The August Mailbag: Brand New Teachers, 30-Minute Classes, and Magic Wands (Ep. 427)

Welcome to Art Ed Radio, the podcast for art teachers. This show is produced by The Art of Education University. And I’m your host, Tim Bogatz. All right. For this month’s mailbag, Amanda and I are together in person because we have a NOW Conference going on tomorrow. Well, starting tonight.

Starting tonight.

Main event tomorrow. Amanda, how are you?

Good. I’m good. No, I’m really excited. There’s a lot of things to do as always. But I’m feeling very good about where we’re at. I’m feeling very excited about my rainbow track jacket, your rainbow track jacket, some medals we’re going to be giving away. The energy is good.

Yeah. There’s a lot of good stuff going on. We will need to talk about the track jackets in just a moment.

Okay.

I have a DM specifically about that reel. We’ll chat about that in a bit. But yeah, there’s a lot going on behind the scenes as you all can probably imagine. Putting on a NOW Conference is a lot of work and we love all the work. And so it’s just this mix of energy and stress right now that is pretty good. But I would say the overall feeling is of excitement and anticipation, and we know that we’re going to have a great time at the kickoff, at the main event, and it’s going to be a really, really good conference. So I don’t think we have much as far as story time, but should we chat about our difficulty finding breakfast?

We’re a little bit mad at Milwaukee. We’re a little bit mad because… Well, let’s back it up a day when we arrived. So that was yesterday. And we were so excited, we were going to go to the art museum.

Yes, I have not been to Milwaukee. I am in love with the Milwaukee Art Museum without ever having been there just because it’s so beautiful. And I was so ready to go. I told Amanda, “This is my main priority when we get to Milwaukee. I want to go to the art museum.”

Yeah. So I picked you up from the airport, and then we put Milwaukee Art Museum into my GPS, and then it said, “The Milwaukee Art Museum is closed today.” On Tuesday. And I feel like that’s wrong. I feel like museums are closed on Monday.

Museums are closed on Monday.

We know museums. Whatever. We’re going to try to go. It’s open late tomorrow, so after the conference.

We’re going to try to go.

Try to go.

Fingers crossed.

But then we tried to go to breakfast. We looked up a restaurant. It said this restaurant exists, this is the address. And then we walked there, it was like 90 degrees, and then that also was closed. So we’re 0 for two. But it’s okay. We found a different restaurant.

We’ll get there. And don’t let my complaining make you think that we dislike Milwaukee.

We love it.

It is a lovely city. We actually had dinner with a bunch of art teachers-

Yes.

… from Milwaukee last night. That was wonderful.

It was wonderful.

We got to meet so many new friends. They’re fantastic teachers. So many great conversations. So we appreciate that. Thank you all for coming out, who did.

And thanks to Art Bar and Wonderland in Milwaukee. We recommend. The vibes are immaculate.

Absolutely. It’s a great place. So anyway, we are having a good time in Milwaukee. We’re excited to put the conference on. Just if they could open up their art museum and their breakfast places when I need them-

That’d be great.

… I would love it even more. All right. A couple quick questions without the official opening of the mailbag. I have gotten a bunch of messages. The garden talk. People are feeling all sorts of ways about the garden.

Tell me more.

We have a lot of votes for more garden updates in the mailbag. And one vote, just one vote in particular for, and I quote, “If you talk about your gardens again, I might have to throw my phone out the window.” So Amanda, thoughts on how you’d like to respond to that?

Okay. Just you’re in control of your own destiny. It’s 2024. I just think you need to fast-forward. If you can just fast-forward and you can pretend we didn’t do it. Control what’s in your circle of control. But in the same breath, my garden update is a real mixed bag. It’s going to be short.

Okay. Pause. Pause. Okay. We are going to talk for 90 seconds about our gardens.

Okay.

So you can hit your, what, 30 second fast-forward button three times.

Yeah. Or mine’s 15. So six times.

Okay. There you go. Yeah. Again, control what you can control. We’ll see what we want to do. Okay. So 90 seconds on gardens starting now.

Okay. Well, who’s going first?

You go ahead. You already said it’s a mixed bag.

Okay. Well, it’s a mixed bag because… Well, I’m doing a timer on my computer. Okay. It’s a mixed bag because some of it’s going really well. The hydrangeas, beautiful. To be clear, I’ve done nothing. I don’t water it. I just let the garden do it well. So the hydrangeas are, they’re like tie-dye. So it has to do with the pH of the soil. So I’m not even sure how this is happening, but some of them are pink and some of them are blue and some of them are purple.

