The Origins of aka Miss Wells

Hello and welcome to aka Miss Wells! I'm Erin, aka Miss Wells, hence the name. I am obsessed with movies, coffee, and naps. I also love to travel, read, write, craft, hike, and most importantly, spend time with those I love. I have two cats (Alfie and Olive) and am basically just living my best, joy-filled life.
I am a teacher in Tennessee who loves to make learning as engaging as possible. I started my teaching career in Florida teaching 3rd grade at a private school. In 2018, I moved back home to Tennessee and began teaching 2nd grade at a public school. This is really where my growth and journey to this platform began. 
In Florida I was the ONLY third grade teacher. When I moved to Tennessee, I became one on a team of EIGHT. I was intimidated and suddenly felt very unqualified where I was confident before. I tried to structure my teaching and management style around what I thought my administration wanted instead of following what I knew. And I was floundering. Throughout college and my first couple years of teaching, it came so naturally to me and was obviously a talent God has blessed me with. When I tried to be something and someone I am not, my students paid the price. After a terrible evaluation, I was questioning if I even wanted to teach anymore. I felt like I wasn't good enough and never would be. Maybe I was only qualified to teach at a private school. Maybe I made a terrible decision moving to Tennessee. I questioned everything. 

I mourned and felt sorry for myself for a little while, but then I decided to take action. I had wanted to be a teacher since I was six years old. So I researched and made an action plan on how to solve every issue that was brought up in my evaluation. Ultimately, I realized I had to be Erin and if my administration didn't like that, I wasn't where I needed to be. I dusted off my costume closet and wild ideas and put them to work. THAT is when the joy came back to teaching and my instruction improved along with my mood.

I was embarrassed by this story for years. But now I share it in hopes of encouraging teachers to find their style. When we try to teach like someone else, we won't be as effective or enjoy ourselves. I also share it because through this I got back to my passion which is finding ways to make lessons engaging and creating meaningful, lifelong relationships with students. 

I think most teachers are on board with those two things, but sometimes it can be overwhelming to get started on something new. That's why I'm here! To create a community of teachers who thrive on creativity and maybe inspire some new ideas along the way. 
I am so happy you're here! I hope you'll stay a while. 

With love, 
Erin, aka Miss Wells