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My January 2019 Book Reviews
Last year I didn’t meet my Goodreads goal of reading 50 books. So this year I set the same goal again and I’m not off to a good start. I better get down to business and do some catching up over February Vacation! A Bone to Pick by Charlaine Harris This is the second book in the Aurora Teagarden book series. I found this series because I am a big fan of the movies with Candace Cameron Bure on the Hallmark Channel. Although one thing that I did find to be interesting is that they released the first two movies in the reverse order of the books. This novel is about…
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Creating Professional, Eye-Catching Products on TpT
Selling on TpT is a great way for teachers, aids, and other educational professionals to make a side income. There are even a number of people who have turned their TpT store into a full-time job. Create Eye-Catching Covers When a shopper is scrolling through all of the results to their search your cover is what is going to catch their eye. Look around Teachers Pay Teachers for some ideas. What product covers catch your eye? What is it about them that you are attracted to? Boring covers are not going to equal clicks, people are just going to keep scrolling past your product and choose something that is more…
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5 Reasons Your Blog Isn’t Making Money
So you decided to start a blog. You’ve been writing and writing blog posts but you’re just not getting the traffic you expected. What are you doing wrong? Here are five common mistakes that you could be making. You’re not utilizing social media. Social media is the biggest way that you are going to drive traffic to your blog. More specifically Pinterest. I find that 80% of my blog traffic comes directly from posts that I pin on Pinterest. In order to have a successful blog, it is important that you master Pinterest. Mastering Pinterest can be complicated, they are constantly adjusting and changing their algorithms of what pins are…
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Tips for Keeping Your New Years Resolution
Every year we create resolutions and most of us have given up on them by the middle of January or the beginning of February. Here are some tips to create an attainable goal this year that will keep you motivated the whole year. Make Sure Your Resolution is Reachable So this year I am going to lose 200 pounds by swimsuit season! Yes, I realize that this resolution is extreme, but I exaggerated to make a point. If you create a resolution that is too grand for you to reach you are going to get frustrated. Come February when you are not 1/6 of the way there you are going…
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December 2018 Book Reviews
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones An American Marriage is a novel about a young couple whose marriage is torn apart when the husband is tried and convicted of attacking a woman. As the reader, we know that he has been wrongfully accused as the narrator shows us that he was not there when it happened. And his wife and family know that he is innocent, but they struggle to prove it. When he finally is let out of prison after his lawyer proves he was wrongfully convicted (although it really doesn’t go into how this happened) his wife has moved on without him and we go through the journey…
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9 Best Books That I Read in 2018
Night Road by Kristin Hannah This book did not disappoint! This is the story of two families and how a bad decision can affect so many people. Jude is a bit of a helicopter mom with teenaged twins. Lexi is a teenager whose mother was not around for her. She was taken out of foster care by a great aunt who wanted to take her in. Lexi was looking to fit in at a new school when she met her new best friend Mia and her twin brother Zach. Those relationships will change all of their lives forever. This was an incredible book. Honestly, it may be one of my…
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6 Books for Adolescents Who Don’t Like Reading
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney The Diary of a Wimpy Kid books are a great combination of graphic novels and typical novels. There are a lot of doodles and other illustrations that help students follow the plot in the novel. This allows students to read a book that has a lot of pictures without feeling as though the story is juvenile. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid books are also very popular with older kids and younger adolescents. They are a little young for my population but I keep a few of them handy for my lower readers. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan This is the…
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How to Make a Living Blogging
It seems like everyone is a blogger these days. How to do you take your blog and turn it into a full-time job? Well, Alex and Lauren from Create and Go are here to help. They have created this amazing course that teaches you all the tricks that they used to make themselves Six-Figure Bloggers. What This Course Will Teach You This course covers the strategies that a six-figure blogger should follow to have a successful blog. Affiliate Marketing, you will learn what it is and how to best use it to have a successful blog. Creating Digital Products – they will teach you that this is the most effective…
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My November 2018 Book Reviews
This month was a slow reading month for me. To be completely honest, this school year is kicking my butt. We, as a team, are dealing with some of the most extreme, and widespread behavior issues that we have ever seen. It is my fifth year teaching, so I’m still somewhat new and for me, this is the most challenging year yet. Alright, vent over, I just felt like I should explain why I’m not reading as much. I am a huge fan of Diane Chamberlain, but I am not a huge fan of this novel. The novel is the story of a little girl with severe health problems who…
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4 Classroom Management Tips for Middle School
Teaching middle school is tough, heck being in middle school is tough! Everything about middle school makes people groan when I tell them what I do for a living. But, even though I never pictured myself as a middle school teacher (I was convinced I would be Ms. Honey from Matilda), I LOVE my job. I love the age and the kids and even the girl drama makes me chuckle from time to time. But it is a tough age for classroom management. The students are no longer at the age where they want to please you, and all they care about is what their peers think. Here are 4…
