What a treat it is to have Angela back on the podcast again, Angela Watson and I both have a heart for teachers because we were teachers and amazingly it's so amazing to me that Angela and I both wanted to reduce the overwhelm for teachers and we literally set out to do it in the exact opposite way.

Angela helps teachers organize their lesson plans and their classroom management and all the things that are teacher-y and I in the education work box organize all the invisible work, the administrative stuff, the things that we don't even want to realize that teachers do, the exact opposite.

But together Angela and I are two peas in a pod, you need both of these peas in order to get your classroom organized. So listen into this conversation, Angela and I are going to have about how to reduce the overwhelm for teachers so that we have less burnout, so we have amazing teachers in the classroom longer doing what they are uniquely gifted and created to do.

Angela, welcome back to the organized 365 podcast.

Thanks for having me Lisa.

I'm super excited to have this conversation we've done this a couple of times now on both of our podcasts. I love I just like the Wednesday podcast episode that will have just aired before we record this one is a teacher Angela who was burned out quit teaching ended up hospitalized she was so burned out.

And then she found organized 365 and they're organized 365 she found you.

And now 10 years later with the education work box and the 40 hour work week, she is going back to teaching this fall.

That's amazing.

That is amazing. It's just amazing because teachers love to teach I mean teaching is a calling as much as it is a profession.

I mean it's just something that we love to do and we do it sometimes to the detriment of ourselves and our families.

And you know teachers are burning out for many reasons, but it's because it is hard to balance home life and teaching and you and I have approached this from 180 degree different ends of the spectrum.

But yet it is working so well for teachers you organize the actual teaching part of teaching and we organized the invisible part of teaching what are you seeing with the teachers that you're working with.

I think you're exactly right about teaching being something that people are really passionate about like very few people leave because they just don't enjoy teaching anymore.

If they're not enjoying the job, which is very different from not enjoying teaching, it's because they don't have the resources and support that they need.

And there tends to be just a lot of sadness guilt about leaving the classroom because it is something that it becomes part of your identity.

And so it's like if I'm not in the classroom if I'm not a teacher, then what am I actually doing and so that's just so exciting to think about the kinds of resources and support that a teacher could get from your program from my program from other resources to supplement what they are aren't getting in their school district to help them stay in the classroom keep doing the job they love is just that's phenomenal and that's what this work is all about.

Yeah, and I don't think we know teacher went into teaching thinking it was going to be nine to five like we all knew we were going to put in more than 40 hours a week during the school year and yes, we get the summers off, but you know what I'm saying like we knew that overall we would be spending more than 40 hours a week total per year in order to follow our calling and do what we're uniquely created to do.

But we do need that scaffolding and structured support that the 40 hour work week and the education work box gives to teachers and it's an investment, but it's not a ridiculous investment for the amount of transformation and time that these programs save.

Right, it just I think a lot of it just depends on your priorities and what is important to you and what's going to help you stay in your career path and keep doing the job that you love and you know the great thing is that a lot of districts have started paying for the 40 hour program we have a program also for leaders for school leaders to help streamline their workload because they're also overwhelmed.

So this is really these are really the types of resources that should be included in teacher training you know the idea of trying to figure out all of your own planning systems your own organization systems every teacher is just sort of left to figure that stuff out and it's really something that district should be providing for them.

Totally agree and it all comes down to planning so I want to know Angela when did you first fall in love with planning.

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