Teaching to the TOP

Latest Episodes:

069. A Week in the Life of a Teacher | Bridget Apr 22, 2021

Show notes

Join Bridget Spackman, creator of Bridging Literacy and face of the Lettered Classroom as she shares her week of navigating a busy to-do schedule and a life with two rambunctious boys, her golden-doodle, Walter, and husband.

Bridget shares how she structures her work work to ensure that she is moving forward in her business, as an educator, and spending time with family.

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068. Google Drive: The What, Why and How for Teachers Apr 15, 2021

Show notes

Are you still using a Flash Drive or External Hard Drive? Do you store all of your documents on your desktop? Is your organization system nonexistent? If you’ve said yes to any one of these questions, this podcast episode is for you.

So much of what we do as educators is now online. 2020 has thrusted our careers into the digital age and now is the time to begin embarrassing what technology can do for your productivity and for your teaching. However, new ways of going about every day can pose new problems. Today, we are giving you one really BIG solution to several problems.

The first is to STOP using a flash drive or external hard drive to store your documents. The risk of you forgetting, damaging or even losing these portable devices is not worth the hours and pain you might suffer. Google Drive is the solution for you. We know. You might be thinking but I’ve used it and I like having all my items on a flash drive. We get it. In fact, Bridget was echoing your thoughts not too long ago.

Google Drive is a free, online cloud-based storage solution through Google. This is a place to store all your documents and files. You receive 15GB for free but there are reasonable paid options for either a monthly or yearly rate. This is connected to your Google account and it has integrated applications such as Google Slide, Google Docs, Google Sheets and more.

In this episode we share our knowledge on the what, why and how of Google Drive for teachers. In this episode you will learn…

How to create a free Google Drive account
Tips for organizing your Google Drive folders
Tips for converting Powerpoint or Word files to Google Drive
Methods for customizing your Google Drive
Tips for maximizing your productivity in Google Drive

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067. A Week in the Life of a Teacher | Michelle Apr 08, 2021

Show notes

Ever wonder how Michelle Emerson tackles her busy schedule? This week Michelle is sharing her new schedule as she transitions to hybrid in the middle of the year. Listen as she shares how she manages to accomplish her goals, keep her school work at school and manage a successful business and YouTube channel.

Michelle will dig deep into how she establishes her plan for the day, tackles a busy to-do list and establishes boundaries for doing more of what she loves.

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066. How WE Play Catch-up When We Get Behind Apr 01, 2021

Show notes

Life has a way of throwing curveballs, especially during times when you feel like you have it all together. Earlier this year we both had a period that took the rug right out from under us. It put us behind in our personal tasks, and work tasks. While this can be overwhelming and frustrating, there are strategies that have helped us not only reduce stress but also play catch-up.

While these tips we are sharing are not evolutionary, they are a good reminder during difficult times. Save this episode, and come back to it as a mode of inspiration that will guide you through stressful and overwhelming times.

In this episode we share:

Prioritize what is important (What is glass and what is rubber?)
Create a plan but brain dumping every task and to-do in your head
There are times when we have to break the rules
Ask for help, and know that this does not make you a failure

LINKS:

045. The REALITY of Establishing Balance

064. How WE Handle Stress as a Teacher

Submit your TSH

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065. 10 Easy to Implement Grading Hacks Mar 25, 2021

Show notes

There are always things that get in the way of our teaching. We have papers overflowing our desks, copies that need to be made, and emails that need to be answered. At the end of January we asked you which would you choose and overwhelmingly, you all said no grading.

Today we want to share 10 hacks that will help you tackle your grading woes!

10 EASY TO IMPLEMENT GRADING HACKS

Hack 1: Stop Grading Everything
Hack 2: Create a Template
Hack 3: Schedule a Time
Hack 4: Batch your Grading
Hack 5: Create a paper Flow System
Hack 6: Alphabetize Your papers
Hack 7: Use Technology
Hack 8: Squeeze It In
Hack 9: Use a Grading Station
Hack 10: Check in and Grade

Links:

30 Days to ONLY Working Contract Hours

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064. How WE Handle Stress as a Teacher Mar 18, 2021

Show notes

Everyone experiences stress, but how we choose to handle stress can determine the impact that it has on your overall happiness and productivity. Most of us view stress with a negative connotation, but stress can in fact be healthy to experience.

Consider how diamonds are created. The pressure experienced reveals a beautiful diamond that can last for years to come. When we understand how we respond to stress then we can develop strategies for how we plan on controlling the stress in the long term.

Over the years we have experienced a variety of stress as teachers. In this episode, we are sharing some of our tips on how we personally handle stress as teachers. We hope these tips will help you in the same way that they have helped us.

