If you feel exhausted by the overwhelming demands of teaching and struggle to achieve a work-life balance, you’re not alone. Luckily, there are resources that can help. We’ve heard a lot of buzz about Angela Watson’s 40 Hour Teacher Workweek and decided to check it out for ourselves. Below are answers to all of your questions. In addition, we share 40 Hour Teacher Workweek reviews from teachers who have tried it.
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What exactly is the 40 Hour Teacher Workweek?
The 40 Hour Teacher Workweek is a 52-week program that helps you streamline your teaching, one area at a time. Essentially, it’s a yearlong professional development endeavor focused on increasing productivity. The goal is cultivating a more productive mindset to help you succeed, no matter what you teach.
How does it work?
Each month of the program focuses on a plan for simplifying one aspect of your teaching. You’ll make incremental changes that have the biggest impact. Also, you’ll get 12 months of classroom-tested productivity ideas. These resources are available in both PDF and audio formats that go step-by-step through each focus area. Choose just a few ideas each month and watch as small changes add up to big results.
What does membership include?
In addition to the monthly productivity ideas, membership includes access to more than $350 worth of forms and teacher resources to help you put the strategies into action. When you join, you get access to a positive, supportive Facebook community of coaches and other teachers to share ideas, answer questions, and provide encouragement and accountability.
At the end of the course, you will receive a professional development certificate to document up to 104 credit hours. Once you become a member of the club, you’ll have unlimited access to the membership site and the Facebook group, even after you complete the course.
What are some of the topics?
A different topic is covered each month, including communication, lesson planning, grading, technology time-savers, and so much more. Plus, to address changes and requirements in education, they review and adjust the content of each month’s resources the month prior if necessary.
How much of a commitment is it?
Entirely self-paced, the course helps you work through the resources each month when it’s convenient for you. There are no deadlines or assignments to submit, unless your district requires it. Even after you “graduate” from the club, you still have access to all the topics on the membership site.
How much does the 40 Hour Teacher Workweek cost?
You pay a onetime fee of $175. If you join the 2023 cohort between June 15 and June 30, you get a discounted rate of only $159 (or pay in three installments of $55 each). Once you join, there are no ongoing fees—you basically pay once and have access forever. In addition, if for any reason you feel the program is not a fit, there is a 100% money-back guarantee. (Although the site estimates that only 3% of teachers who join request a refund.)
Can I join anytime I like?
No. There is a limited enrollment period with a new cohort beginning each July. The deadline to join the 2023 cohort is July 17. Your cohort provides support from the other teachers who are working through each focus area at the same time.
How do I sign up?
To join the 2023 cohort, simply visit Angela Watson’s 40 Hour Teacher Workweek and sign up. You can also enter your email to get a sneak peek at sample materials.
40 Hour Teacher Workweek Online Summit
Want to get time-saving strategies from real elementary teachers? On July 10 and 11, 2023, 25 members of the 40 Hour Workweek program will share short presentations with their best tips on streamlining grading, lesson planning, and more during the first 40 Hour Online Summit. It’s a free event for anyone who attends live, with recordings available for purchase for $29.
Additional Programs
The 40 Hour Teacher Workweek has proven so successful in helping teachers make incremental changes with a huge impact that Angela Watson introduced two new programs for school leaders and instructional coaches:
40 Hour Leadership
The 40 Hour Leadership program helps administrators figure out how to cut through bureaucracy and inefficient processes to focus on what truly makes an impact for students. You’ll learn how to free up time for teachers to focus on what’s important. The $599 program includes enrollment for up to three school leaders plus additional options that include virtual coaching sessions. This means you can complete the five modules with your colleagues at your own pace.
40 Hour Instructional Coaching
Angela Watson and Nicole Turner of Simply Coaching have created a new course called 40 Hour Instructional Coaching for K-12 instructional coaches. Learn to streamline your workload to stay focused on what makes the biggest impact. You also learn how to support teachers in doing the same. Sign up for $97 in June for the program launch in August.
40 Hour Teacher Workweek Reviews
Prior to joining the club, I felt like I was climbing up a steep mountain with a heavy load strapped to my back. … My backpack was filled with grading, lesson planning, maintaining a classroom, building positive student relationships, communicating to parents, delivering dynamic lessons, designing rigorous assessments, integrating new technology, attending meetings, endless paperwork, and so much more. Angela Watson’s 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club transformed how I climbed up the mountain. … This club allowed me to take back my personal life, guilt-free. … My husband and children now have the best version of me, as I have finally captured the perfect work-life balance. —Jill Capotosto-Baio, fifth grade math and science teacher
My days were a combination of high-intensity grading and record-keeping, meetings and phone calls, and an overflowing inbox of emails. I was constantly sick, constantly exhausted. My evenings and weekends were spent dividing my time—and guilt—between my family and the toppling stacks of grading and prep work haunting my dining room table. … Ultimately, Angela Watson’s 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club gave me the tools to free up my time and energy so that I could become the teacher I have wanted to be. I’ve gone from working 60 hours to working 40–45 hours per week. … My conscience is no longer plagued with work all weekend. I am able to give time and attention to being the wife and mother I want to be, rather than allowing them to be another casualty of my profession. —Erin Palazzo, high school English teacher
Before the club, I was always working, or feeling bad about not working, or thinking about working. I had difficulty seeing the good that I was doing because I was so fixated on a to-do list that was nebulous, huge, and impossible to ever finish. After joining the club, I work fewer hours, carefully plan out my time, and when I’m not working, I mostly turn off my brain and don’t think about work until I’m ready to go back refreshed. I could talk about my experience in the club all day, it’s been that transformative! —Kelly Steiner, middle school science teacher
Read more reviews of the 40 Hour Teacher Workweek here.
Share your 40 Hour Teacher Workweek reviews on the WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook.
Plus, check out Tackling the Myth of the Rock Star Teacher.
