Hello! I’m Katie and I’m so happy you’re here! I’m very passionate about helping teachers, so I started this blog as a way to create and share interactive resources with other educators. I hope these resources can help save you time while also engaging your students. This blog features not only teaching resources and advice but also tips and resources you can use to make a little extra money as an edupreneur (TpT seller? Teacherpreneur? Whatever people are calling it these days!) too. My hope is that this will be a community for teachers and other educators who are just as passionate as I am about cultivating lifelong learners and helping our students grow.
This is the place for you if:
- You love your students and you’re looking for new ways to engage them in meaningful learning.
- You value your time and are looking for general tips and strategies to make your teaching life easier.
- You’re a true lifelong learner who understands the importance of trying new things and pushing yourself to grow.
- You enjoy occasional practical advice about life as an educator such as financial planning, self-care, travel, and career paths.
- You like a casual writing style that is informative, yet fun (I hope!).
- You appreciate consideration of multiple viewpoints and understand that there is not a single right way to do anything when it comes to teaching.
- You are passionate about teaching and want to share your resources, what you know, and the things you’ve learned along the way with others by sharing your activities on TeachersPayTeachers or through a site of your own.
- You enjoy engaging with other teachers and are looking for community, support, practical advice, and inspiration to help you achieve your goals.
You should move along if:
- You’re perfectly happy never trying anything new and don’t care about other peoples’ ideas or growing as an educator. You’re bumming out the rest of us. 😊
- You’re only looking for teacher lifestyle tips like perfect first day of school outfits and how to best match your shoes to your magnetic eyelashes. Is that even a thing? How should I know?! Trust me when I say I’m not the person to be providing fashion or beauty tips. However, I think there is plenty of other information on the blog that you should stick around for, and you can always get your beauty and fashion tips from someone else.
- You’re morally opposed to the liberal use of parentheses (I love them!).
- That’s it. There’s no other reason why you would possibly want to move along. Look around, see what’s available, and let me know how I can help you!
So who am I anyway?
(TL;DR version: I really like teaching and I think you should sign up for my email list if you do too.)
I’ve been in the field of education for over 10 years and have been everything from a public school classroom teacher, a department head and team leader, to a curriculum and instruction specialist. These days I spend most of my time running my TeachersPayTeachers business, but I can’t seem to step away from teaching altogether. So in my spare time, I also serve as an online course instructor for the University of Virginia where I teach courses in curriculum, instruction, and assessment for teachers pursuing their master’s degrees in education. I love working with preservice and inservice teachers, and this is a great way for me to stay current with the latest trends in education.
I have a bachelor’s degree in Political Science (Rice University-Go Owls!), a master’s in Education (University of Tulsa), and a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction (University of Virginia). If I could get away with it, I would add a degree in library science too. But apparently my wife thinks I have “too many degrees already” (how is that even a thing?) and I’ve been banned from even looking at programs. It’s probably for the best, but don’t tell her I said that.
Amber’s face when I bring up going back to school for a degree in library science. Luna agrees.
Winnebago at the World’s Largest Mailbox in Casey, IL
Ipanema Beach, Rio de Janeiro
Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, CO
Olympics Fun at London 2012 & Rio 2016
Speaking of my wife (Amber), we travel full-time together with our sweet pitador (pit bull/lab mix), Luna. We live in our retro Winnebago RV, which we still haven’t managed to name properly. Do you have any ideas? I’d love to hear them!
Amber is a travel nurse specializing in cardiovascular ICU, so we move every 3 months or so for new assignments. We’re currently in Phoenix, Arizona, but we’ve recently lived in Oklahoma, Virginia, Colorado, Washington, and Massachusetts too. By the time you’re reading this, who knows where we’ll be!
Obviously I love to travel, especially to national parks. We’ve been to 42 of the 63 U.S. parks so far, and we’re always looking for excuses to go back or visit new ones.
I also enjoy being an aunt to 8 nieces and nephews, camping, reading (especially children’s and young adult literature), watching movies, true crime stuff, tiny houses, Harry Potter (#Ravenclaw), world’s largest things and other dumb tourist attractions, and especially the Olympics. We were lucky enough to get to go to London 2012 and Rio 2016!
Once again, I want you to know that I’m so happy you’re here. Please don’t hesitate to reach out and let me know if there is anything I can help with or that you’d like to see featured on the site. I’m looking forward to working with you!
