Hi, I'm Rachel

HI, I’M RACHEL STEIL (pronounced style)

You can think of me as your ELA BFF.

I’m an English teacher and award-winning Newspaper Advisor who has taught for over 20 years.

When I started teaching, I had no “curriculum” to use; I was told “teach anything you want”. And so I did! However, always creating everything from scratch, or spending hours surfing the net was extremely time consuming. I had two little kids at home and creating every single thing from ground zero nearly burned me out.  

I know what it’s like to spend hours on a single lesson only to realize I have dozens more to create. As a journalism teacher, we do have a fantastic network, but without any textbook or curriculum in place, I not only had to learn how to advise an entire publication, but how build a solid curriculum from nothing.

Even with a core curriculum in place, teaching is hard. So is continually being a magician and coming up with brilliant lessons out of thin air, day after day. Between teaching, grading, communicating with families, the day-to-day grind of teaching, and raising a family, finding time to design thoughtful, creative, and engaging lessons was exhausting. I love what I do, but I was having a hard time finding the right balance.

About 5 years ago, I discovered Teachers Pay Teachers and it was a game changer! I realized there are other teachers like me willing to lend a helping hand, helping me save time, and supporting my goals of providing the best instruction possible!

That’s why I decided to share my lessons and curriculum with teachers like you. Because I know how hard teaching can be, and how much we all love what we do. That’s why you are here, because you care about your kids and providing the best possible education you can. 

I WANTED TO MAKE A BIGGER IMPACT.

That’s why I decided to start selling my products on Teachers Pay Teachers, so I can help teachers friends like you to bring engaging lessons and fun activities into your classroom, while helping you saving time in the process. 

My collection of classic and contemporary literature lessons includes high level thinking prompts, aligns to CCSS, and my students say it’s fun and engaging! 

All of my journalism curriculum is aligned to Journalism Education Association and National Scholastic Press Association expectations. You’ll find everything from how to advise to daily lessons to teaching sports writing!

I am glad you are here! I hope you find some great resources to take back to your students!