Very nice.

And it’s very great. Okay. The herbs are getting wild. I don’t know what’s happening. All of their leaves are getting really skinny. And I’m like, is that because they’re malnourished or because they’re trying to reach the sun? We did get our first two peppers and that was very exciting. Okay, you have 53 seconds. Go.

Okay. My peppers, while you’re talking about your peppers, my peppers are not going so well. We’ve gotten two good ones, just green bell peppers.

For us.

They’re delicious. Thank you so much. We got two of them. They were great. But we had two different hailstorms, like two separate hailstorms that just beat the heck out of those plants and they’re having a tough time recovering. So hoping for a late season comeback. But everything else is great. We have more sugar snap peas than we know what to do with, giving them out-

Those are good.

… to all the friends.

Yeah.

Corn’s looking great, carrots are looking great. And of course my pollinator garden is just rocking in.

What’s your best native plant?

The one that the bees love the most is the anise hyssop.

Okay.

I don’t don’t know if I’m saying that right.

I don’t either.

But it’s a very nice plant.

And unfortunately, we’re out of time. So we’ll pick that discussion up next podcast.

Next time. Fair. All right. So that was our 90 seconds on our gardens. Hopefully, everyone who enjoys that talk, enjoy that conversation, and hopefully those of you that need to fast-forward, we’re able to do so with some accuracy. Okay. One other DM I wanted to chat about. You may or may not have seen, Amanda and I put in a lot of training for the NOW Conference.

Yes.

It’s Olympic theme. And so we put together a training reel, a montage of some of our finest athletic moments. The DM I received said, “This reel was the funniest thing I’ve seen in a while. You should talk about it on your next podcast with Amanda.” So Amanda, would you like to tell the story of the reel and how that came about? And for those of you that haven’t seen it, I’ll put a link in the show notes.

Perfect.

You can see it on YouTube.

Yeah. First of all, thank you so much. I don’t know. There’s not really a story except that I found a rainbow track jacket on Poshmark, and the rest is history. Tim and I are both pretty athletic. I mean, aside from skiing, which if you have been here a while, you already know. But there’s no skiing in these Olympics. I don’t think there’s water skiing.

I don’t think so.

I don’t think so. anyway. So I was like, wouldn’t it be funny if we did our own training reel in our rainbow track jackets? Do whatever you want and we’ll clip it together. And I do think it’s some of our finest work ever.

Yeah. We tried to do something humorous. I thought it would be funny if I were lifting weights while reading a children’s book or while eating a cookie.

The cookie really got people.

Yeah. That was a fun one. And then I did a little yoga in the backyard, a little bit of badminton, and then I went up to the track at my wife’s school and do a little speed walking, a long jump. But I will just say I am in my mid-forties now and that athletic work is tough. I was real sore for a couple of days.

I quite literally threw my back out and had to go to a chiropractor. Like, I am not made for a slack line is what I found out. Also, don’t jump off of it. There’s a lot of slack and it doesn’t respond how you think it should.

But it was great footage.

It was great footage.

So, the sacrifices-

It made the cut.

… we make for social media, I guess. But it was really, really fun to make. We appreciate that everyone enjoyed it.

Yes.

So that was good. All right. Now, I think it’s time to officially get into the real questions. So Amanda, would you like to do the honors?

Yes, I would. Let’s open up the mailbag.

All right. Our first question is from Casey Anne in Connecticut. It says, “Hi there. My name is Casey Anne. And I’ll be starting my first year art teaching this September in Connecticut, as well as simultaneously getting my master’s in art education. I have no prior experience and my bachelor’s is only in fine arts. I’ve met some of my future colleagues and some have warned me how disrespectful the kids can be. And the previous sub art teacher said the same thing about the staff. This school hasn’t had an actual art teacher in almost a decade with a very limited budget. So I’m also starting from scratch. I was hoping you have some advice for a first-year elementary art teacher with little experience. I do plan on using AOEU’s FLEX scope and sequence to get me on my feet. As well as how to manage and gain respect from not only the unruly kids, but also from my new colleagues who seem to think I may fail. Thank you so much. I absolutely love your podcast.”

Okay. Well, I would like to have a word with Casey Anne’s colleagues-

Yes.

… because I feel like they’re being unhelpful in this situation.

That was my first reaction as well.

