves to call the shots. We don’t need her calling the shots.  And then once you have calmed yourself a little bit, invite your students to pause and breathe as well. When I taught second grade, we would do this at least twice a day. I always did it at the end of morning meeting.

 

And then anytime during the day when we needed just a little bit of regrouping and I had a predictable set of instructions that I always gave because I wanted my students brains to start to connect the verbal cue with calming down. So I said something like sit up straight,  take a deep breath in and feel the air, get all the way into your lungs,  slow breath out, rest your hands on your lap or let them or down by your sides, look down at the floor, close your eyes.

 

I didn’t expect my students. I wanted them to close their eyes because that is more calming, but also like some kids just are not going to feel safe  closing their eyes in a room full of people. So I didn’t. Make that mandatory. They could just like down on the ground and panic. And then it was take a deep breath in,  long breath out,  keep breathing slowly.

 

I’ll mind the time and I’ll let you know when we’re finished. And so then I’d give them anywhere from 30 seconds to 90 seconds and we had to work up to 90 seconds. So don’t feel bad if you have to start at five seconds in your class, but  they can develop that. And I actually had a student at the end of the year once, and it, I If you had asked, I would have said this is the kid that needed at least, because it was,  one of my kids, it was always on top of it and getting things done.

 

But he specifically thanked me for help teaching him how to breathe because it had helped him so much with his anxiety in other areas, like, wait, cause he was playing baseball. And  I thought, Oh, okay. It really does matter to give tools for managing stress in their lives. And  when the day is rough, that’s what it is because.

 

Yeah. We’re stressed. Either  we’re to have too much energy or not enough energy or energy going in the wrong directions, right? We just need to refocus and stopping and breathing is such a powerful tool for that.

 

And you can add to that with, a change of place by having everyone stand up and do some gentle stretching, or if you know some yoga or you could put on, I know they have tons of kids yoga videos. I would just always recommend previewing anything before you show it to your class, because  we don’t want to end up on the evening news,  for having shown something that wasn’t appropriate.

 

If my class really needed a reset and. Stretching and breathing wasn’t going to cut it. Sometimes I would turn out the lights and I always warn them ahead of time. Cause you know, if you turn the lights off on kids, they all start yelling.  I can hear the screen right now, but I would,  let them know, , rest your head on your desk.

 

I would turn out the lights and play a soft song. And this is my  favorite song for this is called asleep. The snow came flying. It’s an instrumental song with Clarinet. I don’t know. It’s just  almost like a drug to my sensory system. It’s just so calming.  Sometimes I would do a guided meditation with my class.

 

I had a book of kids meditations that worked really well. So getting centered like that is really such a powerful way to use the body to help adjust the energy that is coming from the mind, right?

 

When we can get kids  centered, grounded, pulled back into their bodies a little bit, it can help. Refocus the energy in the room. It’s just the climate in the classroom so that you can have a peaceful, happy, productive day.

 

Meditation and yoga have been such powerful tools for me, for my kids as well with when we need to center it such a good way to tune back in. Feel what’s going on in your body. And the great thing is it’s an opportunity for you to do it. Like you mentioned, we need to do it too. And our kids and doing it together. I love putting on peaceful music or even nature sounds, those have been proven to really help calm our bodies, calm the nervous system and all of that.

 

Oh, this is so good to centering is such a necessary tool as teachers. I feel like so much of this stuff we’re talking about today is what we should have learned in college, but maybe didn’t when we were all learning how to become teachers or even just parents. We need to know this.

 

And if you’re not sure where to start with doing yoga with your kids. Jyzelle from kids. Yoga stories is going to be on the podcast next week. So stay tuned, make sure you’re subscribed. Or if you’re listening to this later, just listen on to the next episode. It will tie right into this one. So I love it.

 

, another question. So what do you do about environmental factors? Like for example, a full moon. I just posted some memes on Instagram last week when we had the Hunter’s moon, the full moon, the brightest biggest one in all of 20, 24. And it got like over 5,000 likes, then almost 4,000 shares. Cause everybody’s. Everybody is like, oh my gosh, this moon is insane.

