Hello! I hope your week is off to a great start.

Confession: Instagram is my favorite form of social media. Instagram stories are what suck me in …and sometimes reels.
Anyway, over the past year or so, I’ve started to follow a few educators who are mostly English teachers, and today I’m sharing a few of my faves to follow.
Momfessionals:
@momfessionals:
I read Andrea’s blog every day and have for years. She’s a busy mom of three, and a middle school math teacher at a Christian school in McKinney, Tx. On both her blog and social media, she shares about her life, her family, her home, and her classroom. She occasionally shares lesson ideas, teacher tips, and classroom organization. She will share “Doodle Town” coloring pages too! Both her blog, and her Instagram are fun to follow!
Update: Coincidentally, Andrea has a Teacher Tuesday post up today too!
Educator Andrea:
(@educator_andrea)
I’ve been following Andrea for about a year. She’s a public high school English teacher in the San Diego area. Her reels are so fun…she often shares classroom scenarios and how they differ at the elementary, middle, and high school level. She’s so sarcastic which I can appreciate, but it’s evident that she cares so much about her students and is creative in providing them with a variety of learning opportunities. I actually earned my last PD hour this year when I joined her online session, and heard her chat about “Connection and Culture in Secondary ELA.”
Her website has digital resources and merch. She’s even on Cameo! Anyway, I always enjoy her stories and teaching advice that she shares with her followers.
My Teacher Face
@myteacherface
Dr. I is a hoot! She’s been an English teacher for 30+ years. Her reels as “teacher 1” and “teacher 2” are so funny. She says she’s been both teachers at some point, and I can probably say the same! She also has the coolest light up board behind her when she shares the reels. She put a strip of LED lights in between the border and uses the remote to make the board different colors. I just thought that was a fun idea.
The Daring English Teacher
@thedaringenglishteacher
Christina is a HS English and Journalism teacher. She shares so many great lesson ideas like engaging end of novel activities, goal setting, prepping for a sub (her sub binder is 100!), and writing tasks.
Laurencella
@laurencella
I just recently started following this account, but Lauren is a History teacher, and her reels are so funny…especially the “Gen Z Teaches History” ones.
The Caffeinated Class
@thecaffeinatedclass
Marie is another high school English teacher, and I’ve only been following her for a little bit. She also shares resources like bellringers and other units too.
I want to check out her “Brave New Teaching” podcast next.
Cool Miss P
@cool.missp
I started following Miss Phillips when I saw her reel (which was really popular) of her 2nd graders arriving to school, and she has them look in the mirror share their affirmations. She has so much energy and makes learning so fun for her kids too! My kids would have loved being in her class!
Also…

While I’m on the topic of teaching…one of the WordPress Bloganuary prompts is: What was your dream job as a child?
Long story short…I always wanted to be a teacher. Literally…no other backup plan.
When I was a kid, I would often play school. I always loved setting up my “classroom,” lining up my stuffed animals and Barbies as my students, and writing on a chalkboard.
I remember when I was old enough to help my mom grade papers. She’d hand me a red pen and let me grade spelling tests and worksheets.
My mom taught 7th grade Language Arts for 31 years, and she spent many of them in the classroom next to one of her best friends who was a Reading teacher. They would slide open the divider wall, and co-teach when they could. Besides wanting to be an English teacher, because of them, I knew I also wanted to help students in reading. I now have a Master’s in Literacy and a Reading Specialist degree.
Also, I always had wonderful teachers, but especially amazing English teachers. There wasn’t an English teacher I didn’t enjoy in both middle school and high school. I even remember my 9th grade English teacher who was hard core! She had us all memorize every preposition and then we each had to stand up in front of the class and recite them in alphabetical order. I’m sure most of my classmates can’t say the same, but that paid off for me in the long run. haha
Anyway, I was one of the only people I knew who didn’t change their major in college. I even have college friends who majored in Education, but left the profession after a few years. Honestly, I can’t say I blame them. I had those same thoughts a few times in my early teaching career….and I do think it’s a more difficult profession now for many reasons. It really is a rewarding profession, and thankfully, I’ve been really happy in the classroom with my intervention work the past few years. This is my 21st year and while I’m not counting down, I don’t think you’ll see me in the classroom past year 30…but we’ll see.
What was your dream job as a child?


Teacher! But, then I wanted to be a newspaper writer and then an international lawyer, but came back to teacher. I think it’s in your blood. I think I heard that 50% don’t make it past 5 years in the classroom. We need to offer more support instead of more work in the early years. In addition to doing KTIP, I felt that I got dumped on and pressured to do so many committees and extra curriculars.
I can’t even imagine how hard it would be for me to help kids read. My own kids seemed to pick it up really easily and it didn’t seem to be a struggle. Reading is the basis for everything and it’s so important! I am afraid I don’t want to know how many high schoolers have slipped through the cracks and need more help.
I hate to say that I really only use Instagram for pleasure and I don’t really want to follow teaching accounts. Maybe I am missing out on some really good ideas. I have just worked so hard on boundaries since I had none during the pandemic!
Happy Tuesday – my least fave day. We have meetings and it just seems long. After I get Tuesday over with I can enjoy more of my fave days of the week!
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Yes! 50% sounds right. I briefly thought about journalism, but knew I wanted to work with kids. That being said, I also wish I started blogging a long time ago since I think writing is fun. Iโm afraid so many have slipped through the cracksโฆitโs sad. I do more with literacy than reading, but I enjoy both. I just follow those because they are funny with mix of good ideas. Thereโs one that pop in my feed that is so negativeโฆbut thinks sheโs funny. I need to unfollow next time she pops up. I dislike Tuesdays too!
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Though it may be controversial, all I ever wanted to be was a wife and mom. My mom was that and modeled it to me, and I wanted to be just like her. She was such a great mom to me growing up (and still is today), that I wanted to follow in her footsteps. I remember in high school thinking that if someone heard me say that, they would make fun of me, so when asked this question, I always responded with “teacher”. I got the best of both worlds, though- the Lord gave us four sons and we were a homeschooling family for their last years in school. I wouldn’t trade that time or the decision to do that for all the money in the world! It was the greatest thing I ever did.
I will add that when I worked in their school, I loved being in the school environment, which is why I’m excited about my new job that I start at an elementary school tomorrow!
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Being a mom is the best (& hardestโฆ& most rewarding) job in the world! Your boys are so lucky to have you! I canโt wait to read all about your new job. They are lucky to have you too!
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Love that you have your dream job and you never strayed from that path! I follow Andrea McAnally too- she is great ๐
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Sheโs so great!
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Itโs fun to relive teaching next to your mom. Sheโs THE best ever. When I left elementary, Vicki was the first to welcome me to middle school. (It didnโt hurt that we had a lot in common.) She kept me in teaching and a couple of summers twisted my arm to do summer school. Iโm so grateful for our continued friendship.
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You all were a great combo!
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I think itโs great you can follow other teachers for ideas and motivation. My โpartner in crimeโ Ronda kept me going. It was fun to have our co-units to relieve some of the pressures of teaching. And she was the perfect straight man. Iโm glad to have you as an educational peer. Love, Mom
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I always wanted to be a teacher. Then in high school I changed to premed, but by the end of college I had changed back to teaching. I was very happy with my career as a teacher for 10 years. And then happy to change to just being a mom. I think teaching is such a challenging profession in today’s world!
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It really is. I feel like we have to do so much more than teach.
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