I mean, look. Rightfully so, a lot of teachers are jaded, a lot of teachers are burned out. But I think we have a tendency to, I don’t know, project that onto other people. I feel like it’s the same thing when you become a parent, right?

Yes.

And people are like, “You’re never going to sleep again.”

Right. All of your hang-ups get transferred.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That’s true. But also it can be rewarding. So I think just from how you’re phrasing this question and the thought and the care that you’re putting into preparing, you’re going to be fine. You’re going to figure it out. I think mindset is really important here more than exactly what you do. Just remembering it’s going to take a ton of time to figure things out. There are teachers who have been teaching for 20 years who are still trying new things, experimenting. So just be really gentle with yourself, know that you will do things that will absolutely fail, and that will be okay.

I think it’s really smart to use the FLEX scope and Sequence as a place to start. I would layer onto that, asking the kids what they want to get out of art class, what they’re excited about, and trying to incorporate their interest into your projects, and letting them have a little bit of choice when you are able to. Whether that’s like, “Do you want to use crayons or colored pencils?” Or, “Should we do this project or this project first? Let’s take a vote.”

Can I interrupt you with one thing there?

Yes.

Just, this popped into my mind as you’re talking, asking them what they’re excited about. If they haven’t had a real art teacher in 10 years,-

True.

… they’re going to be excited about everything.

That’s so true.

Everything you introduce is going to be amazing for them. So you probably can’t go wrong on whatever you choose to teach.

Yeah. No, that’s a really good point. I also think keep things really simple at the beginning, especially because they haven’t had art. So simple materials, simple lessons so that you can focus on building rapport, because that’s what’s actually going to get you the farthest with those kiddos is, do they believe that you care about them? Do they see you working to help them have a great time in art class? That is where you want to spend your energy.

Yes, absolutely. So I have a few thoughts as well. I think a big one is to not worry so much about what the staff says about the kids. Don’t let them affect how you see the kids. Don’t develop thoughts or attitudes about the kids before you even meet them, because that can be really damaging for relationships. Give each and every one of those kids a fresh start when they come into your classroom. And like Amanda said, I think it’s big to build rapport with kids and just let them know that this is a place that they can be comfortable, this is some place that they can enjoy what they’re doing. And I think that will go a long ways toward curbing a lot of misbehavior.

Nothing we say is going to be a cure-all. You’re going to deal with issues and you’ll learn from those issues. But just some of this advice should help. I think classroom management is going to be key for you. And we can’t solve all of those problems, like I said, right away. But I would say, keep your rules simple. Keep them easy to understand. A lot of teachers, just like the three rules of, be responsible, be respectful and be safe, and then everything else can flow from those three overarching ones. They’re easy to remember for kids, they’re easy for you to talk about when you’re addressing misbehavior. But anything along those lines that are simple and easy to understand will be really good.

And then routines and procedures are really important. Come up with routines for everything, for lining up when you come into class, for lining up when you leave class, for getting supplies, for washing, brushing, just everything you can think of. Make sure you have a routine and make sure you pre-teach that. Before you have kids go pick up the markers, show them this is how we’re going to pick up markers, here’s where you’re going, here’s how you do it, here’s what you do when you have it. And just show them what needs to be done and that’ll help a lot. If they don’t get it, then re-teach it, and re-teach it again. And I talk about this a lot.

Another good podcast for you to listen to. There’s an episode that Janet Taylor and I did with what first year teachers need to know about classroom management. And we have a long discussion in there about teaching and re-teaching, routines and procedures. So I think that would probably be worth listening to. Again, we will link to that. And like I said, a lot of it’s going to be trial and error. Nothing’s going to solve all of the behavior issues, but you’ll learn as you go. And like Amanda said, have patience. Give yourself grace. No first-year teachers have everything figured out. And any teacher you talk to will tell you that.

But I would say, if you can keep yourself calm, keep your room calm, keep the routines in order, just a calm, predictable classroom where kids know what to expect, that’ll do wonders for you.

Yeah, totally. Can we link to the First-Year Art Teacher Guide in the show?

Yeah, we’ll link to the First-Year Art Teacher Guide. So along with the FLEX scope and sequence, that’s a great place to start. But the First-Year Art Teacher Guide has so many resources, so many things to explore that can be incredibly helpful. So we’ll go ahead and check that out. Okay. That was a long answer, but that was a very important question.

Yes. Agree.

