Most people remember reading the funny book, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie,” by Laura Joffe Numeroff. It’s a story of a boy who shares a cookie with a hungry mouse which sets off a chain of events: “If you give him a cookie, he’s going to ask for a glass of milk. He’ll then want to look in a mirror to make sure he doesn’t have a milk mustache..”
You may now realize a similarity with the title of my blog and the title of the book. What does this children’s story have to do with being a teacher? One of my favorite parts of being an educator in this century, is that there is so many great teacher’s resources at the click of a mouse. Almost daily, I read fellow educators’ blogs, search through collections of amazing materials on Teachers Pay Teachers, and sort through various pins on Pinterest. Many of the ideas I find, I use directly in my classroom. Others merely spark my creativity as I mold an idea into another that could work in my classroom. Some of my best lessons and activities have been a collaboration of multiple ideas and my personal creativity. As an educator, it is not only our job to inspire young minds, but also stay inspired ourselves. If you give a teacher an idea, their excitement and energy will build. When their excitement and energy builds, they will try new things in their classroom. When they try new things in their classroom, their students will learn more. When their students learn, they share their idea and inspire the next educator! It is a chain of ideas, or events, just like the book.
As a fellow TpT author myself, I like to create new resources in order to teach my students and inspire my colleagues. I have created this blog to further share the ideas I have been using in my classroom for the past decade. I hope I can turn on your light bulb, and begin the chain of ideas that inspire you to try new things in your classroom!
Sincerely,
Ashley Dearcop Shaw “If You Give A Teacher An Idea” Author
If You Give a Teacher an Idea... 