📖Turn the Page📖

Hey hey, Reader,

I know it’s Monday. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I am showing up a little more often in your inbox these days. It’s because the thing I’m talking about is super important to me (and I hope to you if you made it onto this happy little list!).

Here’s what I want to chat about today—

Most teachers don’t struggle because they don’t know enough.

They struggle because they’re trying to figure out a transition alone, in the margins of an already exhausting life.

(I know I was. 2 year old, Check. Full time job, Check. No family nearby for easy childcare— + Covid, Check, Check.)

Here’s what’s real:

If information alone worked, teachers would have left the classroom in droves by now.

But instead, what usually happens looks like this:

• You save resources for later. (aka the google drive graveyard of saved PDFs and courses you never finished—ahem, started—I see you, Reader).
• You start something… then stall.
• You make a little progress, then lose momentum.

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And eventually, you quietly assume the problem is you.

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Accept, it’s actually not.

The real issue is that transitions aren’t meant to happen in isolation.

They require:

• structure
• feedback
• accountability
• and a protected space to actually apply what you already know

That’s the difference between content you consume and a container you step into.

Content assumes motivation or “self-discipline” will carry you.

(At which point we blame ourselves if we can’t make it happen.)

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Containers are designed to carry you when motivation dips—which it inevitably does.

And for teachers especially—people who are already excellent learners—people who could learn their way just about anywhere…this distinction matters.

What most teachers don’t need is more information.
They need a place to practice becoming something new, without doing it alone.

Alongside others doing the same thing, and with someone to guide them along the path.

If you’ve taken courses, saved links, or tried to “figure it out” before and still felt stuck, hit reply and tell me:

What kind of support would actually help you right now?

I’m reading (and responding to!) every reply.

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💫 Meredith

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📖Turn the Page📖

Hi Reader,

I looked at the clock. 12:11.

4 long minutes to go.

Sitting in my car, Zoom open on my computer, hot spot on, armpits sweating (sorry but 🤷‍♀️).

What can I say? Nervous doesn’t begin to describe this scene ya’ll.

(I promise this story is Safe for Work, LOL).

I took my first sales calls sitting in my car, parked as far away from the school building as I could manage.

I didn’t tell anyone what I was doing.
Not because it was a secret—it wasn’t honestly—but because I wasn’t ready to explain it yet.

You might think that until you’re ready to fully quit, you can’t do anything else.

If I’m honest, there were many days I dreamt about quitting teaching in the most satisfying ways…

… Not signing my contract in March with loud, confident, indignance

… Pulling the old “Irish goodbye” and leaving on the last day and just not coming back

… I even considered not giving notice just to be spiteful to those I felt unsupported by

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(Cue the scene where we get to say ALL THE THINGS to all the people)
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In the end, I knew I wouldn’t do any of these things. And I’m betting you feel the same way.

So then I was left with what felt like an impossible choice:
stay exactly where I was—or blow everything up and leave.

And because blowing up my life wasn’t an option, I stayed. And stayed…

And STAYED.

(Is any of this familiar, Reader?)

I admit. It kept me stuck for a long time. Way longer than it needed to (like YEARS LONGER).

What I didn’t realize yet was that there was a third path:
​starting quietly. One small step at a time.

Because here is the reality:

It’s very possible to take small, intentional steps towards the next version of your life… while you still have one foot in your old life.

For me this looked like:

➡️ Waking up as early as possible to research, learn and write. Could I do this every day? Nope. Did I do it whenever I could? Yup.

➡️ Eventually taking prospective client calls in my car or during a prep period (and I personally know at least a few other teachers who did the same when they were starting their copywriting businesses)

➡️ Using those weekend nap times (my daughter was only 2!) to work on up-skilling—and eventually to do some client work

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Here’s what I want you know:

If you feel the nudge towards something different, it’s because there is already a version of yourself that knows you can do it.

It doesn’t matter how, exactly.

Or what your timeline is.

What matters is that with intentional action, you can step into it, now.

For me, just starting quietly, while still teaching full time, step by step:

Skills turned into momentum—which turned into clients, confidence, and eventually my exit.

And this is possible for YOU TOO.

If you started quietly this month, Reader, what would that look like?

What’s the smallest step you could take without blowing up your life?

Hit reply and tell me.

More soon,

Meredith

📖Turn the Page📖

Hi Reader,

I know, I know. Here I am, sneaking into your inbox—and on a Wednesday no less!

I’m just so excited to talk to you about this.

Because for 17 years (!! that’s like a full grown teenager), I believed that the only thing I could do with my 1.5 + decades of teaching experience, my years of expensive education + multiple degrees and my specialized literacy certification was, well, Teach.

Because when we commit ourselves to teaching, that’s often what we are conditioned to believe.

Not always outright.

Sometimes it’s implicit.

A whisper. A suggestion.

No one actually ever said to me,

“You can only teach now for the rest of your (long) career!”

But boy is that what I heard loud and clear.

(have you felt that way too, Reader?)

One particularly rough morning, after lesson planning until midnight, very low on sleep and general life force—I woke up with this question in my head:

Is this it? Is this really what I’m going to do for the rest of my life?

The movie playing out was bleak:

—The adult bureaucracy

—The overwhelm of noise and “never enough time” in the classroom

—The nagging feeling that there was something else for me

It was a FULL BODY NO.