Yeah. We very much appreciate you writing in, Casey Anne, and I think that’s advice that’ll help a lot of people. Okay, next question is from Brianne in Montana and she says, “I just got my new schedule and I hit it already. LOL. I never see any class for more than 30 minutes. I have some ideas on how to do things with 30 minutes, but would appreciate any ideas or advice you have. Also, if you have advice on why I should enjoy the shorter time or how I can appreciate my schedule, I’d love to hear it.”

This is a great question. And I love that she’s asking for advice and also mindset shift.

Yes.

I just love our listeners. Okay. So I think that I would build a system. So I’m going to go out on a limb and assume this is elementary, maybe middle school. But I think regardless, I would always make sure that day one of the project, you are not doing any real art making. So you’re introducing the project and then doing either brainstorming or collaborative discussion or learning about what you’re going to be doing, demonstrating, whatever, getting all of that prep work done ahead of time. Now, depending on the age of the kids, they may forget literally everything you said by the next time, but let’s hope they don’t.

And so they have at least a foundation. And so you can just do a quick intro and then get into work time. Something that I found really helpful for my classes was to take pictures of each step and project them on the board in a grid. So I would break everything down into four distinct steps, super simple text a picture of what to do. And so that way, if you pre-teach in intro day one, you show them those pictures, you show them the same ones on day two, hopefully they can just jump into work time and you can get a good chunk of work, because 30 minutes is really tight, especially when you factor in cleanup.

So then I would do day two, day three, day four, however long your project lasts, a couple days of just straight up work time. And then I would always build in a day at the end for catch-up for anybody who was maybe missing or just a slower worker and then review an extension. And so I think if you follow a similar formula for each lesson where you have some introductory work and then some review work, book ending your work days, I think that could work pretty well. Logistically, I would also, excuse me, use the same materials across grade levels. So you’re prepping just one type of media at a time.

Yeah.

So everybody, you know what? This is oil pastel time, or this is clay week or whatever it is. Because with those short preps or short class periods, if you’re prepping a ton, that’s going to really burn you out really quickly. Okay. Ideas to enjoy this schedule. If a kid is annoying, look, they’re going to be gone before you know it. They’re in and out. I also think this is probably going to make your work days really fly by. I always found that when I had a short schedule, it was like, I just flew through the day. And it might also provide an opportunity for you to test some things out.

So you could take one section, one 30 minute section, if you want to try something with a class. And if it goes off the rails, it’s going to be over soon enough anyways. So whether that’s a new material you want to try out or a new way to present a lesson, it might provide some time for experimentation. I don’t know. What do you think, Tim?

No, I like that. I think that’s a good way to look at it. I’ll talk about this in just a second. I had struggles coming up with why you should enjoy this schedule. But I think that those are all really good ideas. But overall, I would just say that preparation and organization are going to be key to make sure that things are running smoothly. I would hope if all of your classes have been shortened, you have more prep time, and so you can put a little bit more effort into planning, into getting materials ready, getting things organized, everything like that.

But yeah, I would say, just think about streamlining everything that you’re doing. Try and make it a little bit shorter. Like I am notorious for talking too much and over explaining things in my classroom, and it might be helpful for me to be forced into a shorter time just so we can get that most important information out there, which I think is going to be pretty important. Have your supplies out and ready to go. If it’s oil pastel week, if it’s drawing week, whatever, just have all that stuff out, ready to go, easy for kids to pick up so you can move through it. And then same thing with getting class started as soon as possible. Figure out some kind of a routine to get started, get kids’ attention and get them going.

If it’s elementary, I know a lot of people love to do call and response. And if you have the same call and response every time kids come in, then that’s their cue to know it’s time to work, it’s time to get started, it’s time to listen. Anything like that can be incredibly helpful. Okay. So the benefits. My first thought was just like, you have to spend a lot less time worrying about what your early finishers are doing because-

Yeah. There won’t be any.

… there are not going to be any. Or if they are, they don’t have that much time to fill. But then I thought about it a little bit more. And I think the biggest benefit from this is, it’s probably going to make you a better teacher. It’ll force you to be a little bit more efficient with your instruction, with your management, with your organization, and you’re going to get better at all of those things just because you’re going to be forced to. And so whether you keep that schedule for a while or whether you go back to a little bit longer classes, I think that experience will make you a little bit better with all of the aspects of classroom management and organization that you need to run things efficiently.

Yes.

Do we have some quick hitters from Instagram?

We do. Okay. So I put up a question box that said, “Pretend you have a magic wand. What art teacher problem would you make disappear?” So we are the magicians, to be clear, here on the podcast.

