Which teachers get the BEST results from the 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club?
I’ve observed our members very carefully and surveyed them over time. It’s clear that a member’s attitude and commitment to the club has a far greater impact on their success than the particulars of their teaching situation. The most successful participants live in all different countries and teach in every grade level and context you can imagine, but they generally demonstrate the following 6 characteristics:
1. Teachers who are committed to making permanent lifestyle changes.
They are not “crash dieters” who want to make a dramatic change for 2 weeks and then fall right back into their old habits. They are determined to learn more efficient ways of working and implementing those strategies for the rest of their careers.
2. Teachers who have created routines so the club is a regular part of their life that they prioritize and schedule time for.
For example, some members choose to create a routine on Sunday mornings in which they drink their coffee while reading the strategies and planning for the week ahead. Or every Saturday afternoon, they go for a jog and listen to the content via MP3, then re-read the content to reference it and start implementing ideas when they get home. Others go into work early on Monday morning and listen to the content in the car, then start planning in their classrooms.
The common thread? They dedicate time each week to studying the content of the program and deciding what they want to implement.
3. Teachers who participate at least once per week in the Facebook group.
This participation is completely optional, but those who join the Facebook group are far more likely to stick with the club and adapt the ideas for their teaching context because they have the ability to learn from other teachers and get support.
More participation in the Facebook group does not necessarily equate with better results: after all, social media can be a distraction from doing the work!
But the most successful members tend to be those who pop into the group on a fairly regular basis to learn from others in their cohort, share what’s working and what’s not, and let us know about their progress so we can provide support and answer questions.
4. Teachers who view the club as a lifeline that supports them, not an obligation they are under pressure to “keep up with.”
Members who tell themselves they are “falling behind” if they don’t use all the content tend to get sucked into a guilt spiral and disengage from the club. They pressure themselves to do every suggestion that’s offered and implement it all immediately (and perfectly), and then end up not utilizing ANY of the resources.
By contrast, our most successful members create realistic expectations for themselves. They see the club as being there to support them rather than creating more work for them. They look forward to opening the new email each week because it feels like a fun surprise and they might discover a new strategy that enables them to take another half hour or more off their workweek.
5. Teachers who don’t try to do it all.
They skim through the materials and focus only on the strategies that address their greatest needs, and generally pick ONE idea to implement each week. Our most successful members believe that small changes add up to big results!
6. Teachers who focus on the aspects of their work they CAN control and don’t make excuses.
Our most successful members do not vent constantly about how much work they have piled on their plates, or view the club content through the lens of why the ideas couldn’t work in their teaching context.
We have many members who started shaving hours off their workweek the very first week they joined, and without exception, those are the teachers who choose to take risks, think outside the box, and implement new ideas no matter what obstacles they are facing. The more determined you are to create change in your life, the better your results will be.