Now here's an idea that just makes sense!
Paul Edelman had been teaching for four years in the New York City public schools when he had the idea: “I knew how valuable good materials were—all teachers know this as they seek out the best stuff from their colleagues..." said Paul in an interview with EdTech Digest in 2011. “I knew that I would have paid for materials created by great teachers if they were only made available.” So he started TeacherPayTeacher.com, a website where teachers could post their best materials and sell them to other teachers who needed them.
This open marketplace for teachers was started in April of 2006 and by June of 2013 the site reported that is has almost 2,000,000 registered users. Though the bulk of the registered users are teachers who are shopping for and purchasing educational materials from their colleagues, the site is also providing a nice supplemental income for many educators. As of October 2013 they reported paying over $27,000,000 to teachers with the top seller making $1,600,000. As the founder of the website says: "...the extra cash makes you feel like a professional who is getting compensated appropriately. It might even keep you in the profession longer than the 5 year average exit. That’s good for everyone" (EdTech Digest December 15, 2011).
Using the site is easy. First you might want to visit TeachersPayTeachers.com and use their search feature to see if there's anything there you could use. There are also tabs on the left so you can search by subject area and grade level. They report having over 600,000 items available. Whether you want to participate as a buyer or seller you will have to register with the website, which is free. It's as easy as shopping online any place else, major credit cards are accepted.
Links to additional stories about TeachersPayTeacher.com:
Teachers Selling Lessons, Materials Online to Make Extra Money
Huffington Post, October 11, 2012
Kindergarten Teacher Earns $700,000 by Selling Lesson Plans Online
Mashable, May 17, 2012
Going for Extra Credit
BloombergBusinessweek, September 24, 2012
More news articles here.
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