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Dear Teachers,
When people feel empowered, good things usually happen. This is true in world politics as much as it is in microcosms like schools. When I was a teacher they made me teach a reading program called Success for All. It wasn't terrible, but it was scripted, and for me that was like death. I became an automaton instead of a teacher. Only when I dropped the script did good things start to happen.
This is also true for your students. If they feel too stifled, some will lose interest. This week's teacher tip is from TpT Seller Ashleigh: "Give your students a sense of power over their own learning by frequently offering them choices throughout the day. Use a choice or tic-tac-toe board. Mine usually has 9 squares with a different activity in each square, and I might have my students choose any 3 activities or 1 activity from each row. All of the activities would be on the same topic but would allow students some choice in the type of assignment they work on."
This past week, four new sellers have dropped the script and joined the quickly growing $20,000 in earnings club. Big congratulations goes out to Fran Kramer, who reached this milestone in record time, just 4 short months; to Erica Bohrer who was one of the teachers featured in the 2009 NY Times front page story about us; and to Amanda whose store is called One Extra Degree who only started selling last January. The other seller wishes to remain anonymous.
Great job and continued success! I can't wait to send out the next batch of checks and to make more earnings announcements. It's Empowering for All and that's the way we like it.
Teach and be well,
Paul Edelman
Founder, TpT
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TpT SPOTLIGHT
Meet high school chemistry and physics teacher and recent signup Christopher Bires who caught our eye because 21 of his 33 quality products are being offered for free. Download them before he changes his mind! Plus, he has a great Aristotle quote on his store. Take a look.
Can your students locate Libya or Tunisia on the map? Can you? (ha ha). There's something about a good melody and catchy lyrics that makes things stick. Check out this North African geography song by Audio Memory. It only costs $1.
Don't forget that we're keeping track of all the times you Provide Feedback on your purchases going back to August 1st. Sometime in November, you'll see how many TpT Credits you've accumulated, and then in January you'll be able to redeem them for more great colleague-created products. Thanks in advance for being fair and thoughtful in your feedback.
Another neat Silicon Valley teacher tool to try out is Goalbook. It's a place where you, your students and their parents can keep track of learning goals and publicize achievements. Sounds empowering to us! Let us know if it works for you.
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