 

Kids’ behavior is insane. And even for me, my five-year-old woke up all through the night. He doesn’t do that anymore, but it was the night of the full moon. I’m like, oh my goodness.  Is something.  But anyways, also an upcoming break,  like holiday breaks coming up or Halloween, right.

 

Oh my goodness. What do you do about these things, that impact classroom dynamics and how do you adapt to them?

 

The good thing is that if you can predict it, you can plan for it in advance. And there are many disruptions that you can see coming from a mile away.

 

So for example, you know that the last few days before winter break are not going to be your most productive. Those are going to be very disruptive in your classroom. You can also probably predict that Halloween or the Day before after Halloween is probably going to be chaotic and yeah, if you know the full moon is coming, any experienced teacher will tell you that that is going to impact your students if there’s a full moon.

 

So if you just know in advance that those things are coming, you can have a plan for what you’re going to do when they inevitably lose it.  Yeah, you know, it’s coming. So you might as well just have that already. In your plans for, you know, the day before Halloween, we’re not going to do centers because I know they won’t be able to handle that.

 

So we’re going to change our plans and we’re going to do more individual work at desks just to head off that chaos. But unfortunately you cannot always predict what will set your class off. My second grade classroom didn’t have any windows in it.  I know, right? Tell me about it. But somehow I could always predict when an incoming storm arrived because that change in barometric pressure  would make my class way more squirrely.  But I couldn’t know that that was necessarily coming too far in advance. So, it’s smart to have a bag of tricks that you can turn to in those rough moments. We talked about how Emily saved Tuti Ta for those rough moments. You could have the joke book on hand or fun read alouds if you want, you could try preparing a playlist of calming music  or a playlist  of brain break videos you like, or things like that. Just knowing that you have some things that you can fall back on can really help you as a teacher in that moment when, again, we know you are so tired and these kids are being so naughty,  but you don’t have to make decisions.

 

You don’t have to rack your brain for an idea because you already. you’ve seen this coming, even if you couldn’t know that a fire drill was going to derail your entire day that day,  because you have prepared for this moment in advance by having a few tools that you could just pull out whenever you need them.

 

Yes. I feel like this is another one of those things where we can really prepare ahead of time more than we think, even when it’s an unprepared a situation, kind of like how we want to have a subtype ready to go for when we might need to call in a sub at the last minute, right?

 

You have plans ready to go. Same thing, having a joke book on hand, having a playlist ready, or those videos can be a way where you’re like, okay, I know what to do. And especially if you are like in the emotions and everything, you  have a routine, you have a system, so you don’t have to figure it out when your brain or your body isn’t in the best. State to be problem solving.

 

You’ve already made that decision ahead of time. So I love this so much.

 

Next question is, do you see a difference? So what do you do about a day that starts off rough? Like from the get go versus one that maybe starts fine, but starts to go off the rails.

 

If I have a day that starts rough, probably my first line of defense is just going to be revisiting expectations and procedures. Cause I know that I need to lean into structure because if they’re starting to get overwhelmed, it’s like the kindling waiting for a fire.

 

I don’t want that kindling to turn into a metaphorical blaze later on in the day. And so I can often get the day going in the right direction just by revisiting those expectations and procedures early in the day and getting everyone back on track.

 

But if it’s starting to get rough later in the day, I’m going to lean more on those four C’s to help refocus everybody and get us back on track.

 

Yes, they do think when it’s a bit later in the day, sometimes it can feel a little more tricky. It’s when, especially if it’s after lunch is when everybody’s a little tired, a little ready for a break. And so that is when yeah, those four CS might need a little more than just revisiting expectations.

 

We might need to do all of those. So I love that we’ve been able to review them today. So you all know if you’ve been listening to this podcast, how I feel about us as teachers paying attention to our own feelings, our own thoughts, everything that’s going on for ourselves.

 

So we can be the best teacher we can be. But I want to hear from you too. So Emily and Heidi, why is it so important for teachers to recognize and honor their own feelings, their own emotions during these difficult days?

 

I think as we’ve all learned, teaching will ring everything from you if you let it, and my hand is up. I am first in line for being guilty of this, where I just push past my own exhaustion and shove down my own frustration because there’s so much that has to get done.

