The Creative Teacher Newsletter
“I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.” —
John Steinbeck
My Story
After four years of teaching, I felt stuck.
Professional development bored me. Student behavior drained me.
I showed up, did what I was told, and survived each day.
I didn’t hate teaching, but I didn’t love it either.
I felt uninspired, unchallenged, and trapped.
Then COVID happened.
All the routines of traditional schooling disappeared. It was chaotic, but freeing. For the first time, I had space to be creative.
I started a YouTube channel. (Here is my first teaching video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppfi2OvGS54)
I created mini-lessons and writing prompts. I put my own spin on everything—using slang, cracking jokes, and weaving in topics like TikTok, the Super Bowl, and rap… all while teaching anaphora, sentence structure, and theme.
To my surprise, students loved it.
I was hooked.
When school reopened, I kept going.
I brought my own creations into the classroom. Teaching became playful and experimental.
At any moment, I could discover a better way to explain topic sentences… or build an entire lesson around monsters and similes.
I started sharing these ideas online.
A community grew.
Then a business.
Tolentino Teaching was born.
Why I created this Newsletter
My goal is simple: to encourage you to create.
Few professions offer as many opportunities for creativity as teaching.
Every lesson, unit, and seating chart calls for intuition and imagination.
Teachers are full of skill, passion, and creativity.
This newsletter is here to help bring that out.
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