256. Lessons Learned: How We’ve Grown Since the First Day of School

Teaching to the TOP

Teaching on the Double

Parenting, Education, Self-improvement, Kids & Family

4.8 • 667 Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2025

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The start of the school year feels like a fresh notebook—full of possibilities but sometimes a little overwhelming. Now that we’re mid-year, it’s the perfect time to reflect on how we’ve grown, what’s working, and what we’re leaving behind. From time management tweaks to major productivity wins, we’re sharing the lessons we’ve learned since that first bell rang in August. If you’ve ever felt like you’re running on a hamster wheel, struggling to stay organized, or wondering how to work smarter (not harder), this episode is for you! ✨ What You'll Hear in This Episode: ✅ How we’ve shifted from survival mode to sustainable balance in time management✅ The organization systems that have transformed our spaces (goodbye, clutter!)✅ Productivity hacks we’ve adopted, from calendar blocking to template creation✅ How Bridget finally stopped shoving things into baskets (LOL)✅ Why mid-year reflection is key to finishing the school year strong SUBMIT YOUR TIME SUCKING HURDLE! We want to know what is sucking up all of your time either as a teacher or just a person. Head over to our website and submit your TSH so that you can have a chance to be featured on the podcast! 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! Now if you’re feeling extra loving, We would be really grateful if you left us a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find our podcast and they’re also fun for us to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let us know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

Transcript

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0:00.0	Well, hello there, top teachers. We are your host, Bridget Spackman and Michelle Emerson, and we are here to
0:05.9	make your life easier by helping you master your time, organization, and productivity as a teacher.
0:11.9	The 24-25 school year brought about some big changes for the both of us. Having a mid-year reflection
0:18.3	is just a great way to be able to celebrate those wins and look forward to finishing the year strong.
0:23.9	So in this episode, we're going to share how we've grown since the first day of school.
0:29.1	But first, I want to do a TSA from Katie.
0:32.0	And I think this is Katie.
0:33.5	I think we know Katie.
0:35.0	Katie came from Canada.
0:36.5	Yes, yes.
0:37.2	This has got to be her. I'm hoping that this is the Katie. Katie came from Canada. Yes, yes. This has got to be her.
0:38.2	I'm hoping that this is the Katie.
0:41.2	So Katie says, I always look forward to listening to your podcast episodes.
0:45.5	Thank you for modeling and setting boundaries and the need to step back a bit.
0:50.0	I hope you're both doing well.
0:51.5	My time-sucking hurdle is planning.
0:57.6	In Ontario, Canada, we have a curriculum. Our curriculum is what you would call standards. And in my board, we don't have any
1:04.0	teaching resources except for an online account to Mathup and Pearson's Phonics companion. No
1:10.6	training and both are optional to use.
1:13.9	The only thing that is mandatory to use purchased for each K2 teacher and were given
1:19.4	release time for online self-guided training was the Acadian screener, which was mandatory
1:24.5	to complete on each student this fall. Resources and planning is left up to our professional judgment, which was mandatory to complete on each student this fall.
	...

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