That was the moment everything changed for me.

Not because I quit.

Not because I flipped a table and stormed out like a badass.

(We’ve all had that dream 😉)

But because I stopped assuming teaching was the only place my skills could thrive.

So what did I do? What could I do?

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I quietly, immediately changed the way I was showing up for myself.

I started building something behind the scenes that I knew would carry me out of one chapter and into the next.

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And here’s the part I didn’t understand at the time:

I wasn’t changing who I was.

I was changing where my skills could be applied.

One of the things you might not realize (I definitely didn’t until I started this work), is that as a teacher, you ALREADY HAVE what you need to be successful writing for education companies.

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You are a literal expert at:

• Seeing the whole picture
• Knowing what someone needs to understand by the end
• Working backwards to break complex ideas into clear, sequential, digestible steps.

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You are probably thinking “Good story, bro. Not special. Everyone can do this.”

WELL, Reader…

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They can’t.

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This is a skill companies pay very good money for—because it’s the foundation of clear, convincing, authentic communication.

When I realized that, everything inside of me just… shifted.

I understood that I could use my teaching expertise to write for education companies—not just to make more money (but yes, I wanted that too!), but to change how my daily life felt.

I could build something that would eventually offer me:

☕ slower mornings

💃 more autonomy in my day (I’m sorry but peeing whenever you want?? IT’S REAL.)

🔕 Quiet. Space. The ability to hear my own voice again. To know it was OK to make a change

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What most teachers don’t need is more information—they need a place to actually apply what they already know.

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If you have ever felt this way—restless and wanting change but also stuck—reply and tell me which feels more like you right now: more restless or more stuck?

(You can literally reply with one word!)

I’m on the other side, waiting to hear from you!

More soon,

Meredith

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📖Turn the Page📖

Calling All Teachers!

A friend of mine is looking for 5 teachers to help test an EdTech App in exchange for a $100 amazon gift card. If you’re interested, read to the bottom where all the info will be!

Happy New Year Reader!

I usually send emails in the morning on Fridays, but…it’s a been a week. Not quite the “1st week of January,” I had in mind, but then: does that EVER HAPPEN?

I digress. I’m really happy to be back in your inbox and to be talking about something important today. So…

Before you read the rest of this, I want you to try something small.

Step 1: Open a blank note and finish this sentence—quickly, without overthinking it:

“What do I already know I want next but haven’t taken action on yet?”

📋 Not the thing your parents would tell you to want

🛠️ Not even the most practical option.

🌱 Just the one that keeps coming back.

Maybe it’s like the quiet drip of a leaky faucet.

Maybe it’s like a roaring river, carving a path through all your thoughts in a way you can’t ignore.

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Either way, if you wrote something down, you’re already further than you think.

More often than not, the issue isn’t uncertainty—it’s that without an intentional first step, that knowing never turns into movement.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this season I often find myself in—the quiet space between reflection and real movement. The part where you’re not confused anymore… but you’re not quite in motion either.

This is usually where people get stuck.

Not because they don’t care.

Not because they aren’t capable.

But because sometimes without real, tangible steps to take, nothing gets chosen. We freeze amidst the possible direction we could go in.

So we wait.

We gather more ideas. (teachers love to research options 😂)

We tell ourselves we’ll start when it feels clearer or calmer.

But momentum doesn’t come from waiting for certainty.

It comes from choosing one direction, taking one step, and letting clarity catch up.

Here’s the second step (and this is the only other thing I want you to do):

Step 2: Look back at how you answered the first question. Then ask yourself,

“What would it look like to take this seriously for the next two weeks?”

Not forever.

Not perfectly.

Just seriously enough to see what happens. To see if inside you shifts.

—It might be setting aside 15 minutes to do a brain dump every day to help you clear out what you actually want and don’t want.

—It might be using that 15 minutes to instead partner with AI and get some intel on where your skills, your strengths and your passions collide.

—It might emailing that one person and asking if they are willing to talk something through with you.

This is how change actually starts—through small, intentional containers that make movement possible.

I’ll be sharing more practices like this—simple, grounded ways to take step after small step without burning everything down or doing it alone.

For now, notice what shifts when you stop asking “What should I do?”

and start asking, “What am I willing to commit to next?”

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Your captain on the raging river,

💫 Meredith

ps As promised, below is all the info from my friend Tina on testing a fantastic new edtech app:

Hi friends,
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I have a project that I am working on for a client, and I am in need of 5 teachers to test out the product. The company is offering a $100 gift card upon completion. This will be first come first serve, so email me asap if you’d like to participate!
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The program is a grading app powered by AI. We are asking for feedback about the app itself, as well as the functionality.
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If you are interested, I will have you sign a non-disclosure agreement, and then after the new year, send you a packet of information that will include access to the app, instructions on how to use it, and several assignments/answer keys. We will also invite you to use an original assignment of your own to test in the program. We really need more testing on short answer and essay length grading, so we encourage you to use assignments that require lengthier responses as opposed to elementary-level math, where there is (usually) only one right answer. In other words, if you’re a math teacher, using assignments that required explanations, rather than just the answer.
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Please let me know if you are interested. You can email at tina.melendez@me.com

The timeline for this project is as follows:
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Upon confirmation of interest: receive NDA via DocuSign for signature
Week of January 12th: receive information packet from me
Before February 6th: submit feedback
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Thank you for considering!