Episode Transcript
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Heidi (00:01):
This is episode 224 of
Teacher Approved.
You're listening to teacherapproved, the podcast helping
educators elevate what mattersand simplify the rest. I'm
Heidi.
Emily (00:14):
And I'm Emily. We're the
creators behind Second Story
Window, where we give researchbased and teacher approved
strategies that make teachingless stressful and more
effective. You can check out theshow notes and resources from
each episode atsecondstorywindow.net.
Heidi (00:29):
We're so glad you're
tuning in today. Let's get to
the show.
Emily (00:37):
Hey there. Thanks for
joining us today. In today's
episode, we're talking about howto help your students build
their learning stamina, pluswe've got a teacher approved tip
for elevating your sub plans.
Heidi (00:49):
But first, our try it
tomorrow. Emily, what is our
quick win for this week?
Emily (00:53):
Okay, so tomorrow, when
kids are working, try narrating
positive things that you see,but make it about the effort,
not the outcome. So instead of,'you're doing great,' try
saying, 'I see someone tryingtwo different ways to figure out
that problem to make sure theygot the same answer.' This takes
two seconds, but it showseveryone what you value, and
(01:14):
encourages them to keep workinghard.
Heidi (01:18):
This seems so minor, but
it's a really powerful shift.
Kids need to know what good workactually looks like.
Emily (01:25):
If you like this idea or
anything else we share here on
the podcast, would you take asecond and give us a five star
rating and review in yourpodcast listening app?
Heidi (01:34):
All right, imagine it's
the second week of school.
You've planned a beautiful,independent writing lesson,
you've explained the directionsclearly, modeled what good work
looks like, and confidently sentyour students off to write. And
I bet you can guess what happensnext.
Emily (01:51):
Well, let me think,
probably about three minutes in,
half the class is at the pencilsharpener, two kids are done
with work already that shouldhave taken them 20 minutes, and
someone's having a sudden shoeemergency that apparently cannot
wait.
Heidi (02:06):
Exactly. If you have ever
asked your students to work
independently for 15 minutes inthose first days of school, you
know exactly what we're talkingabout, the wandering eyes, the
bathroom requests, and suddenlyeveryone's water bottle is
desperately empty.
Emily (02:23):
Yes, and it's not that
your students don't want to
focus. It's just that many ofthem are still in summer brain
mode. So their attention spansare shorter. They're adjusting
to new routines andexpectations, and they're just
not used to sustained focusanymore.
Heidi (02:39):
And that is assuming that
they ever had the skills to
focus to begin with. But ratherthan pushing through hoping it
will get better, what if we tooka more proactive approach? What
if we treated stamina not assomething kids either have or
don't have, but as a skill wecan teach and grow, just like
reading or math.
Emily (02:58):
We don't expect kids to
multiply two digit numbers
without teaching them how,right? So why do we sometimes
expect them to focus forextended periods without
explicitly building thatcapacity? And that's exactly
what we're going to talk abouttoday. And Heidi, kick us off.
You've got a good example ofthis, right?
Heidi (03:17):
I do. Well I hope
everyone is comfy, because we
are starting with a story time,and I so wish right now that I
could do a Sofia Petrilloimpression, but you're just
gonna have to imagine me withgray curls and a wicker purse.
Emily (03:31):
Picture it. And if you're
too young to get that reference,
first of all, how dare you. Andwe probably seem so old to you
right now that you do think wehave gray hair and wicker
purses.
Heidi (03:45):
So rude.
Emily (03:46):
I mean, the gray hair may
be accurate. It's not fully gray
though, we are taking care ofthat, but I do not have a wicker
purse, thank you very much.
Heidi (03:55):
Although, is it bad if I
say I saw one the other day
Emily (03:56):
Oh, shoot, let's just
give up. Let's move to Florida.
online, and I thought, Oh,that's cute.
Heidi (04:06):
All the cheesecake we can
handle. Well, picture it.
Sicily. I mean, my second gradeclassroom. It's the first week
of school. We have made it today three, and I have been
working through my attaboy backto school goals. One of my
biggest teaching goals in thefirst week is to get students
used to the learning routinesthat we will be using all year
(04:28):
long, like how to spend silentreading time actually reading.
