The materials are excellent. I was one of the few SPED teachers in my cohort. My goal was to develop a support system outside my school district. The club was a first step in this process. I hope to continue to explore the vast resources in the coming year and adapt them for my needs.

After listening to Angela’s podcast and her audio book, “Fewer Things, Better,” I took the plunge and joined the club. And how refreshing it’s been! The club absolutely improved my work and home life. The choice of quality materials and the encouragement not to try everything at once worked well. Also, I felt genuinely supported – in my job and mental health struggles – during the past year. The experience was extremely worthwhile.

There is SO much information here. This is the most practical and useful PD that I have ever done, and it was all at my convenience. The materials gave me so many ideas for how to do my job better and more efficiently, and the fact that you continue to have access to the materials in later years allows for continued improvement.

Awesome information. Nice to have continued access. My brain does not think this way so I think I had to take it a bit slower. By the end of the year I found that I tried one thing but dropped off to try the next thing. Ultimately I learned from others at my school in the club to try what I could and encouraged me that I still have access to the resources so I can basically review sections as needed.

It is never too late to learn something new or to accept a better way from a peer. I have been teaching many years and although I am fairly well organized, I admit that I have never mastered the work life balance and I was a “Tired Teacher”. I have been using the club materials at my pace. I SO MUCH appreciate this no pressure course. I feel a burden lifted every time I put an hour into the club materials. I feel empowered. I have practiced many new skills and plan to keep working on the materials I have put aside for later.
Join! Everyone needs support, (especially in times of pandemic).

This program helped me to be intentional in my work time and my off time. It allowed me to give enough, which isn’t always 100%. There’s a line early on in the program “We are taught to always give 100% effort to every single task we do. No one ever mentions this is physically and mentally impossible, because there are limits to our time and energy.” I wrote this big and put it where I could see it every day. I shared it with other teachers.

In a Covid-hybrid year where the list of expectations kept growing for teachers, 40HTW reminded me to focus on what mattered most. There were wonderful applicable suggestions on how to maximize the time I spent at work. This allowed me to truly relax when I was at home.

The materials are sent out in bite size chunks. This allowed me to consider an idea, decide how best to apply it, and analyze the results before the next idea arrived. I did skip a few months when things went sideways. But I still have access to the information, even after my cohort is over. I intend to walk through the material again this upcoming school year. I’m going to need the reminders on how to be intentional with my work and home time.

The materials presented in this club were awesome. They helped me improve my productivity and think about how to streamline my work. The club also helped me realize that I was not the only one struggling with not being able to do all that I wanted to do, and that this is a constant and common struggle with teachers everywhere.

The advice from the 40 Hour Teacher Workweek was helpful to me professionally, but has also helped me think about the way I treat myself as a person and gain new perspectives on my own mental health. While some of the resources are less helpful to me as an elementary music teacher (as compared to, say, if I were a 4th grade classroom teacher or a high school biology teacher), the majority of the material was either directly or indirectly applicable to my life and teaching situation, or I could adjust the material to be more useful to me. I’m looking forward to going back and reviewing a few lessons in the future as I go into the 2021-22 school year.

Take your time! I was really overwhelmed with all of the information each month when I first joined, but it’s okay to start small. I found that there was so much info, and it all seemed so good and important, that I really didn’t know where to start. The program makes it easy to know what “Core Concepts” to focus on if you can only handle a small bit that month, and honestly, I suggest just doing that for your first year. There’s plenty of room to learn and grow more when you start implementing. Even just ten minutes a month will add up to big productive changes in your life, and you always have access to the materials, so you can go back.

Although I personally did not manage to keep up with reading and digesting the monthly materials, I know the Club can be super helpful for teachers who are struggling with organization and efficiency and other teaching issues. But to benefit, it is very important to schedule the time to go over the monthly materials and apply the things you are learning. In my case, I will have to catch up on over the summer and start applying it next school year.
I think the pitfall is to think there is a lot to learn each month and that might make a teacher give up altogether. I thing Angela’s advice is good -just take one thing and apply it each month.
Reward yourself in some way for having done it each month 🙂