TPT Seller Challenge: Dare to Dream!

I guess I jumped the gun last week by using week one's challenge as an excuse to start a blog. ;) But, it gave me a good head start on this weeks challenge! Week Two's challenge is to BLOG about what dreams we have that TpT can help us with. Talk about a challenge that is right up my alley! If there is one thing I am good at doing, it's dreaming of all the things I hope to accomplish... Scratch that-- it's dreaming of all the things I WILL accomplish. Anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that once I get an idea/dream in my head, I do everything it takes to turn the idea/dream into reality... No matter what or how long it takes me.

This weeks challenge is so exciting to me because it gave me a chance to sit down and think about what I hope to get out of being a TpT seller and how being a TpT seller can help me accomplish many of my pre-existing dreams. To be completely honest, I never really thought about how my little TpT store could tie into my dreams or, better yet, how it could help me reach them. Up until this challenge, I only ever thought of my TpT earnings as a means to fund my TpT purchases and buy stuff for my students/classroom.

How cool of a thought it is that, as a TpT seller, I have the potential to earn leaps and bounds beyond that. This challenge has given me the motivation and drive to turn a thought that had never before occurred to me into a reality. So, without further adieu, here is my list of things I Dare to Dream:

Inspire: Before I start rambling off about what I hope to achieve with my little TpT store, I think it is important for me to explain why I have it in the first place. I think it is very easy for teachers to get stuck in old ways. It is easy for teachers to pull from a filing cabinet and stick to doing what they have done in years past because it is just that-- easy. One of the most aggravating statements teachers make all too often is, "this is what we've always done." If there is one thing I took away from college that I intend to forever apply in my classroom, it is that education is always changing. There will always be new teaching concepts as well as new (and often, better) ideas on ways to teach existing concepts. The day I no longer want to adapt and change with it, is the same day I will find a new profession. Second on that list of aggravating statements is, "[you think that/ you say that/ you do that] because you're young/new." The latter half of that statement is 105% accurate. I am very young and I am very new and I know VERY little. I went through my first year of teaching basically knowing nothing and, the little I did know, I struggled to know how to successfully implement. I found myself CONSTANTLY turning to older, wiser, and more experienced teachers for help, advice, and guidance. But, sometimes, I didn't agree with them and I found myself right back at my lost starting point. After a while, I learned I could listen to all of the advice everyone had to give me, without taking it all. Here's the main piece of advice I would give to all new teachers: just because you know nothing, doesn't mean other teachers know everything. I found myself doing two main things: 1. I reached out to and picked the brains of the teachers on my campus (and teacher's I knew from other campuses) who not only seemed to know what they were doing in the classroom, but who seemed to have a true passion for what they were doing; the teachers who truly seemed to want the best output for their students, regardless of what that meant their input needed to be. And, 2. I started following the blogs and Instagram accounts of as many teachers as I could find. I read about how they planned their lessons, how they taught their lessons, how the interacted with their students and their student's parents... Above all else, I stole their ideas, I built upon their existing ideas, and I used them as encouragement to come up with my own ideas. Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits, Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd, The Teacher Talk, Amy Groesbeck, First Grade Wow... and those are just to name a few of the amazing teachers I have been lucky enough to discover and learn from. What do all of the teachers have in common-- both the teachers I know first hand and the teachers I only know through social media platforms? Each and every one of them has inspired me in one way or another. Some of these teachers have inspired me to be more patient, caring, understanding, and encouraging of all my students- no matter what. Others have inspired me to keep a positive attitude- no matter what. Others have inspired me to constantly seek new ways to engage, motivate, and reward my students. Others have inspired me to start creating, start blogging, and start sharing my own ideas. In sum, all of these amazing teachers have inspired me to be the best teacher I can be for my students. I will forever be inspired by these teachers and, as the years go on, I will meet and discover new teachers who will inspire me. My #1 dream, through blogging and my TpT store, is to become one of those teachers who others come to for inspiration and guidance. 

Pay off loans: As I mentioned above, I am a new teacher. I am fresh out of college and I have a lot of student debt to show for it. Debt that keeps me from doing a lot of things I would love to do- such as travel more, invest in buying a house, buy a new car, etc. One thing I take pride in- and something I can thank my mother for- is my savings account. I like to think, for being in my early 20's, I have fairly wise spending and saving habits. My hopes for my TpT store is to use my earnings to continue building upon my savings account and hopefully save up enough to pay off my student loans, in whole, within the next two years.

Buy a house: Okay, this one is a big one but it is the first thing I want to do once I am student debt free! I want a garage and a backyard and a fireplace and a guest bedroom and an office. I want real neighbors, not people who live below and above me. I want to be able to hang Christmas lights on my roof and have a cute little garden. I want to have space for my family when they come to visit me so they don't have to stay at a hotel... or, what happens more often, steal my bed and kick me out onto my couch. ;) I want a cute little first home that is completely and totally mine.

Travel: "I always wonder why birds choose to stay in the same place when they can fly anywhere on the earth, then I ask myself the same question.”-Harun Yahya; I LOVE to travel. I love going new places. I love discovering new things. I would be perfectly content living out of suitcases the rest of my life if it meant I got to explore the world. I have made it my goal to travel to at least two places each year. This year my fabulous travel buddy, Katie (aka: Miss Madrid's Market), and I went to San Diego and Vegas. On next years list, I have New York and Colorado. But, I want to take it a step further than that. I want to take it international. France. Italy. Ireland. Australia. Iceland. Japan. On top of my existing two yearly out-of-state trips, I want to go to one international destination every 1-2 years. That's a BIG dream, I know! And, it might take me a few years to make it a reality, but I am determined to make it just that- a reality!

It feels so good to see these goals typed out- it makes them seem that much more attainable! :)