BOOKS

A BROKE TEACHER’S GUIDE TO SUCCESS: HOW TO BUILD YOUR DREAMS ON TEACHER PAY

Teachers are broke and leaving the field. They shouldn’t be. I started posting “broke teacher” jokes to cheer up a broke teacher.  Then, I made a website with articles like “Best Places to Steal Pens and Pencils for Your Class.”  It was funny until I realized I was a broke teacher too.

A lot of things make teachers broke, not just low teacher pay. It’s “teacher behaviors” too–teachers are trained to fund their classrooms at the expense of their own needs.  Teacher guilt is real–and destructive.

“A Broke Teacher’s Guide to Success” will help you recognize and stop the classroom spending and teacher guilt that are crushing your finances and causing you stress. It’ll also help you see just how marketable YOUR teacher skills are in the outside world.

By the way: I wrote this in 2017–way before Covid. It’s about a decade old. I predicted the teacher exodus long before it started.  There was just something in the air–if I could sense it, teacher everywhere could.  And now (2024, as I update this), we have a teacher crisis, to be sure.

If you’re teaching today: 1. You’re a hero.  2. Please take a lesson from my journey–pay attention to your financial and mental health first. 🙂

DON’T SNIFF THE GLUE: A TEACHER’S MISADVENTURES IN EDUCATION REFORM

Here’s the original writeup from this book. I wrote it right when high-stakes everything was starting to really change schools–for the worse. It was my hope someone in policy would read it–the story of a teacher on the front lines–and say, “You’re right! Let’s fix this!.”  A decade later: I would argue it’s not fixed yet.  But: the story is from the heart. If you’re teaching today, I hope you find some connection to these stories and that they help in some small way.

I went into teaching to change the world. Instead, my students changed me. These are some of my stories. I wrote them just as education was going from “respected career” to the middle of a national storm.

Good teachers are leaving the field at staggering rates. Politicians and pundits who’ve never spent time teaching are calling the shots. Everyone has something to say about education–everyone except the students and teachers in the classroom. Don’t Sniff the Glue: A Teacher’s Misadventures in Education Reform is my story of trying to cut through the red tape and change the world.  It was written in 2015 but it’s still true today–maybe even moreso.

SOME FUN BOOKS:

I wrote these two with world-famous cartoonist friend Sarah (former: Steenland) Woods. They were a lot of fun, and a little bit of learning curve to learn Kindle Childrens’ Book Creator.  This was ten years ago when everyone was learning to self-publish. Today–it’s much easier. The tools are all AI driven. I’ve always believed everyone has a book (or more) in them.  These quick and fun books will never get a Newbury medal, but they were a ton of fun to write. I post them here to inspire you to write yours.

Tiny T-Rex Tries to Annoy Mom, and Paronella Park, (co-authored with legendary cartoonist Sarah Woods).