Gladly Would I Teach

Sunday’s New York Times included an article that asked whether it is wrong for teachers to sell materials that they create.

Selling Lesson Plans Online Raises Questions and Cash

The article highlights the successes of many teachers who now sell their items on Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT). I have written about TpT previously because I think it offers teachers an outstanding opportunity to make money that they can use for their own classrooms or for their personal benefit.

Within the article, Joseph McDonald, professor at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University, states:

“Teachers swapping ideas with one another, that’s a great thing. But somebody asking 75 cents for a word puzzle reduces the power of the learning community and is ultimately destructive to the profession.”

I am perplexed that some people find it unethical or unprofessional for teachers to sell materials which they create on their own time. Do we consider it unethical for college professors to write books and sell them? Why is it different for K-12 teachers to reap benefits from plans and materials they have created?

Several times during the week when I walk into the workroom where I teach, I find the copy machine spitting out lessons, tests, quizzes, and materials that I created years ago, activities that I may not have used for years, but activities that other teachers in my department now use. I believe in sharing materials with my colleagues; however, why is it wrong for me to charge a small fee in order to share my materials with teachers around the globe?

I have had a class website for seven or eight years, and I am accustomed to responding to three or four emails each week from teachers who need help or need activities. I always respond. Before TpT came along and allowed me to sell items online, I spent way too much time sending materials to teachers because I had to type explanations and directions. Now, I can enter all of that information in TpT, and teachers can gain access to much of what I have for only a few dollars. (The most expensive item I have on TpT is $9.) As far as I am concerned, selling items for nominal fees on TpT or similar websites is a win-win situation. Teachers who need materials obtain them for very little money as teachers who have created materials make a little money.

In my early years of teaching, I spent way too much money purchasing published activity or assignment books. Today, teachers can buy better materials for a much cheaper price online. I just wish Teachers Pay Teachers had been around when I first started teaching.

Teachers Pay Teachers