The Dig is a weekly note for teachers who want kids to actually care about what they're learning, but don't have hours to reinvent every lesson. Expect real talk about education, practical ideas you can use, and engaging, accessible resources that help you unearth what your students love while building the skills they need.
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Hey {{first_name}} ,
Like most young teachers, I came into the classroom ready to be every students’ favorite teacher. I was going to have a classroom full of fun and excitement.
And I even knew better because my mom was a teacher and I knew what it was really like, but I was still so full of hope.
And that first year, reality set in quick.
Teaching is really 392 jobs packaged as one.
I had things I was expected to teach and complete each month, so my energy went into creating content that didn’t exist because there wasn’t a lot of great content for ELLs out there, especially not 16 year old high schoolers who just wanted to work and not be at school.
So I tried to make lessons as engaging as possible, but I really found it hard sometimes.
Because sometimes, the content is dry and I just didn’t have time to create this elaborate or amazing lesson.
This did help me become really good at improvisation and making fun stuff up on the fly, but it also is a large part of what sparked the idea in my head for what has become Unearthed Learning Roots.
Because as teachers, we want lessons that are fun, but who has the time?
When we are doing the job of 12+ other professionals, caring for our own families, and still trying to fit self-care in there somewhere, it’s really freaking hard to spend hours making a single lesson game-based, a full hands-on activity or project, or whatever else I knew my students needed.
And that’s why I love running Unearthed Learning Roots.
While I’m no longer supporting students directly, I’m still providing them with high quality instruction.
And while I’m not able to make your whole day better as the teacher, I’m able to make it just a little bit easier and make learning a little closer to what we both know it should be, without you have to miss out on sleep to do it.
And to me, that’s pretty magical.
This Week’s Unearthed Find
Wishing you a wonderful week,
Sammy
Hi! I’m Sammy Bohannon.
I'm a former ELL teacher, homeschool mom, and the creator behind Unearthed Learning Roots. I make engaging, accessible resources that give kids a reason to care about what they're learning—without giving teachers more work to do. Because engaging doesn't have to mean elaborate, and accessible doesn't have to mean easy.
