5 Things I Wish TpT Sellers Stopped Doing.
My black and white printer was choking, scrambling to process all the jobs I kept on sending, flashing desperate “cartridge low on ink” messages. By September 20th, both of my robust machines gave up. A block of 700 printer paper ran out in front of my eyes.
And that was the beginning of the school year.
“I feel like a cargo train ran over me,” – I said to my husband at the end of the second week of September. I never felt so resourceless and overwhelmed.
Starting to teach the 2nd grade for the first time honestly felt like getting to the moon with no equipment. Well, not precisely without it. The number of curriculum pages I went through was probably equal to the stack of 700 pages my printer gobbled in a few days. It was time-consuming and stressful.
I dreaded weekends as I knew another round of planning was coming. Although it did become easier, planning remained the most significant reason for my anxiety and the biggest reason why my 5-year old complained about an unhappy mother.
And right there, like in my first year of being a teacher, it started affecting my family and my relationships with the loved ones. “No, we can’t. Mommy needs to plan. We’ll do it later. I’m sorry I just can’t do it now.” I feared those words would come back into my reality, and they did. Those words became my shield from all the joy I wish I could have with my family.
I just felt I had no choice while functioning with no support about how to be a 2nd-grade teacher from scratch.
You know, I’m an anti-buy-it-all-for-your-classroom girl. However, with the five subjects to be taught the next day to a class of 2nd -graders, I felt trapped in my own exaggerated vacuum of knowledge.
What do I teach? How? The curriculum was very abstract, contained too many details my brain was not processing. It felt like I had suggestions and no action plan, but all I needed was a list of steps and some resources to go with it.
I knew about TpT before becoming an elementary teacher. I also knew I have no intention to spend a fortune there because I couldn’t afford it. Yet, facing the same question every Sunday night like “How do you actually do it?!” I turned to TpT for help.
I wanted something simple, a step-by-step type of information that would alleviate my anxiety about having to come to work empty-handed. I spent tons of time searching TpT for what suited me and my lessons. I should say the number of resources was overwhelming.
The problem is that there are more crappy, senseless resources than there are good ones, and to realize that sometimes you really need to buy an unfortunate resource and then learn not to do it again. And that’s what I did.
I purchased a bunch of resources that would help me survive the first month in a new position. I need to be honest: some resources were treasures, others were a waste of money. And the most difficult part was to understand all these offerings for a new teacher like me.
Here, I’m sharing five things I wish TpT authors stopped doing:
1. Don’t speak to me like a PRO.
The majority of resources do not target a new teacher. The frustration that I experience often comes from not knowing how to use the product.
Many ideas, if not all of them, are presented as if the user of the resource already has the experience of handling it, applying it to a classroom situation. As a new teacher, I feel quite incompetent while trying to understand the application of many TpT purchases.
More directions and more explanations don’t really make the resource more valuable. On the contrary, too much description makes it even harder to use. Besides, many concepts are used as if a teacher already has competence in a particular area. Some of the topics that were completely new to me were the following: math and literacy centers, phonics and patterns, guided reading, reading levels, etc.
While many products mean well, they might add to the overwhelm because for a new teacher they might seem as complex as the first-time reading of the curriculum and standards.
2. Include descriptions like “lamination, color, cardstock” required.
Many resources require additional spending on paper, cardstock, colored printer, laminator. Although it might seem obvious, it hits the pocket pretty hard. Why is it?
Well, the truth is it’s hard to use a resource as intended when not “assembled” in a proper way. Laminated parts, a colored version, and instructions of assembling are as important as the understanding of how to use a resource.
For example, any Math/Literacy center download, if not laminated or printed in color, is not durable and looks poorly if printed on the regular back and white paper. Besides, it will not survive a bunch of 2nd-graders handling it over and over. It will fall apart and will end up in the garbage like many purchased by me center resources that I failed to laminate or to print on durable cardstock.
Meanwhile, the spending on additional tools needed for a resource to function might add up and cost an extra dollar.
3. Stop being so general!
TpT products targeting a range of grades are too confusing and misleading. A bunch of resources I found is designed for a variety of grades, such as K-3, 1st through 3rd grade. Even though my search for materials is always precise to 2nd grade, I would often find what I need inside of the resource that targets other grades.
To me, the difference between K and 1st grade is huge. The result: I often find the products that miss the point. It would make me compromise or buy the resource that is half useful to me. For example, some of the resources are meant to be for the 2nd grade but turn out to be too easy or too complex in a way material is presented, the font used, the design, the arrangement.
4. Stop with that color and pics!
Some great resources are overloaded with color and pictures. I love a great design on the product. While I always need to compromise my love of simplicity and necessity to choose a resource that still attracts kids, I always find the majority of the TpT downloads that scream color and clip art.
The color problem is the major reason why I stopped printing. The clip art is sometimes the primary factor to influence my purchase decision. If it’s too overwhelming, it damages the resource. If it’s too childish, it misrepresents the products.
5. Don’t speak Greek to me!
Instructions are often too complicated to understand. Many resources I’m interested in and /or purchased contain instructions that take time to understand. The best resources are usually self-explanatory.
If a resource has instructions too complex to understand for a teacher, how can it possibly be suitable for students? A well-designed product would not need a long explanation.
I find TpT to be a great community of teachers creating for each other. I will keep exploring it. From the perspective of a new teacher, however, it might be chaotic and bewildering. What would be nice is to for any resource to cater not only to experienced teachers but to newcomers as well.
Don’t forget to take care of yourself!
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