January is tough, but February can be a surprisingly powerful reset if you know how to use it. In this episode, we share why this month often feels draining, how hidden energy leaks show up across your day, and how a simple February energy audit can help you make small, strategic shifts that protect your time and capacity. Our goal is to help you stop drifting through February and start using it to refill your tank before the rest of the year ramps up.

Prefer to read? Grab the episode transcript and resources in the show notes here: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/podcast/february-teacher-energy-tips/

Resources:

1. February Teacher Survival Kit
2. Join the Teacher Approved Club!
3. BlueAir humidifier
4. Hinge toppers
5. Connect with us on Instagram @2ndstorywindow.
6. Shop our teacher-approved resources.
7. Join our Facebook group, Teacher Approved
8. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts.
9. Leave a comment or rating on Spotify.

Related Episodes to Enjoy:

1. Episode 48. How to Make Classroom Transitions Simple with Clear Beginnings and Endings
2. Episode 49. Rapid Classroom Transitions: How to Save 45 Hours a Year
3. Episode 50. 3 Guidelines to Make Classroom Transitions Work Smarter Not Harder
4. Episode 161, How to Get Students Actively Engaged: 5 Teacher Approved Techniques

From January 17-19, we’re hosting the Teacher Winter Talks event on the Teacher Approved podcast feed. Grab your free ticket for the full experience: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/teacherwintertalks

✨ Each session will be available for 24 hours. Upgrade to the Max Pass to get lifetime access to all the sessions, plus over $500 worth of mid-year bonus resources like templates, workshops, and bundles!

About the Session: Stuck in the teach-test-forget cycle where nothing seems to stick? Cassie Tabrizi helps teachers rethink how math instruction is designed (and why so many programs prioritize coverage over actual learning). She introduces four practical design steps: success criteria, clear wins, visible progress, and informal celebrations. These bring clarity, motivation, and intention back to your math block. You'll walk away with ready-to-use strategies, K-5 I Can Statements, and goal-setting tools you can implement immediately. If your math instruction has felt like a hamster wheel of teaching concepts that students forget by next week... this session shows you what's actually missing.

Links/Resources:

I Can Statements and Goal Setting Pages (K-5): https://download.create-abilities.com/resources/optin-k-5-i-can-statements/

Share your takeaways and join the summit fun in the Teacher Winter Talks Facebook group!

Teacher Winter Talks is sponsored by the Teacher Approved Club and Fashion Fix.

🎤 Teacher Winter Talks is hosted by Heidi and Emily from Second Story Window. They love helping teachers elevate what matters and simplify the rest. Connect with them on their podcast, Teacher Approved, and on Instagram at @2ndstorywindow.

From January 17-19, we’re hosting the Teacher Winter Talks event on the Teacher Approved podcast feed. Grab your free ticket for the full experience: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/teacherwintertalks

✨ Each session will be available for 24 hours. Upgrade to the Max Pass to get lifetime access to all the sessions, plus over $500 worth of mid-year bonus resources like templates, workshops, and bundles!

About the Session: Want to make social studies feel more relevant without adding hours to your planning? Kirsten Hammond breaks down how to bring real-world events into your classroom with low-prep activities that actually work at the elementary level. You'll learn how to find kid-friendly sources, lead student discussions on facts and perspectives, and connect current events to what you're already teaching. The process is refreshingly simple: pick an event, find a source, ask questions, discuss. If your social studies block has felt a little disconnected from the world outside your classroom walls... this is an easy way to change that.

Links/Resources:

1. Free Resources + Newsletter Signup: https://thesouthernteach.myflodesk.com/twtalksjan26
2. The Southern Teach: https://www.thesouthernteach.com

Share your takeaways and join the summit fun in the Teacher Winter Talks Facebook group!

Teacher Winter Talks is sponsored by the Teacher Approved Club and Fashion Fix.

🎤 Teacher Winter Talks is hosted by Heidi and Emily from Second Story Window. They love helping teachers elevate what matters and simplify the rest. Connect with them on their podcast, Teacher Approved, and on Instagram at @2ndstorywindow.

From January 17-19, we’re hosting the Teacher Winter Talks event on the Teacher Approved podcast feed. Grab your free ticket for the full experience: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/teacherwintertalks

✨ Each session will be available for 24 hours. Upgrade to the Max Pass to get lifetime access to all the sessions, plus over $500 worth of mid-year bonus resources like templates, workshops, and bundles!

About the Session: Want to take your read-alouds beyond basic comprehension questions? Juan Edgar Gonzalez Jr. shares practical strategies for using paired texts to help students compare, contrast, and synthesize their thinking. Using engaging picture books like Jon Klassen's Hat series, he walks through how to guide students to notice connections across stories and combine ideas to form new understanding. The approach is beginner-friendly but the thinking is deep. If your read-aloud discussions have felt a little surface-level lately... this session shows you how to unlock richer conversations with books you probably already have on your shelf.

