It IS a business!

I really didn't know what to expect when I joined the Teachers Pay Teachers Sellers Challenge (hosted by Amber at PreppyZestyTeacherista, Ashley at Teach Create Motivate, Emily at Third in Hollywood, and Jen at Sparkling in Second), but it has certainly provided a kick in the pants to get my store close to where it should be.

Up until very recently, I didn't really think of it as a business. I know it's called a "store", but in my head, it was more of a hobby. I think that was mistake number 1. I just posted my "products" (still didn't think of it as a business) hoping that they were useful and user-friendly. Sale-ability, marketing, branding... none of that occurred to me.

And because of that, when someone started a post discussing Terms of Use pages on the TpT Seller Challenge Facebook page, it got me thinking. Why didn't I have one of those? If I want others to take me seriously and respect my products, I think I need those things that say I take myself seriously. Like a Terms of Use page.

So, here it is! I even figured out how to add hyperlinks to it.

Now for the somewhat arduous task of inserting it into all my existing products... I guess I can do that as I work on updating all my covers too. :)

So what about you? If you sell, did you have trouble taking yourself seriously?

Daring to Dream

I suppose to start out with, reviving this blog is daring to dream itself.

However, the last time I tried this, I had thought, "What a great way to remember my FIRST year of teaching... I'll keep a blog!" Then I actually started teaching and realized how much work - so, so much work - is involved in teaching, especially when it's your first year and you're starting from scratch.

Now, as an older and wiser teacher with five full years under my belt (ha!), I'm hoping maybe I can do this. I've got the incentive of all those other Teachers Pay Teachers sellers out there who all seem to be saying, "YES, you need a blog!"

So, this blog will also be my Genius Hour project that I'll work on while my dual credit English 12/College Composition seniors work on their Genius Hour projects (more on that later).

What I'm hoping to gain from my TpT store

When I started my Teachers Pay Teachers sellers account, I had a basic account for probably six months. I wasn't really sure what I expected out of it. In fact, I think I mostly planned to download free items, but I figured that if the seller's account was free too, I might as well post some of those middle school units I wouldn't be needing as I changed jobs to a high school teacher. It took a while, but I still remember how exciting that first sale was. It was as if someone out there was saying, "Hey, it looks like you know what you're doing. I'm going to PAY MONEY for your work!"

That feeling was incredible. Validation.

The first part of my dream was simply taking pride in my work. I mean, I had always been proud of what I was doing in the classroom, but it is so hard to share with non-teachers (and even other teachers - I hated feeling like I was bragging, especially as a young teacher). So my store allowed me to really have a concrete reason to feel pride in my work, and I had people that I could share it with who might even pay some of their own hard-earned money to purchase my work.

When I finally did the math and realized that I actually could be making a lot more money, even with spending the money for the premium account, my dreams started to materialize. This money, for us, is not in the budget. Some of it goes on our Starbucks card. I used some to buy a second pair of glasses. I bought a skirt from JC Penney's. You know, fun stuff! Guilt-free, non-budgeted fun stuff!

Finally, after completing my first year as a premium seller, my husband and I decided that we would save as much as we could (minus some Starbucks money still) to take a vacation. I'm not sure when or where just yet, because we've got big J and the twins to think about, but we are thinking maybe Vegas. I'd kind of like to make it coincide with the TpT conference, but we'll see what he thinks about that. :)

This TpT Seller's Challenge has been great motivation so far. I'd already revamped several product covers, as well as some products themselves, and now, I'm getting re-committed to this blog. There's no time like the present!

Busy, busy, busy!

Today was one of those days that felt like a week. We started with VB practice for the varsity this morning at 6:30 since their was a HS quad after school at home. Then I stayed after school and finally got my file folders for each kid organized. Luckily Brandon helped me with that. We left and then went straight to Brandon's parents' house to have hamburgers and okra with them and Meghan while she's home. I'm glad I'm finally sitting down! I feel like the first few weeks of school have both flown by and gone incredibly slow. I'm always busy and feel like I haven't had a moment to stop and think since we started, but yet I feel like we've done so much already that we've had to have been in school for weeks.

I wanted to share today some of the things my kids came up with for their quickwrite today. Basically, I start each class with a quickwrite: a 5-minute, write-as-fast-as-you-can journal entry. For the 8th graders, today, the topic was based off a photo of two bicyclists who were stopped on a road and looking straight at the camera. Their quest was to describe what it was that made the bicyclists stop and look. One kid decided it was because they could see right into our classroom, and they stopped when he announced that today's lunch was Salisbury steak. They were trying to figure out how to get into the classroom to eat with us. Another kid told in detail of the unicorn farm, where the unicorns were playing chess and the goats were singing. I can't remember all of them, but man, the imagination these kids have! Love it!

The 7th graders had a similar creative topic. Theirs was to imagine that they received an official-looking, white, business-size envelope in the mail from a company called Peerless with the words "You May Have Already Won" stamped on the outside in red. They were to then come up with the next part of the story. One kid told the story from a 3 year old's perspective, and she won a lifetime supply of Spaghetti-O's. Another kid wrote the letter that was actually in the envelope: it started out saying you had won a trip to outer space, but then said "just kidding" and was actually a letter asking for money to support research for kids afraid of the colors red, yellow and blue. Another kid told it from the perspective of the oldest man alive, who is 1,979 years old. And still walking (the kids got a kick out of that part).

