Online Course Guides Help Teachers Share Ideas

"I remember thinking, 'Can somebody just invent something so I can have a life?' " said the 32-year old San Dimas resident.

Unsatisfied with the little she found in the way of help, Bowers spent two years creating literature and writing guides she could share with other teachers online.

Educators across the nation, Bowers found, were hungry for precisely the same things she longed for: good, reliable teaching materials.

Since posting her guides on TeachersPayTeachers.com, a new, EBay-like website that allows educators to post their work online, Bowers has seen her course materials fly off the site.

"We as teachers are the best writers," she said. "We know what other teachers are looking for. You don't have to go back and reinvent the wheel."

Bowers is one of the more than 200 teachers who are selling materials on the site, which started in April. The idea to create an online marketplace for course materials came out of a similar frustration shared by site founder Paul Edelman, a former English teacher from Brooklyn in New York City.

"For years, I spent a lot of time creating my own course materials, borrowing ideas from colleagues and going online to find resources," Edelman said. "But only a tiny fraction is posted on the Web; there was no real incentive to take the time to do that."

Edelman created a financial incentive, motivating experienced teachers to share their work for a fee and drawing in busy or new teachers looking for ways to freshen their curricula. To keep the site running, Edelman takes 15% of each sale, allowing teachers to keep the rest.

For buyers, there's an incentive to buy from the site: Each purchase is tax deductible.

What has motivated many teachers to buy and sell is that they're rewarding each other for their work, Edelman said.

American history teacher Greg Feldmeth, who teaches at Polytechnic School in Pasadena, found himself drawn to the site for that reason, among many.

"I'd much rather buy from a teacher than from a textbook publisher," Feldmeth said. "You want to be able to help out teachers when you can."

Feldmeth, 54, recently posted a series of crossword puzzles that help his history students study for exams in a more engaging way. Within one week of posting his materials, Feldmeth had already sold four sets.