Welcome!
We can’t wait to share with you all about The Rigorous Owl!
A Little Bit About Us
Hello! Our names are Michelle (the blonde) and Deserae’ (the brunette/red head). Before becoming The Rigorous Owl, one of us had a ton of ideas bursting at the seams, and the other was afraid to branch out and try new and exciting strategies. One liked to play it safe, while the “Idea Queen” would jump right in without fully thinking things through.
The Struggle Is Real!
We were both coming to work every day feeling that we were teaching on the surface level and struggling to teach day to day. We were not fully prepared, and we knew the standard was not being thoroughly taught. On top of that, our students were bored and so were we.
Have you been there? Done that? Tried that? Sound familiar?
Enough Is Enough!
The more and more we talked about our struggles, the more and more we decided that we had had enough. We wanted to be teachers who covered the standards while cutting out the resources that were full of frills, fluff, and superficial learning. We didn’t want to just “get through” our day, we wanted to “own” our day. We ditched our books and set out on the adventure of the Reader’s-Writer’s Workshop. Here is where we fell in love with teaching.
Together, we brainstormed a list of ideas of what we knew worked in our classrooms. We created a formula for what students needed in order to be successful from the first exposure to a standard to the assessment and then beyond. We practiced it, tweaked it, mastered it, and perfected it for multiple years before discovering ourselves as The Rigorous Owl.
More About Us
Above all else, The Rigorous Owl gets excited when we are teaching through a theme. We love to create a scene for our students to walk up to. From the moment our students catch a glimpse of their classroom, they are excited to see what is in store for them. When we are having fun, they are having fun…and we are confident that they are learning.
We would love for you to join us on our exciting journey and share in the excitement of captivating your student’s love for learning by getting idea and teaching tools from our blog!
We guide passionate educators who are determined to stand out from the crowd by providing thorough, high quality, no prep lessons that will keep students engaged and begging for more. Our goal is to help students love their learning and in turn love you, their teacher.
Here’s a little bit about us individually!
Deserae’:
I have been teaching 4th grade for 15 years and 5th grade for 1 year. I’ve been married for 15 years and have 3 boys…ages 11, 9, and 4! They keep me very busy!
Michelle:
I have been teaching 4th grade for 13 years! I love it and wouldn’t want to ever change! I have been married for 10 years and have a 4 year old son!
Some interests that we have in common:
The Outdoors!
Chickens!
Camping!
Moms of Boys!
Christians
TPT!
Some interests we DO NOT have in common…
Sports: Baseball (Dodgers) vs Soccer (LA Galaxy)
Treats: Sour/Gummy vs Chocolate
Colors: Green vs Teal
Music: Country vs Punk
Reading: Fiction vs Nonfiction/ Self Help/ Magazines
and of course, BLONDE vs brunette 🙂
Who we are at school:
- Student Council Leaders: Here’s some of the things we’ve started!! Mascots, Murals, Spirit days, and College Flags
- Running Club
- Reader’s Notebook Fanatics
- The “Go-To” for Reading Motivation
Who we are in our classroom:
- Reading Fanatics
- Roald Dahl Freaks
- Lit Circle Geeks
- Reading Challenge Cheerleaders
- Goal Setters
- Meaningful Engaging Scenario Facilitators
- Creativity
- Fun!
We opened our Teachers Pay Teachers store in 2015 after much encouragement from other teachers who saw our engaging and creative classroom curriculum. It has been one of the best choices we’ve made! It is our true passion to create lifelong readers and a theme-based environment where students want to come each day and learn. Our store is a true representation of this passion.
