About Our Mission: Empowerment and Equity for Educators
First, a little about me. I’m Sylvia Skinner, an educator since 1998, when I first received my shiny Education degree with hons. Originally from the UK, I dedicated over 20 years to primary education, and now, I’m crafting creativity as a K-12 Art teacher in Australia.
But, before we go further, let's talk about YOU!
Teaching in the classroom can be a blast, but if your space is all over the place, you’re going to have to start taking shortcuts. Before you know it, your students won’t have any time to flex their creative muscles. When we, or/and our classroom isn’t organised, each transition can take five minutes or more of precious learning time, instead of just a minute.
Our administrative tasks can also quickly get out of control and it feels like we’re running on a treadmill that we can’t get off. Time just keeps moving faster at 1,000 miles an hour, and the paperwork continues to accumulate. Have you been there?
You don’t have to be the one doing the running in this equation. You can take control of your time and prevent yourself from getting caught up in the terrible teacher paperwork treadmill.
Creative thinking
After two decades of teaching I’ve learned a thing or two about teaching. It’s important to foster creativity in our students, but it can be hard to do that when you’re drowning in paperwork and admin tasks.
That’s why I created I Love To Teach 101 (ILTT), to help you get organised and create a classroom environment that encourages creativity.
When you free up mental bandwidth by decluttering your desk and classroom and employ certain strategies to help save time, it’s glorious and liberating.
We have three professional development experience courses, to help you enhance your classroom management, improve teacher well-being, and spark creativity.
Our mission: giving a helping hand
We’re here to help educators avoid exhaustion, reduce those non-contract hours, and get organised to create more time for creativity. But at I Love To Teach 101, we’re not just about courses and resources. We’re also all about empathy and equity. For every purchase made on our site, a substantial portion of the revenue lends a helping hand to Solomon Island teachers in need.
Why Solomon Islands?
As part of the British Aid Programme, my husband and I ventured overseas in 1986, touching down in Solomon Islands. We stayed for eight wonderful years.
A month into our arrival, Cyclone Namu hit. I was keen to help in any way I could, and ended up teaching a Foundation class of 72 kids!
In 2001, we ventured out again, but from Australia. This time we stayed for seven years.
Many Solomon Island teachers work for very little, or nothing at all.
School project
So, we helped build a school that was self funding and pay teachers what they deserve. Next, I was asked to become principal, which I resisted for a long time.
During those five years as principal, I taught a foundation class, so I had to learn pretty fast about setting priorities. I also trained teachers how to set up, decorate, organise, plan, grade, teach and think creatively about their teaching.
The school experienced great success. Each year, our Year 6 students graduated in the top 10%, allowing them the very few spots available in the few High Schools.
On the back of this success, I am now keen to share what I have learned. Looking to equip teachers with the necessary tools to be outstanding educators.
Hear from a Lead Educator
Who delivered a PD course for the Teachers at the School, in Solomon Islands.