Links/Resources:

1. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teaching3rdwithmrg/

Share your takeaways and join the summit fun in the Teacher Winter Talks Facebook group!

Teacher Winter Talks is sponsored by the Teacher Approved Club and Fashion Fix.

🎤 Teacher Winter Talks is hosted by Heidi and Emily from Second Story Window. They love helping teachers elevate what matters and simplify the rest. Connect with them on their podcast, Teacher Approved, and on Instagram at @2ndstorywindow.

From January 17-19, we’re hosting the Teacher Winter Talks event on the Teacher Approved podcast feed. Grab your free ticket for the full experience: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/teacherwintertalks

✨ Each session will be available for 24 hours. Upgrade to the Max Pass to get lifetime access to all the sessions, plus over $500 worth of mid-year bonus resources like templates, workshops, and bundles!

About the Session: Think spiral review is just that 10-15 minute block on your schedule? Jennifer Findley is here to expand your definition (and your results). She breaks down two types of spiral review that serve completely different purposes: mastery review helps instruction stick, while just-in-time review helps it land in the first place.

She walks through where review can live beyond your schedule (centers, homework, those chaotic holiday weeks), and how to build a system that ramps up naturally as the year progresses. Her biggest tip? Stay away from pre-packaged spiral review that follows your pacing guide instead of where your students actually are. If you've been scrambling to fit in review or watching skills disappear weeks after you taught them... this framework changes everything.

Links/Resources:

1. Jennifer Findley: https://jenniferfindley.com/

Share your takeaways and join the summit fun in the Teacher Winter Talks Facebook group!

Teacher Winter Talks is sponsored by the Teacher Approved Club and Fashion Fix.

🎤 Teacher Winter Talks is hosted by Heidi and Emily from Second Story Window. They love helping teachers elevate what matters and simplify the rest. Connect with them on their podcast, Teacher Approved, and on Instagram at @2ndstorywindow.

From January 17-19, we’re hosting the Teacher Winter Talks event on the Teacher Approved podcast feed. Grab your free ticket for the full experience: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/teacherwintertalks

✨ Each session will be available for 24 hours. Upgrade to the Max Pass to get lifetime access to all the sessions, plus over $500 worth of mid-year bonus resources like templates, workshops, and bundles!

About the Session: Writing block feeling a little chaotic lately? Leigh Langton shares how one simple tool (the Student Writing Folder) transformed her classroom into a community of real writers churning out stories, poems, and even chapter books. In this session, she walks through how a mid-year reset can help students stay organized, write more independently, and actually get excited about writing again. You'll hear real classroom stories, practical tips you can use tomorrow, and a step-by-step breakdown for launching writing folders in your own room. If your writing time has devolved into a mess of lost papers and "I don't know what to write"... this system might be exactly the fresh start you need.

Links/Resources:

1. Free Persuasive Writing Activity: https://theappliciousteacher.com/persuasive-writing-landing-page-2/
2. The Applicious Teacher: https://theappliciousteacher.com/

Share your takeaways and join the summit fun in the Teacher Winter Talks Facebook group!

Teacher Winter Talks is sponsored by the Teacher Approved Club and Fashion Fix.

🎤 Teacher Winter Talks is hosted by Heidi and Emily from Second Story Window. They love helping teachers elevate what matters and simplify the rest. Connect with them on their podcast, Teacher Approved, and on Instagram at @2ndstorywindow.

From January 17-19, we’re hosting the Teacher Winter Talks event on the Teacher Approved podcast feed. Grab your free ticket for the full experience: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/teacherwintertalks

✨ Each session will be available for 24 hours. Upgrade to the Max Pass to get lifetime access to all the sessions, plus over $500 worth of mid-year bonus resources like templates, workshops, and bundles!

About the Session: Think you don't have time to add SEL to your already-packed schedule? Allie Szczecinski wants you to know you're not adding anything... you're just shifting how you deliver what you're already doing. Her approach focuses on tiny moments (think 10 seconds, not 20 minutes) woven into transitions, routines, academic talk time, and even corrections. Using the research-backed RULER framework from Yale, Ali walks you through five practical touch points that build emotional vocabulary and regulation skills without touching your master schedule. If "one more thing" makes you want to scream, this session proves SEL doesn't have to be that thing.

Links/Resources:

1. Miss Behavior Blog: www.missbehaviorblog.com
2. The Behavior Supports Library: http://missbehavior.mykajabi.com/
3. Their Best Behavior (Book): https://a.co/d/eUTW8dI

Share your takeaways and join the summit fun in the Teacher Winter Talks Facebook group!