Emily (04:33):
Yeah, the eternal
challenge.
Heidi (04:35):
Oh, no joke. But I did
find a secret weapon in the
daily five book. There aresuggestions in that book that I
do disagree with, but the stuffthat is good is so good that it
completely changed my teaching,and the author system for
launching reading time is reallysome of their best stuff. So
here's what I would do. Igathered my new little second
(04:57):
graders back at the carpet for achat. We would talk about the
value of focus, and then I wouldgive each student a stack of
books and place them in theirreading spots. Now eventually, I
would let them choose their ownbooks and spots, but that came
later. Once everyone wassettled, I went back to my
table, because that's where Iwould normally be during reading
time, and I pretended to be busywith paperwork, but really I had
(05:19):
my stopwatch running and I wascovertly scanning for the first
sign that someone was off task.
Emily (05:25):
Oh, and those kids think
they're being so sneaky while
they're secretly wasting time,but you're on to them.
Heidi (05:31):
Every time, they can't
get it past me. Those kids are
about as subtle as a stampede.As soon as I spotted someone
looking around the room orbuilding a tent out of books, I
stopped my timer and I calledthe class back to the carpet. No
matter how long they managed toread, even if it was just one
minute and 48 seconds, I wassuper pumped, because it is all
(05:54):
uphill from here. I told thekids all of the awesome things I
noticed them doing. Next wetalked about the ways to get our
minds back on track if we losefocus. And then came the big
question, were they ready forround two? We set a goal for how
long they thought they couldfocus, and because they're
overachievers, they wouldimmediately jump to 10 minutes.
Emily (06:16):
Why did they do that?
They think, they always think
they're ready to take on this,like, enormous challenge. I was
like, Guys, you couldn't even dotwo minutes.
Heidi (06:23):
That's why second graders
are the best. They just have no
grip on reality.
Emily (06:28):
That's what makes them so
lovable.
Heidi (06:31):
Yes, definitely. So I
would suggest something a little
more doable. Like, okay, we madeit one minute and 48 seconds. Do
you think we can try for twominutes, and if we can keep
going, maybe we'll get to ten.So armed with their new resolve,
the kids went back to theirreading spots, and I went back
to my table. The timer startedagain, and I got my paperwork
(06:52):
out again, and then as soon as Ispotted someone off task, the
timer stopped. I had the kidsput away their books and then
come back to the carpet.
This was the end of reading timefor the day, and they were eager
to hear how well they had done.And even if they only beat their
previous time by a few seconds,it was still a celebration. We
wrapped things up by reflectingon what they had done to keep
(07:13):
their minds on their books, andwe marked the day's progress on
a bar graph. That visual reallymade a huge difference. Suddenly
they could see, oh, today wemade it two minutes. I bet we
get to three minutes tomorrow.It turns stamina into a class
challenge, almost like levelingup in a video game.
Emily (07:31):
I love that, especially
because they're all working
together for the goal. Now, thiswasn't something you did all
year, though, right?
Heidi (07:38):
Oh, no. I think we all
would have gotten real sick of
that real fast, but I repeatedthat process every day until
they could focus for about 10minutes straight. After that, I
would keep slowly building theiron task stamina, but we didn't
stop in the middle and discussit anymore. So that was my grand
experiment with reading stamina,basically just me trying to
(07:59):
trick a bunch of eight year oldsinto believing that sitting
still and reading silently wasthe coolest new sport in town.
But you know what? It worked. Itworked every year. By October,
that same class that couldbarely manage two minutes at the
start was reading independentlyfor 20 or 30 minutes. I
sometimes had classes that couldread for 40 minutes. But it
didn't happen all at once. Webuilt it day by day, celebrating
(08:22):
every small victory along theway until they got where they
needed to be.
Emily (08:26):
Oh, I love it so much.
And this is a great story on its
own, but the best part is thatthese same principles that got
your kids reading longer canapply to any part of the school
day. That could be mathpractice, writing time, we know
how writing stamina can be solow, centers, even making sure
your mornings are efficient andeffective.