I feel like that’s putting a lot of pressure on me to solve all these problems.

Okay. First problem was by far the most requested to make disappear. A few people were, oh boy, even as Katherine, @dianeshaw, @ltalk514, @abbyapplesauce. Budget shortage. What do we do about a budget shortage? I have a lot of ideas. Can I start?

Yes, please.

Okay. All right. So first of all, we just put out a new YouTube series called Zero Budget Art Room on YouTube. A YouTube series on YouTube. Yeah, that’s where it is. It’s great. It’s so fun. I think it’s six episodes. And in the very last episode, Renee Green is our host for that, and she walks you through some specific things that you can do to help yourself out. So definitely give that a watch. It’ll teach you how to stretch materials, how to be resourceful, and also how to advocate for yourself because this shouldn’t be the norm. This shouldn’t be the norm that our teachers have underfunded classrooms. So that is a great holistic series to watch through.

I would also say DonorsChoose. A lot of teachers have really good luck with that grant writing. Same deal. And then I really like this tip, and I wish I would’ve known about it when I was in the classroom, but put what you need, like the basic supplies you need, on school supply list at the beginning of the year. So if kids have to bring in markers for their classroom, put an extra pack of markers on there. You’re not going to get compliance. Or not all families may be able to do that for you. But the ones who can, can really help you stretch what you can buy with your own dedicated budget. So anyway, those would be my tips.

Yeah, I was just thinking of a couple things along those same lines. I think asking for donations is huge, whether you have access to all the parent emails or you send a newsletter home or anything like that. If you just have three or four things that you could really use, just say, “Hey, if you have any extra of this lying around, please send it in. We could use it for our projects.” I think that can get you a lot of stuff. I think talking to your PTO, they may have some budget money that they are willing to spend, depending on the situation. They can get you a few things. And honestly, cardboard is just the greatest thing. I think there’s an entire episode with Renee Green-

There is. Yeah.

… on cardboard. But I taught sculpture for an entire semester using just cardboard. It is so versatile. You can do so many things with it. And I would say, yeah, just get creative about what you have and what you can use, which obviously is not the ideal situation, but it’s doable. And any chance you have to advocate for yourself with your principal, with the school board, with anybody, just let them know what the budget situation is and see if there’s any way to remedy that. And the answer’s probably going to be no. But if you keep asking and keep advocating, then that could change eventually.

Totally. Okay. Number two, @newperstudios says they would like to get rid of ruined paint brushes.

Wouldn’t we all?

We would.

Okay. So I’m going to do just a secondary level thing, because this really was the magic wand for me. When I have kids in a painting class, I would give them three brushes and say, “These are your brushes for the semester. Please take care of them because you’re not getting any other ones.” And we still have to, like we talked about earlier, teach and reteach procedures as far as cleaning, making sure of things. But if they only have those three and they know that’s all they get to use, then they do take better care of them.

And honestly, I see kids policing each other. Like, “Hey, you can’t leave that in the sink. That’s your only brush.” And so they help each other out. And I think that’s big. So if you have the budget where you can just check out brushes for the semester, expect them back at the end, then that can go a long ways toward you not dealing with all those ruined paint brushes, and also not having them be completely ruined.

Yeah. At the elementary level. I have three kind of tips or three thoughts here. One is sometimes, I would literally just wash them myself. If I knew a class wasn’t going to do a good job or didn’t have time to thoroughly go through that process, I would just have them as part of their cleanup process, put their brush upside down in a big bucket of warm water, and I would take literally three minutes to wash them off after they left the room, because they’re soaking for a few minutes, that makes it really easy. I also think if you can spend more money upfront on better supplies or get a few one pack of new brushes every few years even.

I always looked for synthetic bristles and plastic handles because those just tended to hold up better for me versus wooden handles, which are swelling and cracking and kind of a mess. And then I also had an anchor chart by the sink. And we would, again, going back to those routines and procedures, just practice, practice, practice, and have a visual there so that the kids know what to do. Actually, I do have a fourth idea that just came to me.

Yeah.

Occasionally, I would also just assign three kids to wash the brushes. You know who you trust to wash your brushes. Those kids. And they also, it’s win-win. They think it’s a high honor. And so sometimes, I would go that route depending on the day as well.

Yeah, I like all those.

All right. Okay. So this next one is either from @snarkyscar, or @snarkyscar.

Okay.

We don’t know.