Teacher Winter Talks is sponsored by the Teacher Approved Club and Fashion Fix.

🎤 Teacher Winter Talks is hosted by Heidi and Emily from Second Story Window. They love helping teachers elevate what matters and simplify the rest. Connect with them on their podcast, Teacher Approved, and on Instagram at @2ndstorywindow.

From January 17-19, we’re hosting the Teacher Winter Talks event on the Teacher Approved podcast feed. Grab your free ticket for the full experience: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/teacherwintertalks

✨ Each session will be available for 24 hours. Upgrade to the Max Pass to get lifetime access to all the sessions, plus over $500 worth of mid-year bonus resources like templates, workshops, and bundles!

About the Session: Word problems feeling like the most dreaded part of your math block? You're definitely not alone. Mona Iehl shows K-5 teachers how to reset mid-year and build a calm, confident community of problem solvers (yes, even now). Through simple shifts and relatable classroom stories, she shares how to rebuild safety, help students actually make sense of problems before jumping to solve, and use a predictable routine that supports deeper thinking. The best part? It's not too late to transform how word problems feel for you and your students. If math time has become synonymous with stress and "I don't get it"... this session offers a gentler path forward.

Links/Resources:

1. 35 Questions to Ask in Math Class (Free): https://MonaMath.com/35questions
2. Math Chat Podcast: https://MonaMath.com/mathchat

Share your takeaways and join the summit fun in the Teacher Winter Talks Facebook group!

Teacher Winter Talks is sponsored by the Teacher Approved Club and Fashion Fix.

🎤 Teacher Winter Talks is hosted by Heidi and Emily from Second Story Window. They love helping teachers elevate what matters and simplify the rest. Connect with them on their podcast, Teacher Approved, and on Instagram at @2ndstorywindow.

From January 17-19, we’re hosting the Teacher Winter Talks event on the Teacher Approved podcast feed. Grab your free ticket for the full experience: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/teacherwintertalks

✨ Each session will be available for 24 hours. Upgrade to the Max Pass to get lifetime access to all the sessions, plus over $500 worth of mid-year bonus resources like templates, workshops, and bundles!

About the Session: Want a routine that resets behavior and builds independence from the moment students walk in? Martina Cahill shares a simple bell ringer system that creates structure without adding to your workload. The best part? It takes just one week to stick. She walks through everything from choosing your format (printable or digital) to modeling the routine, keeping grading light, and why repetition is the real magic here. If your mornings have felt more like herding cats than teaching... this plug-and-play routine might be the sanity-saver you've been looking for.

Links/Resources:

1. Free Bell Ringer Resource: https://the-hungry-teacher.kit.com/13e75b23aa
2. The Hungry Teacher: https://thehungryteacherblog.com/

Share your takeaways and join the summit fun in the Teacher Winter Talks Facebook group!

Teacher Winter Talks is sponsored by the Teacher Approved Club and Fashion Fix.

🎤 Teacher Winter Talks is hosted by Heidi and Emily from Second Story Window. They love helping teachers elevate what matters and simplify the rest. Connect with them on their podcast, Teacher Approved, and on Instagram at @2ndstorywindow.

From January 17-19, we’re hosting the Teacher Winter Talks event on the Teacher Approved podcast feed. Grab your free ticket for the full experience: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/teacherwintertalks

✨ Each session will be available for 24 hours. Upgrade to the Max Pass to get lifetime access to all the sessions, plus over $500 worth of mid-year bonus resources like templates, workshops, and bundles!

About the Session: Turn-and-talks turning into off-topic chatter (or awkward silence)? LaNesha Tabb explains why students struggle with partner talk, and spoiler alert: they're not being difficult. They just haven't been taught the skills for purposeful academic conversation. This session walks through how explicit instruction, predictable structures, and low-stakes daily practice can transform casual chatter into accountable talk that actually deepens thinking and strengthens writing. The secret? Start simple with one talk stem, build habits through quick morning routines, and embed intentional talk moves into what you're already doing. If your partner conversations have felt more like a waste of time than a comprehension tool... this session shows you exactly what's missing.

Links/Resources:

1. LaNesha Tabb: www.laneshatabb.com

Share your takeaways and join the summit fun in the Teacher Winter Talks Facebook group!

Teacher Winter Talks is sponsored by the Teacher Approved Club and Fashion Fix.

🎤 Teacher Winter Talks is hosted by Heidi and Emily from Second Story Window. They love helping teachers elevate what matters and simplify the rest. Connect with them on their podcast, Teacher Approved, and on Instagram at @2ndstorywindow.