(08:46):
So let's break down five reasonswhy this approach to reading
stamina worked, and moreimportantly, how you can apply
these same ideas to any time ofday.
Heidi (08:57):
I think the first big
takeaway here is that kids need
the language to talk aboutstamina. If we just say, try
harder, or pay attention, thatreally doesn't mean anything.
But when I started talking aboutit like training a muscle, it
clicked. I could tell them,alright, we're building our
reading muscles today. Everytime you practice, you go a
(09:18):
little bit longer and you get alittle bit stronger, and
suddenly they weren't just, youknow, doing reading time they
were training. And who doesn'twant to feel like they're
leveling up?
Emily (09:27):
Yeah, and the key to
making this stick is to use kid
friendly language. Definingstamina as the ability to stick
with something, even when ittakes time or feels hard, is
something they can understand.We want kids to see that stamina
is a skill they can develop,just like learning to read or
ride a bike, and that sameprinciple can apply to any
subject.
Heidi (09:48):
It's important to make
struggle visible and normal in
your classroom by openlyaddressing it with your
students. You can start byhaving a conversation. Help them
understand that struggle is thetime whenearning is happening.
You can ask students to sharetimes when they've had to work
hard to learn something, andthen work together to create an
anchor chart that defines whatto do when you're stuck.
(10:09):
Students might suggest thingslike try a different way, ask a
friend, look for examples, ortake a break and come back.
Emily (10:15):
It's also helpful to
include what not to do, things
like running away to thebathroom, asking to get water
when your bottle is alreadyfull, or just sitting there
doing nothing.
Heidi (10:27):
Yeah, and for some
reason, students are often
surprised that we have picked upon these patterns.
Emily (10:32):
What? How did she know?
Heidi (10:36):
Yeah, they think they're
so sneaky. But naming those
little tricks helps everyone bemore aware. The goal is to
normalize struggle and givestudents concrete strategies for
working through difficultmoments.
Emily (10:48):
The second lesson from
Heidi's story is to start small
and make progress visible. Andthis might be the most important
principle of all. It's easy tothink that kids should be able
to do something by this age, butas we all know, that doesn't
mean they can.
Heidi (11:02):
We have to meet them
exactly where they are, which,
you know, in my case, was oneminute and 48 seconds, and then
we can build from there.Starting small lets students
feel successful early, which isincredibly motivating. It's also
important to know when to stoppushing for the day. As soon as
my students were done with theirsecond attempt, we were done
(11:23):
with reading time for the day. Ididn't want it to become a
chore, so I ended things on ahigh note, even if it was only
four minutes long, and wecelebrated any progress and
added it to our graph.
Emily (11:31):
The clear visual of the
graph makes this process so
motivating for students. As eachday's bar gets colored in, they
have clear proof of theirimprovement, and it motivates
them to want to keep trying.
Heidi (11:43):
Unfortunately, success
probably isn't going to be a
straight line. Some days we'llhave setbacks, and that's
totally okay. We want studentsto know that we can learn from
mistakes too. So when thishappens, have your students talk
about what went wrong and askthem to make a plan for what
they can try tomorrow.
Emily (11:59):
Starting small and
visually tracking progress
really does work for anysubject. You can use the same
process to build writingstamina, math persistence and
getting kids focused duringmorning work time. The key is
making the increment smallenough that success feels
achievable. Don't jump from twominutes to 10 minutes.
Heidi (12:17):
Even if they think they
can make that jump.
Emily (12:19):
Yes, don't let them do
it. Each small victory builds
confidence for the nextchallenge, so you want to make
it easy for them to have thosevictories.
Heidi (12:27):
And then make sure you're
celebrating. Did your class make
it four whole minutes today? Addit to the chart and do a little
happy dance. Those moments helpstamina feel like a group
achievement instead of a chore.
Emily (12:39):
And didn't you have a
Facebook memory pop up the other
day that was like, my studentsread for three whole minutes
today, and we're celebrating,right?
Heidi (12:49):
We take our wins where we
can get them.
Emily (12:52):
The third takeaway for
building learning stamina is to
use breaks strategically. Everytime Heidi called the class back
together after a timed round ofreading, she gave their brains a
chance to reset. They had justspent a few minutes
concentrating really hard, andthat quick pause and movement
let them hit the reset button ontheir attention.
