Teacher centered business seeking like for partnership, possibly more

Website landing page...check
Blog...check
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn...check, check, sorta
It is now time to start seeking partnerships. As we are not launching until January, we are not currently charging for these partnerships. We want to find like-minded businesses with whom we can trade links and cross-promote.
We are primarily interested in working with four types of businesses:

1. Businesses that offer teacher discounts
2. Businesses started and/or run by teachers (whose success directly benefits a teacher/s)
3. Not-for-profit organizations that are in some way related to or benefit education and/or educators.
4. Businesses that offer products or services that help teachers (Remember: teachers are people too, so almost any business fits into this category. However, we will give priority placement to businesses that benefit teachers most directly. i.e. the Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union before a consignment clothing store. OR, if the business offered a teacher discount, it would net top priority.)

 If you have a business that fits into one of these categories, contact us through the website landing page (or any of the contact pages, really). Please make "business" the subject, and include up to 50 words (this will be your ad copy) in the body. All listings must include an image, so don't forget that.
If you know someone who may appreciate this opportunity, please share this post with them.
If you would like to suggest a business to us, please do so through the contact form with a subject heading of "suggestion." Or you could simply comment below.

We hope to get this feature up and running by the end of next weekend, but there are no guarantees in life. Please subscribe for updates or follow us on Facebook or Twitter. Thank you for your support!

What a good partnership can look like

Collaboration

A teacher approached me about working with her classes on an overlapping interest. In this case, storytelling. She works with students who want to teach in early childhood education, and an important part of their curriculum is modeling fluency through powerful read-alouds.
Many associate storytelling with a peppy young kindergarten teacher reading an oversize book to children seated on carpet squares. This is not entirely accurate. Storytelling is actually a performance art, and I will have the opportunity to show these students how the skills transfer.
Collaborating with another teacher is exciting in and of itself. Collaboration is trending, a hot buzzword in the educational community, and the ideas fly fast and furious. However, theory proves simpler than fact. There are countless obstacles, especially at the middle and high school levels where each child has 6-8 teachers. The logistics of content alone would be a nightmare without allowing for individual teaching deviations.
Despite the inherent complexity, collaboration is necessary. Nothing reinforces information learned in required courses like connection in elective courses. Students need the foundation of a classical education to support the ideas and skills taught in their electives. Finally, teachers need each other. Our complementary skill sets prepare students for college and career readiness.

My boys posing at the 2012 storytelling festival