 

I don’t have time to process  and take care of what I need. But because,  when you start to ignore your needs, you end up having less and less to give each day. And that’s how you burn out when you’re just left with nothing left to give because you’ve not taken the time to recognize what you need on a difficult day and that difficult days take a toll and it’s okay to be tired and it’s okay to need something more.

 

After you have just dealt with those little darlings who pushed every last button, doesn’t make you a bad teacher. It doesn’t make you a bad teacher. It doesn’t take away from the value of what you have to offer your class. But if we’re not stopping to really recognize that, yeah, today was hard.

 

Here’s what I’m going to do tomorrow to take care of that. And here’s what I’m going to do now to take care of me.  Right. That’s why we just get to the end of the day at the end of the week, you know how it gets on Friday afternoons where you just, you’re crawling to your car because you’re so tired.

 

We want to be able to stop that trajectory. We want to stop that pattern from taking so much from us.

 

Yes. Back crawling to your car, feeling that I am just so overwhelmed. I feel like I’m about to fall over that. Like I can’t, I just go from teacher to mom or dad or to whatever one thing after the next go, go, go.

 

It is. A lot and we need to take care of ourselves, but the problem is so many teachers aren’t and I’m with you. We need to stop that trajectory. We need to change that trajectory while we still count. We need a change of pace for us as teachers to write. And that is why we’re here. That’s why we’re talking about this today.

 

That’s why this podcast and your podcast exists so we can help teachers to stop this. And that’s why I wrote a whole book about it too.  Really  we need to stop it. We need to just take care of ourselves. We deserve it. So the last question is what are some strategies that teachers can use to care for themselves after a rough day at school?

 

I think the first and probably most important thing you need to do is leave work at work.

 

Okay. Disconnect from all of your stress and worries for the class today and just get out of there as soon as you can and  tuck away all of your worries for today. You need to just, you need to disconnect sometimes and just, you’ll deal with work again when you get there tomorrow. Your job is not your whole life.

 

Don’t let it become your whole life. and Take that disconnect that you deserve. I think it’s also really important after leaving work on a rough day to find something that can refill your bucket. , spend time doing something you love, something relaxing, spend time with the people that fill you up so that you have something that you can give back to  so that you have some energy in your tank to face the next day.

 

And also remember that one bad day in the classroom is just. It’s part of the process of being a teacher and it doesn’t define you as a teacher. It doesn’t mean that you are not a good teacher. It doesn’t necessarily mean you hate your job. If you come home and you’re like, that was the worst day ever, that is all just part of this and it doesn’t have to mean anything other than today was a rough day.

 

And I think we also have to recognize that.  Rough days are just part of life with children and it’s just being a human. Yes. In a system that we don’t get to control. So one thing that can be useful is just when you’re in those rough days to recognize that  there are hundreds and hundreds of teachers who are also having a terrible day of teaching   And that you can make a plan in advance for what to do when those rough days hit so that you’re not left scrambling or scrounging or just pushing through to the end.

 

Actually have some tools that you can pull out and fall back on without needing to add more work at a time when you’re already so tired.

 

I love what you shared about just  accepting the day for what it is, . That’s something I’ve been really practicing lately is a concept called radical acceptance or surrendering.  Just realizing that. This is how it is, and this is how I feel about it. Sometimes I have these feelings, like we have all the feelings, right.

 

And just being like, yeah, today’s a rough day. Other teachers in the world are having a rough day, too. It’s okay to have a rough day. Sometimes this is just part of it. This is normal. That was actually something in an Instagram really just post with quoting Taylor swift, even like even Taylor swift has these right.

 

These rough days, we all do right. So I think it’s just so important to remember that, that we are all doing our best at any given time. And sometimes we have rough days and then we’re going to have better days too. So that’s just something to always remember. And we can use all these tips, these strategies, so to help turn those days around and learn from them and possibly like. It can be a good thing because then we have the opportunity to practice these four CS so we can connect more with our students so we can learn new strategies that then make it easier the next time.

 

So can you review those four CS for us one last time to  wrap this all up.

 

Hopefully those four C’s can come in handy. Remember that a change, connection, creativity, and centering can help reset the roughest day.

 

I love that such a beautiful way to sum this up. Even the toughest day, we can. Turn it around with these tools. Thank you so much for being here on the podcast. Can you share a little bit about,  how our listeners, if they want to hear more from you, how they can follow you, where they can find you, et cetera.