Heidi (13:11):
Plus taking strategic
breaks teaches students that
focus isn't just about grittingyour teeth and pushing through.
Sometimes the best way tomaintain stamina is to pause,
breathe, and then jump back in.And that is such a valuable
lesson for kids to learn, andprobably for some grown ups to
learn too.
Emily (13:28):
And it's actually easy to
build these focus resets into
any subject. If students areworking on a long writing piece,
plan strategic pauses where theycan share a sentence with a
partner, or do a quick stretch,or have them twist and turn in
their seats between mathproblems.
Heidi (13:44):
And luckily, there are a
lot of creative ways to add
movement and breaks to your day.
Emily (13:48):
Yeah, a great desk break
is having students gently press
their palms together in front oftheir chests and holding it for
three seconds. It's simple, butan effective reset.
Heidi (14:00):
You can even do something
like desk cycling. Ask students
to hold onto the sides of theirchairs and then pedal their legs
as if they're riding a bike. Oryou can use an imaginary paddle
to paddle a canoe, just makesure that students switch sides,
or their imaginary canoe is justgoing to go in imaginary
circles.
Emily (14:16):
I know, we need to teach
them proper canoeing skills if
we're going to bother at all.There really are endless ways to
build in movement without losingcontrol. You could do wall push
ups, chair yoga, silent disco.
Heidi (14:31):
What's a silent disco?
Emily (14:32):
Oh, it's where you say
silent disco, and then kids
dance like they're hearingmusic, but it's totally quiet.
Be hilarious, and get thewiggles and the giggles out
without too much chaos.
Heidi (14:46):
I bet they love that. And
if you want an easy way to
incorporate strategic breaksinto your daily routine, we've
got dozens of brain breaks thatyou can use.
Emily (14:55):
Probably hundreds,
actually.
Heidi (14:57):
There's so many. We split
them into three categories.
Breaks for when kids need tocalm down, breaks for when kids
need to focus, and breaks forwhen kids need some energy. So
you can find exactly the rightactivity for your class.
Emily (15:10):
The nice thing about our
brain breaks is that they can be
done without technology, so youcan use them anytime and
anywhere they're needed. Youjust print off the cards you
want and keep them where they'reeasy to grab any time of day. I
like to just put like a metalring in the corner for each
deck, and you can check out ourbrain breaks at the link in the
show notes.
Heidi (15:28):
No matter what kind of
break you do, a good idea is to
wrap things up with a cleartransition back to focus mode.
Try having students stretch andbreathe for a few seconds, or
have them do an energy check in,ask them to pay attention to how
they feel at the end of thebreak. Now you don't have to
discuss this. It can just be amoment of silent reflection
before getting back to work.
Emily (15:49):
Okay, the fourth lesson
from Heidi's reading launch is
to give students tools to managetheir focus. We often equate
focus with willpower, but reallyit's more about having
strategies. Helping studentsrecognize when their focus is
drifting is a powerful gift.
Heidi (16:05):
And one tool that even
adults can use to help reset
their focus is to take abreathing break. If it feels
like your mind has a mind of itsown, pause for a second for a
few calming breaths, and noticehow your attention resets.
Emily (16:19):
Another idea is to extend
the discussions about stamina to
discussions about focus. Put itin kid friendly terms, maybe
create an anchor chart aboutwhat it feels like and looks
like when your mind wanders.Include examples like, you
realize you've been looking atthe same page for a while, or
you catch yourself thinkingabout lunch instead of your
story.
Heidi (16:38):
There are also lots of
practical supports that teachers
can give. A visual timer makeswork time feel more concrete
because kids can tell exactlyhow long they have left for
their math assignment. Or youcan try teaching students some
reminders that they can repeatto themselves, like, good
writers keep trying. This giveskids encouragement to push
through a tough moment.
Emily (16:57):
The key is teaching
students that when they feel
their focus slipping, they'renot helpless. They have a
toolbox of strategies to try.This helps them see
concentration as a muscle thatthey can strengthen one choice
at a time.
