- Some materials are cute, but not connected to any standards. Some creators provide standards along with their products, but I have often found them vague and not accurate.
- Some materials are copied from other resources. Retyping a workbook page and adding cute graphics does not make the content original. If the content looks like it was lifted, I will look for the original creator and purchase it from them.
- Some materials are not research-based. If a creator claims that a resource can be used for intervention, it should be research-based.
- Fonts and graphics. The stuff is cuter than I am willing to spend my time looking for or creating on my own. I cannot draw in the slightest, so the original graphics just amaze me sometimes.
- Everything is in one place. We are doing themes each week for summer school and I selected a read aloud for each week based upon the theme. Teachers Pay Teachers was where I found companions to each book, with vocabulary activities, plot and character analysis discussion questions, and ideas for celebrations. Each novel study was reasonably priced. I also found literacy and math centers for the younger students with games that matched my theme, like shark-themed word or math games for shark week.
- I am purchasing from other teachers. We teachers work really hard, and it seems like everyone else profits from it: the test-making companies, the textbook companies, the lobbyists, the politicians, etc. If I can give some money back to a hard-working teacher instead of them, I am all for it.