In this episode we share:

Try and be proactive so that you are not completely blindsided
Ask yourself what habits you can put in place not to prevent stress from occurring
Create a checklist of tasks you need to complete and place them categories
Create a plan for getting it all done
Stress comes from worry, so developing a plan will create structure for how you plan on accomplishing your tasks
Focus on the one task causing you the most stress
Have a productive way to release stress
Reevaluate your goals and tasks to stay focused and keep you on the right path

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063. Notes App: The What, Why, and How for Teachers Mar 11, 2021

Show notes

Everyday we forget tasks that need to be completed because we fail to process the information and write it down. So often, we tell ourselves “Oh, I need to remember to…” only to forget it with little hope in recovery of what we intended to do in the first place. We have a solution to this problem!

The Notes app is a free app that comes standard to Apple devices. You are able to take and store various types of notes and access the information across all Apple devices that are connected to the cloud. This application has the potential to store brain dumps, checklists, recipes, gift ideas and more.

Learn how we use this app to increase our productivity, reduce forgetfulness, and organize various aspects of our life. You’ll discover the WHAT, WHY and HOW of the Notes App.

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062. We Took a Personality Test… Here are the Results! Mar 04, 2021

Show notes

We did it! We took a personality test and we are sharing it all in today’s episode. We have been seeing a lot of educators discuss their Enneagram online and we thought it would be fun to take an enneagram ourselves and discuss what it means for our productivity as teachers.

An Enneagram personality tests describes personality in terms of nine types, each driven by their own set of core emotions, fears, and beliefs. The free test which can be found here takes about 10-15 minutes to complete and asks you a series of 105 questions in which you place your response on to a scale of least to greatest.

This was Bridget’s first time taking the test and Michelle’s second time. Listen in as we discuss our Enneagram types and whether or not we agree with the results.

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061. 10 Easy to Implement Time Management Hacks Feb 25, 2021

Show notes

We all love a good hack. It’s not because of the creativity behind the design but because of how simple it can make seemingly complicated tasks. It can be easy to over complicate things especially when we are in search of solutions. But here is the thing, you can make small changes that add up to big results!

We’ve got 10 simple hacks that you can start to implement TODAY and start seeing amazing results. Now remember, you do not have to do all of these; in fact, we recommend that you do not try all of these at once. Choose one hack to start with and add one each week as you feel more confident.

OUR 10 EASY TO IMPLEMENT HACKS

Hack #1: Follow the 2-minute rule

Hack #2: Eat the frog

Hack #3: Set timers

Hack #4: Pomodoro principle

Hack #5: Lock your phone

Hack #6: Create a micro-productivity list

Hack #7: Double up

Hack #8: Use shortcuts

Hack #9: Use headphones

Hack #10: Just one more thing

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Are you subscribed to our podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. Click here to subscribe to iTunes!

Until next time… be timely, stay organized, and be productive… buh-bye… see ya!

060. How to Stop Wasting Your Planning Period Feb 18, 2021

Show notes

One of the biggest challenges that teachers face is not having enough time to get everything done. We completely agree.

Teachers have a LOT of responsibilities and it seems like we are always bombarded with more responsibilities each year. However, when we look underneath the surface at the root of the issue, we see that some of our struggles can be due to ill prepared planning periods.

We know that you are mentally fatigued by the time you get to your planning period. Many of us have good intentions but reach a point of exhaustion that prevents us from accomplishing our tasks. The truth is, if we plan on working only contract hours as a teacher then we need to use the time in our contract hours wisely.

Don’t forget we have a freebie for you! If you want to reach the point where you are working less contract hours, check out our 30 Days to Working Only Contract Hours resource.

In this episode we share 6 Tips that have helped us work only contract hours without compromising our commitment and service to our students.

Tip #1: Decide Your Greater Purpose

Tip #2: Choose Tasks that Match your Time Frame

Tip #3: Have a Plan for Your Planning Time

Tip #4: Prepare Your Workspace

Tip #5: Reduce Distractions

Tip #6: Be Like Nike

Noteworthy in the Episode:

Understanding that we are more than just teachers and we have passions outside of school drive us to organizing our time more effectively.
Creating a plan for your planning time will reduce the waiting period and increase your motivation and focus.
Focus on doing tasks that will help move you forward. Cleaning your room or a students desk are distractions from your goals.
We have to learn to stand up for ourselves and our time. You can politely say you have work to do. Just remember to follow up and stay connected with your peers.

LINKS

Check out our Digital Planner!

007: Lesson Planning Like a PRO!

30 Days to Only Working Contract Hours

SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW

Are you subscribed to our podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. Click here to subscribe to iTunes!

Until next time… be timely, stay organized, and be productive… buh-bye… see ya!

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