Tell us about yourself.
In 2011,
I retired from 30+ years in the most honorable profession-Teaching. My career
started in a boys reform school where I taught reading to 13-18 year old court-sent
young men. After a break when my husband and I started our family-a daughter
and then a son- I taught in a variety of learning environments: a residential
facility for emotionally disturbed adolescents, a school for between-the-cracks
adolescents (not ED or LD but failing in school for a variety of reasons), and then
a middle school. For my last 19 classroom years, I taught high school: English
9, 11 or 12 (or a combination of these grades), Creative Writing 1-4 and
Journalism 1-4. While at this school, I sponsored the literary magazine and the
monthly newspaper.
Due to
my mother’s suggestion to, “Share my creative teaching ideas,” I found Teachers
pay Teachers. I have been creating and selling my curriculum there since 2006. An educational publisher, Compass
Publishing, liked one of my products enough to ask me to turn it into a
complete teaching program, ergo, The
House of Comprehension was created and released in 2013. It was
featured in the Northern Virginia
Magazine in November of that same year.
Other
reviews and comments about The House of
Comprehension may be found on
Numerous
educational articles and lessons that I wrote have been published in various
National Council of Teachers of English publications .
My young
adult novel, A FINE LINE - about teen
dating abuse - was published in 1993 by May Davenport, Publishers. When the
publisher’s sons changed the business’s focus last year, they sent me the
remaining 80 unused copies I also have a unit plan for it, if anyone is
interested in a book about teen dating abuse.
A number of schools used it for conflict mediation, also. My copies sell
for a tenth of Amazon’s New versions.
http://www.amazon.com/Fine-Line-Constance-D-Casserly/dp/0943864712/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395854190&sr=1-1&keywords=A+Fine+Line+by+Constance+Casserly
In my
teaching, I used my writing to show my students that my expectations and goals
for them were the same ones that I set for myself.
What do you like best about teaching?
The
absolutely best part of teaching is the students.
Could teens be irritating? Just ask my hair stylist,
Theresa, who has made my gray hair disappear for twenty years.
Could teens make me gnash my teeth at yet another
excuse for not having an assignment done? Just ask my dentist about my teeth grinding
habit.
Could teens make me wish that I had a magic spell to
freeze their eyes into permanent eye roll positions even though my optometrist
said this was not probable? Oh, many a time, even though I often made audacious
comments to precipitate the eye rolls. I did
have to grab their attention, after all.
But…but…most
importantly, they never failed to make
me laugh when I was so frustrated with the darts flung by the job and life that
I wanted to crawl under my desk. Their own quest for answers-about what we were
studying and life in general- forced me to question my own thoughts. They always challenged me to see life from
their side of the desk.
Describe your favorite TpT product.
Oh, must I pick just one?
My favorite priced Journalism Lesson is: Journalism: Analyzing
Newspaper Leads and Articles Worksheets
What advice would you give to someone who may want to become a
seller at Teachers Pay Teachers?
To
borrow Nike’s slogan, “Just Do It!” Selling the lessons that you create and
that you so believe make you the kind of teacher to turn your students into
life-long learners is very rewarding. The positive comments justify your teaching
efforts, and the not-so-positive feedback challenges you to push yourself to
find your academic best. Both fortify
you in as you walk the walk and talk the talk of Teaching- the most honorable
profession.
What have you done or hope to do with your TpT earnings?
My TpT
earnings allow my husband and me to take extra trips, to spoil our grandchildren
– but within our children’s guidelines… most of the time, and to have a more
stress-free retirement.
What do you like best about being a member of The Best of
Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative?
Since my
passion for teachers and teaching still burns so strong, I love the chance to
share my materials. Best of all, though, are the lessons that I read about on
this site. They are so exciting, so engaging and so inspiring, that I have
found myself wistful, at times, about my teaching years. The students of the
teachers who post on TBOTE are very, very fortunate to spend a year-or more,
depending on the grade level- with these talented curriculum creators and classroom
leaders. I am honored to be included with them.
Happy Teaching,
https://twitter.com/TeachitNow
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