13: Keeping Your Sanity During Testing Season
Season 2, Episode 13 | Standardized Testing Series — Part 2 of 3
Testing season doesn't just stress out your students. It wrecks teachers too — and nobody in your building is talking about that. This episode is your permission slip to take care of yourself during one of the most demanding weeks of the school year.
Let's be honest. Every year, teachers pour enormous energy into getting their students calm, confident, and ready for standardized testing — and then walk into testing week completely depleted, running on caffeine and good intentions, and wondering why they feel like they got hit by a bus when it's finally over.
We're not doing that this year.
In this episode, I'm giving you a practical two-part survival plan — what to do in the weeks before testing to set yourself up, and exactly how to protect your energy and sanity during the actual testing week. Because here's the truth nobody says out loud: a teacher who is running on empty cannot be the steady, calm presence their students need in that testing room.
We're fixing that today.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE
Why testing season is uniquely exhausting for teachers — and why it's not your fault
How to audit your plate so you're not already drowning before testing even starts
Why setting your limits before anyone asks you to cross them is the smartest move you'll make this season
How to build your testing week schedule in advance — so chaos doesn't drive the bus
The Testing Week Survival Code: a five-step framework to keep you calm, steady, and human from Monday to Friday
Why leaving at contract time every single day of testing week is not lazy — it's strategic
FEATURED FRAMEWORK
The Testing Week Survival Code S — Simplify | U — Unplug | R — Routine | V — Voice | E — Exit on time
Grab the Free Stress-Free Test Prep Toolkit Everything from this episode — plus tools from the entire testing series — in one free download. Includes a testing week daily checklist, boundary scripts, breathing routine cards, a parent communication template, and more.
👉 Download it free at https://bit.ly/test-prep-toolkit
EPISODE LINKS & RESOURCES (standard show notes section)
Free Download: The Stress-Free Test Prep Toolkit →https://bit.ly/test-prep-toolkit
Listen to Part 1 of the series → Episode 12: Test Prep Without the Meltdown
Coming next → Episode 14: What to Do When the Data Comes Back
ABOUT THIS SERIES
This episode is Part 2 of a 3-part series on surviving standardized testing season. Whether you found this episode first or you've been listening from the start, each episode stands on its own — but together they give you a complete before, during, and after plan for getting through testing season without losing your mind or your love for teaching.