Heidi (17:10):
The final lesson we want
to talk about today is including
reflection and goal setting inyour stamina building process.
Until my students were up toabout the 10 minute mark, we
would debrief together at theend of reading time, and I would
ask them questions like, whatwent well today? What was tricky
for you? How did you handle itwhen your mind started to
wander? And what should we trydifferently tomorrow?
Emily (17:31):
And I think that
discussion piece is key. It's
easy to skip over because wefeel the pressure to move on
with the day. You can keepthings quick, though even a
couple of minutes will do thetrick. But it is so important to
help students notice what worksfor them and what doesn't, and
it builds that sense of we'reall working on this together.
Heidi (17:50):
After kids share their
insights, you can wrap up the
lesson by graphing theirprogress and then deciding
together what to aim fortomorrow. If you had a rough
day, you might need to keep thesame goal, or if progress is
slow, maybe just add 30 seconds.We want students to be proud of
how they're improving, even ifit's just a little at a time.
Emily (18:10):
This reflection piece is
so easy to build into any
subject. Wrap up math by askingwhat was one part that stretched
your brain today? Or after groupwork, what helped you stay
focused on your team's task?Those conversations are where
the real learning happens.
Heidi (18:25):
As you're working on
stamina building with your own
students, an important thing tokeep in mind is that your
neurodivergent learners mightneed specific accommodations in
order to be successful. Breakingtasks down into smaller chunks,
providing movement breaks moreoften, or offering alternative
seating options can be essentialsupports.
Emily (18:45):
But the good news is that
these stamina building
strategies we've been talkingabout are exactly the kinds of
support that all kids need,including your neurodivergent
learners. Teaching focus as askill, making progress visible,
providing tools and strategies,this benefits everyone.
Heidi (19:02):
And not only does it work
for all of your kids, it works
for all of your subjects. Usethese same principles to build
writing stamina, math stamina,listening stamina, just adjust
the specifics to match yourdifferent goals.
Emily (19:15):
So to recap, our five key
principles for building learning
stamina. First, give studentsthe language to understand
stamina as a skill that they candevelop. We're building our
reading muscles. Second, startridiculously small and make
progress visible throughtracking and celebration. Third,
use breaks strategically to helpstudents reset their attention.
(19:37):
Fourth, give students concretetools to manage their focus when
it starts to drift. And fifth,build in reflection and goal
setting so students become awareof their own learning patterns.
Heidi (19:49):
Your students are capable
of so much more than they
realize. With your guidance andthe systematic approaches, they
can grow their stamina day byday until they're tackling big
projects, sustained reading, andchallenging work like pros, and
we promise it will happen, evenif they can only handle one
minute and 48 seconds right now.
Emily (20:09):
And we would love to hear
how you help your students build
learning stamina. Come join theconversation in our Teacher
Approved Facebook group.
Now, it's time for this week'sTeacher Approved Tip of the
Week, where we share anactionable tip to help you
elevate what matters andsimplify the rest. This week's
teacher approved tip is to leavea happy surprise for your sub.
(20:30):
Tell us more about it, Heidi.
Heidi (20:31):
Well, now that everyone
has been back in germ central
for a few weeks now, you mightbe coming down with your first
cold, and our apologies if thatis the case, hopefully your sub
binder is ready to go and thecopies are easy to make. But if
you have vending machines atyour school, one thing you might
want to do is leave behind somequarters so your sub can get a
(20:53):
little treat. For me in my subbinder, I had a little zipper
pouch with a sticky note thatsaid something like, Thanks for
your help today, grab a soda onme, and then I just had four
quarters in there. Now, ofcourse, this assumes you can
still get a soda for fourquarters. I haven't been to a
vending machine in a while.
Emily (21:13):
Who knows, maybe you need
eight quarters these days. And
obviously this is totallyoptional, but everyone
appreciates a thoughtfulgesture, and if it happens to
motivate the sub to follow yourplans with a little more
attention than before, then thatwould be a win for everyone.
