1. How long have you been on Teachers Pay Teachers? What made you decide to be a part of it?
I’ve been a member of TpT for some time. I just became a “Premium Seller” in February. I found the site a few years ago and was sharing the awesome resources that I kept finding there with other staff members.
I’m on maternity leave now, and I don’t go back until September. With the reduced income that maternity leave brings, I’ve decided to try to make up some of the difference with TpT.
2. When did you know that you wanted to be in education?
Like many of us, I knew from a very young age that I wanted to be a teacher. I knew all through high school that it’s where my path was headed. I tutored and worked with other students whenever I could. I loved the satisfaction of helping someone understand something that they didn’t understand before.
3. How are you currently involved in education?
Well, currently I’m on maternity leave – enjoying my time with my 8 month old and 3½ year old boys. Last year I taught Grade 7 Math, Language Arts and Social Studies. Although my assignment may change, I expect it will be similar in the fall. In addition to building my TpT store, I also just started to contribute content for an online educational newsletter.
4. What would be your advice to people who are considering joining Teachers Pay Teachers?
I’d say, “Go for it!” The possibilities are endless with how far you could go – just look at some of the success stories. As I said, I’m very new at this. However, I earned my Premium Seller fee back in the first month and now everything I make for the rest of the year goes in my pocket. Plus, I love being able to share the lessons and activities that I have made for my students, as well as the ideas and strategies that I use in my classroom. Being on maternity leave is lovely, but it can also be lonely. I like the connection to other teachers that the site (and this blog) offers.
5. What has been a highlight, thus far, about being on Teachers Pay Teachers?
Well, I just recently reached an exciting benchmark: My first followers! I’m also on my way to $200 in earnings and when I started in February I didn’t know if I’d even sell one product! I think the biggest highlight, though, is the nice comments that people have left for my products. It’s really validating!
6. What is something fun about you that other teachers don’t know?
I love the show “Dog the Bounty Hunter”.
7. Do you participate in education outside of the classroom? In what type of role?
Last year, I was a teacher-supervisor for our school yearbook. I’ve organized different fundraising activities for various causes at our school. I also started a “Mathletes” group after school for students that wanted to try challenging Math from a higher grade level – something I wish I would have had when I was in school.
8. What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?
The only other profession I’ve ever considered was a Psychologist, when I was completing my under-grad degree in Psychology. That Psychology background has been very helpful to me in the teaching profession!
9. What profession would you not like to do?
Probably a nurse – I have a friend that worked with young children in the cancer unit at a children’s hospital. It’s such an important profession - I just don’t think I could handle that type of stress.
10. Who is your favorite author? Favorite educational author? And why?
I don’t read for pleasure as much as I would like to at this time in my life, but I do enjoy Jodi Picoult’s writing. I loved “My Sister’s Keeper”.
I think Karen Hume is amazing. “Start Where They Are” her book on differentiated instruction is absolutely incredible.
Krystal Mills
- I’ve created a package on Translations, Reflections, Rotations and Graphing. Students work through various math centers to create their own colorful designs, plot points to solve a mystery picture (then create their own), play a Memory card game to practice identifying ordered pairs, play a hide and seek type of game with lines of longitude and latitude – I’ve included a test (with solutions) as well. The test alone, could be broken into 3 small assignments.
-This is a really fun integrated arts project that addresses outcomes in creative writing, visual art and drama, communication, collaborative skills and time management (I’ve included optional rubrics, as well). Students create paper mache masks and design their masks to be any animal, monster etc. that they want. In small groups, the students use the characters that their masks form to become the characters in a play that they will collaboratively write. Finally, students gather any props, costumes, backdrops etc. that will enhance their performance and perform their plays for the class.
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