My goal is to make interactive science notebooks engaging for 5th grade and middle school science students while improving science test scores. NGSS expert, teacher, tpt author, mom, & widow

Amazing Courses for TPT Sellers & My TPT Journey in Creating Digital Resources

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My Journey

I am really excited that I have been able to create digital resources in the last couple of weeks. It has been a journey and I am learning so much. Learning can be painful. The two resources I recently created are a Conservation Quest about the California condor story and a thermal energy transfer interactive slides resource.

The California condor story is one of teamwork and success. This is a happy story in a field of so many tragic stories of extinction and near extinction among species. I have done a condor article and poster project for quite a few year, but I recently created a digital project for distance learning. In the future, when we are back in the classroom, we can do this project there as well.
 To create this Conservation Quest, I began with Danielle Knight's Tool Kit for Google Drive. I purchased this on Teacher's Pay Teachers in Feb. of 2019. I have created a few digital resources but did not dive in like I had originally planned. In May 2019, I suddenly became a widow which changed everything. In August, our home flooded and we had to move out for four months. More things happened that made reaching my goals challenging but loosing Shawn was the hardest. He was always encouraging me and my chief technology help. With him, I could figure out anything. My confidence has taken a big of a hit but I'm back at it.

This shelter in place order has given me the opportunity to learn new skills. A couple of weeks ago, I purchased Daniel Mault's course Creating Digital Resources for Google Apps. Courses I have also taken for general help with TPT success are Shelly Rees' TPT Focused Sucess and TPT Focused Challenge.


These courses have given me the information and support I've needed and I'm so grateful! I first started Shelly's TPT Focused Success Course in the fall of 2017. It was a game changer for me. In the fall of 2017, I attended a TPT seller event in San Diego. I got a green TPT T-shirt and got to meet other sellers as well as the head honchos from New York. Shawn went with me and me made it a date. At our table were several TPT sellers who had left the classroom and gone to working at home full time. They were young and some were new moms. I was inspired. My kids were high school aged and I loved being in the classroom. I was excited these new moms had this option and had so much success. From these other sellers, I learned about Shelly Rees' course. I doubled my earnings within a couple months of taking her course. Little and big changes made a difference.

After taking some time off from working on my TPT store, I started the monthly subscription to Shelly's TPT Focused Challenge group in the fall of 2019. Shelly has created a supportive online community with her Facebook groups. Membership to a FB group comes with each of the courses. If you are serious about creating resources and being successful, Shelly is the best to learn from. My TPT income again grew after signing up for the monthly group. I am not able to complete the challenges each month, but I give it a try and make progress. Isn't making progress what it's all about?


Last night, I uploaded a new digital resource for distance learning focusing on thermal energy transfer.

I'm excited about the progress I've made in these last couple of weeks. Here are my goals and plans for the next few weeks:

  • Complete the Shake Up Learning Google Slides Master Class. I've finished a portion of the class and already learned skills that I'll be using with my distance teaching for my students.
  • Learn to make videos with Screencastify and/or Camtasia
  • Continue connecting with my students as we continue distance learning
  • Keep creating products
As a new widow with children, I am especially grateful for this way to grow creatively and supplement my income. My husband made a significant amount more than I do and we had two incomes to support our family. This has all drastically changed in just a quick moment. My TPT income is an blessing and healthy creative outlet. I hope that sharing my journey helps you on yours.