I don’t even want to make a guess. I want them to write back in and tell us which it is.

Which way do we pronounce it. Okay. Please make phones and bathroom pass problems disappear.

Oh, that’s a big one. I would say, unless you have administrative support for phones, you’re going to need a magic wand.

That’s going to be tough. That’s not a battle that most teachers want to fight. What I would say is just come up with some rules that are effective in your classroom so the phones don’t drive you completely crazy. Something like, hey, no earbuds in while I’m presenting. Phones face down while teacher’s talking. Whatever. If you’re going to listen to music, have your playlist already queued up. You can’t sit there in school-

Yeah. Make one.

… and look things up. You can’t make a playlist on class time. Just things like that, that can minimize their use and not be too distracting. You just need to find that happy medium. Bathroom passes. My rule is always, if you’re taking advantage of that, you lose the privilege. And I always like to say, nobody leaves the first 10 minutes or the last 10 minutes of class because you need to be there for instruction, you need to be there for cleanup. And then just trust them in between there. But like I said, if somebody’s abusing that privilege, then I don’t let them go anymore.

And that can run into other issues. And I feel like that’s a whole other conversation. But I think, as a teacher, you can use your judgment to figure out the best way to handle that.

Yeah. For bathroom passes, I had two magnetic passes on the board. And the kids knew they had to ask, of course, and then they could go and get it, and then they would just put it at their seat. So that was really nice too, because I could see if somebody was out and who was out just at a glance. But again, I don’t know. I didn’t have super bad bathroom problems when I was teaching, but that method seemed to work pretty well.

Yeah. I like it.

All right. Last one. @slhalpern1991 says, lack of prep time between classes. We’ve all been there, or many of us have been there. Well, congratulations. You now have an early morning prep or an after school prep. I mean, I think here, really the key is batching. You have to think in batches. You can’t think, “What do I need for the next class?” You have to think about, “What do I need for the entire morning or the entire afternoon?” I think similar to the advice we gave Casey Anne, streamlining as much as possible, using similar supplies with back-to-back classes is really good.

And then my main tip for this situation is just clean up earlier than you think you need to. Every single class start five minutes before you think you have to. Because if you get done with extra time, and honestly, hopefully you do, then you have a rotation of things that you can do, like a short review, a fun trivia game, a short read aloud, something that will engage the class, but where they’re sitting and ready to go when their teacher gets there or when the dismissal bell rings, whatever level you’re teaching. And I found that to be a pretty effective way to handle that situation.

But it stinks. I mean, there’s no sugar coating it. It’s not ideal. But I think there’s some things you can do to streamline and make that easier for yourself.

Yeah, for sure. I was just going to say batching as well, and just thinking ahead for like what do I need for these four classes in a row.

Yeah.

And I agree with all of your advice, Amanda. The one thing I would add is to have kids help you.

Yes.

If you have early finishers or if you want to make this part of cleanup, just ask those kids like, “Hey, we’re done with oil pastels. Can you put them away in that cabinet, and can you get out the colored pencils for the next class that’s coming in?” And if you have kids that you trust and that can help you with that, that can be a big boost for you, a big help as you’re trying to get through so much time without any time for organization or prep. All right. Anything else that we need to cover?

I don’t think so.

All right. Well thank you to Amanda for coming on. We are going to go get ready for our super exciting conference kickoff tonight, and the main event at the NOW Conference tomorrow. So we hope, by the time you listen to this, you will have a ton of the conference, seen all of that exciting stuff that’s going on. But if you want to continue any of this learning or dive a little bit deeper, we have so many links for you in the show notes from all sorts of ideas on the first-year teacher classroom management podcasts to the guides for 30 minute classes, the podcast for 30 minute classes. And of course, the Olympic training reel that you need to see on YouTube, the Zero Budget Art Room, everything that we talked about today. We’ll link to as much stuff as we can. You can continue to explore, you can continue to learn, and hopefully, you can have a little bit smoother start to the upcoming school year.

Now, if you did not sign up for the conference, if you did not go to the NOW Conference last week, we would love for you to register for the next one. We have super early bird pricing going on. We will link to where you can register. If you use the discount code WINTER99, that’s valid all the month of August. You can come to the next NOW Conference at the end of January and beginning of February. You can come for just $99, which is $50 off the registration price.

So if you missed this one, we’re sorry that you missed out, but we really hope we’ll see you at the next one. Again, the WINTER99 code gets you $50 off. And hopefully, we will see you at the beginning of next year.