My first year of teaching, I worked late almost every day – and I really didn’t mind it. I liked creating worksheets to go with our curriculum, and I shared them with the other teachers on my grade level. At the time, I was single, so I wasn’t rushing to get home to a husband or children, and I didn’t really have any other responsibilities. So, staying late at school was almost a hobby.

As soon as I was married, my priorities shifted, and the extra time I was spending at school was no longer fun, it was frustrating. I was annoyed with how much time I seemed to be expected to give to be able to teach well.

The piece-meal curriculum we were given was constantly changing and was no longer an (almost) fun opportunity to create resources to fill in the gaps, it was overwhelming.

Fast forward a couple years later. I started working at a school that had created their own curriculum that included scripts for lessons. This seemed like it would be a life-saver, but it was the first online school in the district, and none of the online elements had been created. So, while teaching the lessons was easy because all I needed to do was read the script in my own words, I spent so much time creating the online presentations and converting paper quizzes to online versions, that the standardized curriculum didn’t help.

Because of all the time I had to spend preparing for lessons, it was hard to feel present when teaching. I was stressed thinking about all of the work I had to do and the deadlines I had for lessons and grading.

That’s why I started shifting my focus to creating curriculum. I didn’t want teachers to have to deal with the struggle I went through with lesson preparation. Now, I create resources so that you can get back to the heart & soul of teaching.