 

That was such a fun conversation with you, Kelsey. Thank you so much for having us on your show. So fun to talk to you.  If your listeners want to hear more from us, they can find us every week. They can find us every week on the Teacher Approved Podcast. And we also just started a new fun side project for anyone who feels stressed about planning the holiday season, teacher or not.

 

We just launched our new podcast called The Holiday Head Start, where we’re sharing how we’ve  📍 used  the skills we learned as teachers to create the perfect planning system for calming the chaos in December. So we would love to have your listeners come find us on our podcasts, or they can also find us on Instagram and Facebook.

 

I love it. You all need to follow Emily and Heidi on both of these podcasts, they are just awesome. And you could hear their sister banter and everything. I loved it in this episode today. Make sure that you follow them. And I’ve been so excited about this little side project they’ve been doing. I’ve been hearing about it for  a whole year, since it was just like an idea.

 

Emily and I, we send messages back and forth and stuff. And so it’s been fun to see this project come to fruition. So make sure to follow it. I can’t wait to learn some awesome things about the holiday season and making it less stressful as well. So, so much fun. Okay, everybody make sure you subscribe to both their shows.

 

Make sure you’re also subscribed here. At educate and rejuvenate the podcast.  We have Well from kids, yoga stories going to be on next week. So that little part we touched on about yoga, we’re going to talk so much more about it next week, so make sure you’re subscribed. So you don’t miss it. Also, don’t forget that you can watch these podcasts and write.

 

You’re going to be putting some behind the scenes in the educate and rejuvenate mobile app. It is available to download. Now. We also have a free. Coaching clip of the week that you can check out only in the app. We also have a few free guided meditations in there and for our educated rejuvenate club members.

 

Oh my goodness. You get to unlock everything in there with all the coaching replays, all the educated. And rejuvenate events and everything right at your fingertips. And even the ASCA coach where you can like ask me a question, anytime, type it in. I respond to them about weekly, so much fun. I love the new app is so bad. And last reminder, if you have purchased a copy of my new book, educate and rejuvenate.

 

Thank you so much. I appreciate it. I hope you’re enjoying it. we are sending free products to our entire email list. Every time we hit a review to your on Amazon right now, as I’m recording, we are at well, I don’t know. Let me check. How many reviews are we at?

 

We are at 31 reviews, so exciting.

 

So we already sent,  a product, our Halloween directed drawings to everyone on our email list. When we hit 25, we’re going to send our Christmas ones to everyone when we hit 50 reviews. So if you’ve been reading the book. Make sure to go to educate and rejuvenate the book on Amazon and leave a review.

 

It is the best way to help me get this work in front of more people, because the book really goes so in depth about everything that we talk about here. Now, if you haven’t checked it out yet, I would highly recommend checking it out. I mean,  don’t take it from me. Here’s what, one of the recent reviews of the book has to say.

 

So here’s what  Claire had to say, she said this breed was like, I was her fellow teacher, friend, and I would disagree. And not along to a lot of what she had felt or went through. I’ve also attended some of her workshops. And her guidance and three-step framework helps not only.  In your teacher life in your daily life, a recommend this book to pre-teacher to the 20 year veteran. Five star review, check it out, go to Amazon, check out the book and again, make sure you stay tuned for next week to buh-bye.

 

Thank you for joining me on educate and rejuvenate the podcast today. If you love what you heard in this episode, be sure to hit subscribe. So you don’t miss the next one. And if you’re hungry for even more, be sure to check out the book that I wrote. It’s called educate and rejuvenate a three step guide to revitalize your teaching, renew your spirit.

 

And reignite your passion for life. It takes everything you learn here on the podcast and that I teach our members inside the educate and rejuvenate club into a guidebook. You can refer to again and again, one of our early readers said it was like clarity for her brain. Plus it’s not only a book with your purchase.

 

You’ll get a full. PDF guide with exercises and links to videos and more so that you can not only consume but apply everything that you learn. If you’re ready to make Educate and Rejuvenate not just a podcast you passively listen to, but a lifestyle that you put into action, it’s time to grab your copy on Amazon today or head to  educateandrejuvenate.

 

com book to read the first chapter and the introduction today.