Featured Teacher: Mark Aaron

1.   How long have you been on Teachers Pay Teachers?  What made you decide to be a part of it?

I have been a seller on TPT for four years now. It's been an interesting experience, and for the most part the idea that my lessons and teaching ideas have spread around the country and maybe even the world has been the greatest reward. I joined TPT because my middle school colleagues considered me the "go-to guy" for lesson plans and activities for many years and gave me positive feedback on my teaching units. I decided to look for a wider audience for my work and with TPT I found it.

2.   When did you know that you wanted to be in education?

I did not even consider teaching as a career until I was 23. I had graduated with a political science/history degree and woke up one morning realizing that the knowledge I had gained in studying those majors, while valuable and rewarding to me, was not as transferrable to the world of work as I would have liked. So by chance and dumb luck I took a part-time job as a teacher's aide at a middle school to pay the bills. I enjoyed it and soon I fell in love with the idea of becoming a teacher. A year and half later later I was the teacher in my own classroom and I have been ever since.

3. How are you currently involved in education?

I did not even consider teaching as a career until I was 23. I had graduated with a political science/history degree and woke up one morning realizing that the knowledge I had gained in studying those majors, while valuable and rewarding to me, was not as transferrable to the world of work as I would have liked. So by chance and dumb luck I took a part-time job as a teacher's aide at a middle school to pay the bills. I enjoyed it and soon I fell in love with the idea of becoming a teacher. A year and half later later I was the teacher in my own classroom and I have been ever since.

4.   What would be your advice to people who are considering joining Teachers Pay Teachers?

Accept the fact that not everyone is cut out to be a seller on TPT and that it may or may not be right for you. Other than that, my advice would be threefold. First, be prepared to put in long hours and use those hours to create the best possible products you can. Quality over quantity; it took me quite a while to figure that one out. Second, have patience and don't expect great sales numbers overnight or even in a year. Be realistic, it takes time and in all probability you aren't going to become an Internet millionaire or quit your day job (that is a good thing!). Third, remember what I tell myself about many things in life, including TPT: Things are never as good as they may seem and they are never as bad as they may seem.

5.   What has been a highlight, thus far, about being on Teachers Pay Teachers?

This is a long sentence but I think it says it all for me: The highlight has been the interaction and communication with so many dedicated and creative professionals who have become entrepeneurs and in doing so have taken some of the power away from the corporate publishing companies who have controlled educational publishing for so long and produced what I think are bland and inferior materials for our kids.

6. What is something fun about you that other teachers don’t know?

I use my modest TPT income to support my continual addiction to the sport of skydiving.

7.   Do you participate in education outside of the classroom?  In what type of role?

I end up serving on virtually every committee my school creates, so I am rather busy outside the classroom. I am currently using my school's new 1 to 1 Mac program as a way to become a more up-to-date user of technology in the classroom. This old dog is learning some new tricks!

8.   What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?

I'd like to be a skydiving instructor, and I know I could do it. But that is not in the cards and my family would kill me as they find my current skydiving habit hard enough to swallow.

9.   What profession would you not like to do?

I would hate to be a school administrator. I have had multiple opportunities to leave the classroom for administration over the past 27 years and turned every one of them down. I have never regretted that for one minute. Administrators often have as hard or a harder job than teachers. I know it isn't popular to say that but it is what I believe.

10.                 Who is your favorite author?  Favorite educational author?  And why?

My favorite author as an adult reader is John Cheever. His books are amazing works of art. In education I love Robert C. O'Brien, the author of both Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh and my all-time undiscovered gem of a children's novel: The Silver Crown.

by

Mark Aaron  


Mark's TPT store

Mark's Prized Products

I designed a classroom as courtroom simulation of a real Roman court case that was heard over 2000 years ago. It is my all-time favorite lesson and my students have enjoyed this every year for what seems an eternity:

Roman Law Courtroom in the Classroom

I'm very proud of a set of materials on Proverbs (non-religious) that I created. It not only teaches language arts skills but also offers valuable life lessons for my Middle School students to ponder:

Proverbs Language Arts Skills & Test