Switching Gears

My growing family on Father's Day, 2016

I've always had big dreams of being a funny, informative, encouraging blogger like some of the ladies I love to follow. However, I am not a blogger. I'm just not! I'm not good at that type of writing, not organized enough, have way too much on my plate, and at the moment I don't even have a classroom full of hilarious kinders to write funny stories about.

However, I do have ideas and resources to share with other teachers--especially for those of you teaching bilingual preschool, kinder, and even first grade. So, three years after my most recent post, I'm switching gears. This will be a space to highlight resources I have available on TeachersPayTeachers.com, and additional extension activities that are related to my products. If you are subscribing, don't expect frequent emails (which is probably a relief!). Maybe a post a month or so? Maybe just seasonally? Or when I post new products?

A bit about me: My name is Michelle and I taught six years in a small community. I taught one year of 5th grade, three years of Title I math & reading part time, and five years of bilingual (English/Spanish) kindergarten. I worked at 3 schools in four years, and when I was invited to work at the 4th school in our district, I politely declined and went half-time. At the end of that year I got pregnant with my first baby, so I resigned and the following fall I did some subbing, volunteered in my former classroom to help train my replacement, and contracted with the school district to do beginning-of-the-year testing for incoming kinders and ELLs. It was a great way to transition from teaching to being a stay-at-home mom without going "cold turkey!"

I haven't subbed like I thought I would, but it has been fun to stay in touch with my teacher friends and continue following my favorite bloggers to feel connected with the education world. My days are busy with a toddler and another baby on the way, and I love spending the occasional nap time creating new minibooks or revamping curriculum I created for my classroom into products I can share. If there's anything you need for your classroom or a particular topic of guided reader you'd like to see, please leave a comment or email me! mrsdoring (at) gmail (dot) com