Heidi (21:29):
To wrap up the show we
are sharing what we're giving
Emily (21:33):
I'm giving extra credit
to my cell phone carrier, which
extra credit to this week.Emily, what gets your extra
credit?
is called Visible. About 18months ago, I decided to switch
carriers because I was just sosick of how much money I was
paying for my Verizon plan.After doing some research, I
discovered there were lots oflow cost options, but Visible
jumped out to me because it is aaffordable carrier that's owned
(21:55):
by Verizon and uses their samenetwork. So it was basically a
no brainer to switch, and I haveloved it. I haven't noticed any
difference in my service. I wasnervous to switch to a totally
different company that I didn'tknow how the coverage would be
in my area, but switching fromVerizon to Visible was no
different.
So that was really nice, and Ithink I was paying like at least
(22:18):
$70 before, and now I'm paying$30 a month for unlimited
minutes and data, just like Iwas getting before. So I will
put a link in the show notes,and I think you get a $20
discount if you use that code,and I believe you can combine it
with whatever their specialintroductory offer is too, which
is nice, because they alwayshave great sign up offers. So
(22:39):
this is not sponsored. I justwas thinking today how nice it
is to be paying so much less formy cell phone carrier these
days.
Heidi (22:47):
Okay, I have to get on
that. Every time I pay my bill,
I think, Okay, I've gotta, Igotta figure out that switch. So
this is motivating me.
Emily (22:54):
Yep, I'll send you the
referral link, and then you can
join my circle. I think eventhough we're not on the same
plan, that's another thing theyhave where you can save,
everybody on the in the circlesaves $5 a month.
Oh, that's cool.
If you have like other peoplewho are Visible. I think that's
how it works. Don't quote me onit if, if that's not how it
works. But I just, I just readabout it today when I was
(23:17):
looking for the link. So anyway,check it out. I'll put the link
in the show notes. What are yougiving extra credit to, Heidi?
Heidi (23:23):
Well, my extra credit
goes to my Kindle page turner
remote. I think mom gave it tome for Christmas.
Emily (23:29):
Yeah, that's why I have
one. So I'm assuming yes.
Heidi (23:32):
And, I mean, of course,
it's always nice to get a
present. But I was a littleskeptical at first, because
turning a page on an e reader isliterally just tapping the
screen. I'm lazy, but I'm notthat lazy. But I am hooked on
this thing now for two reasons.First, now I don't have to hold
the Kindle up. I can just, like,prop it up or use a stand, and
(23:53):
that's nice, because I do havearthritis in my thumbs, and
holding things can actuallycreate a lot of pain.
Emily (23:58):
Hey, we were just telling
them we're not old. We don't
want to admit that we both havearthritis. Don't tell people
that, it's our secret.
Heidi (24:07):
Should I tell them I was
diagnosed with arthritis in my
hands in my 20s?
Emily (24:10):
No, shush.
Heidi (24:11):
But the second reason I
like that remote, it's not
because of old, but it's becauseI can get all snuggly while I
read.
Emily (24:20):
I know I love it.
Heidi (24:22):
You don't have to have
one hand out in that chilling
room temperature air. You canjust pull a blanket all the way
up and keep reading. So ifyou're also a little snuggly
reader, there is a link to aremote in the show notes. I
don't think it's the same modelwe have, but there's a bunch on
Amazon.
Emily (24:37):
I think they all pretty
much function the same. But I
co-sign this extra credit. It isvery handy to have if you are a
Kindle reader who likes to readin bed, especially.
Heidi (24:47):
That is it for today's
episode. Remember, building
stamina is a marathon, not asprint. So start small, stay
consistent, and celebrate everybit of growth.
Emily (24:56):
Come share your stamina
building wins in our Teacher
Approved Facebook group. We lovehearing what's working in your
classroom.
Heidi (25:03):
And don't forget our
Teacher Approved tip to bribe
your sub with some quarters.
We hope you enjoyed this episodeof Teacher Approved. I'm Heidi.
Emily (25:14):
And I'm Emily. Thank you
for listening. Be sure to follow
or subscribe in your podcast appso that you never miss an
episode.
Heidi (25:20):
You can connect with us
and other teachers in the
Teacher Approved Facebook group.We'll see you here next week.
Bye for now.
Emily (25:27):
Bye.