It’s rare to find a win-win-win situation, but I have one for you today. When you purchase something at TeachersPayTeachers, you can earn credits to cash in later for free products. To earn those credits, just leave feedback on your purchases, which will help other teachers find the materials they need to reclaim their prep periods and their sanity.
You benefit with free stuff. I benefit by having more people find my stuff. Other teachers benefit by finding great stuff to use in their classrooms. And all of our students definitely benefit from having relevant, rigorous lesson materials and a less-harried teacher who can actually, you know, teach instead of draining herself all weekend building curriculum. (Perhaps I should’ve called this a win-win-win-win situation?)
For every dollar you’ve spent at TpT since August 2011, you can earn one credit when you leave feedback on that item, and 100 credits equals $5 to spend on new stuff. You also don’t need to wait to hit the 100 credit mark. For example, if you have 50 credits, you can cash them in for $2.50 off your next purchase.
At last count, my shop had more than 28,000 pieces of feedback – that’s a lot of people earning A LOT of free stuff! While it’s not physically possible for me to respond to each note, please know that I read every single one and take them all to heart. Whether I get a detailed description of how a colleague successfully used an item with her kids, a piece of constructive criticism about how to improve a product, or just a quick thank-you, I value every note. Teachers are ridiculously busy. The fact that someone took a few minutes to type up a bit of feedback is HUGE and those notes fuel me when I’m tired or having a lousy day. Also, they help me reflect and improve as I dive into my next curriculum project. So thanks for that.
Unsure of how to leave feedback and claim your credits? Follow these simple steps:
1. Log into your account at TpT.
2. Under the “My TpT” pull-down menu, choose “My Purchases.”
3. Under each item you’ve purchased, you’ll see a little green thumbs-up sign with a link to “Provide Feedback.”
4. Rate the item, leave a quick note (even just “Thanks” gets the job done, though feel free to write more), and the credits will automatically appear in your account.
5. To redeem credits, you’ll be given the option at your next checkout to apply them to your purchase. Done!
Hope this helps you save a few bucks, especially as you begin prepping next year’s assignment later (much, much later) this summer.
Teach on, everyone. Just eight days to go in my district!