They just amaze me with their varied ideas! I'm excited to hear what they have to say about Where the Red Fern Grows in 7th grade, and I know the 8th grade will come up with some good tall tales/myths/legends/folk tales/etc. in their unit this week and next.

I love being a teacher so far, but man, I feel so busy!!

First Full Week... CHECK

Wow, I can't believe the week flew by that quickly. All my classes went through their diagnostic units, with some kids realizing that I mean it when I say the deadline. But I'm really enjoying how hard they are working so far. I can't wait to read all their essays this weekend! (I mean that seriously, fyi!)

Reminder to self: breathe...

With IEP meetings before school, volleyball practice and scrimmage yesterday, I am exhausted, but exhausted in such a happy way. Turns out I really do have a knack for this teaching thing. I feel great, and the kids all (all but a couple, anyway) seem to like and respect me and therefore work hard to impress/please me. I've been trying so hard to get the message across that they are in charge of how hard they work, and that I expect high quality out of them, and they're listening. Woo hoo!

After this morning's I've helped to set up the project of disassembling and reassembling a computer for a kid who often gets bored by the end of the day, and Brandon's going to meet him Tuesday to give him some pointers and extra information about what he's doing. I think it'll be good for both the kid and Brandon!

Happy as I am, I'm pumped for the weekend. Time on the Plaza at KC with Meghan (home for R&R from Afghanistan) and the family will be great!

The First Day of School

Yesterday was my first day with kids. It went well, really, though I had planned WAY more than what we could do in the 27 minutes they had with me because of a shortened schedule and 1:00 release. Wow. Except 5th hour, which came at the end of the day and was normal length, due to lunch. I was glad to have that breather at the end of the day.

But I'm really impressed with the kids, for the most part. They were all really paying attention, even when we got to the boring rules stuff, and a few classes had kids that were asking questions too. Some chattering, of course, but what do you expect for the first day. I suppose I should probably make them raise their hands more. It's just not exactly my style... I'm more open. But I'd better hammer down, or it'll only get worse. :)

I'm already pushing things back a day, and I've realized I need a new system of keeping track of what day we're doing what. I have dates on everything that now need to be shifted one day. I guess I better start just labeling things "Day 1" and "Day 2" and so forth. It'll save me a lot of time.

I'm really impressed with my reading class, at least in their abilities to read out loud. I've only got 3, so we got to talk quite a bit in our 27 minutes; since they're all in my English classes, I didn't need to rehash the rules or syllabus. I gave them 3 books to choose from for the first unit, and they chose Night of the Twisters. I knew they would... Kansas kids. :) So today I think we'll read some newspaper stuff on this particular tornado that happened in Grand Island, Neb., that inspired the book, as well as ones around here.

I'm just so excited!

Kids' Camp

It has been quite a while since I've posted on this blog. But, my goal is to post at least once a week as I begin my first year of teaching.

This week, I'm seeing what it's like to work with younger kids. I'm helping another teacher with the kids' camp for the Flint Hills Writing Project. In the morning, we had 6 kids (of 8) who were 1st-3rd grade. In the afternoon we have 4th-6th grade. The difference in the mood of the camps is striking. The morning kids were all boys full of energy. Though they were able to write more than they thought they would with our photo gallery activity, they still took a lot of prodding, and physically writing took a lot longer with the younger ones. This afternoon, there are 11 kids (mostly girls), and they are so quietly writing away you could hear a pin drop.

I'm finding that it takes a lot more work to help kids round out their stories than with middle school and high school students. These kids are still in that plot-driven state, and only so many things can happen to their main character before the story needs to be over. I'm hoping we can get more descriptive, more specific, and deeper characters by the time the week's through. My favorite question is going to be "How did they feel when that happened?"

It's definitely neat to hear all the ideas they have though. We played a game where one student starts a story, then each adds a sentence. It got a little... weird. You know, a pie who wanted to hit someone, so he hits a person, then the person eats him, then he goes through the sewer to the ocean, where he is eaten by a shark... you get the drift.

What really struck me most was when we had the 4th-6th graders pull out the laptops. You can just tell what a computer generation we have... these kids can pull up Word, save their document, and type using (mostly) correct fingers. They need help spelling gentle, but typing--they got it. The only few bits of trouble are because the computer's a Mac.

Also, the one kid who was refusing to write more than a page on the huge lined paper (you know, the kind with the dotted line in the middle) is now typing away, really quickly, adding sentences to his story. Of course, it's about how the neighboring tribe came over and blew everyone up with grenades, but hey, he's writing.

You can check out the kids' writing at fhwpkidscamp2010.blogspot.com. We'll be posting all week.

Until next time,

Tamara

A Wordle of my blog!

Check out the Wordle of my blog!!

Wordles are these neat things that takes which words are used and makes the ones that are used most often the biggest, then compiles them all into art! With colors! And a font!















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