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WetheTeachers sprung out of a hypothetical idea that Nate and Amy had in the fall of 2005. After getting frustrated from fruitless searches for lesson plans and ideas, Amy wondered why there were so few websites that effectively catered to teachers. There is a lot of information, but little is organized. Even worse, many times the resources you need are only available with a yearly fee.
Amy told Nate, and together they imagined a website that combined both the resource aspect of teacher-focused sites, and the community aspect of social websites. Many months of work later, the site was born!
The name WetheTeachers comes from the US Constitution preamble, We the People. In many respects, the site rises or falls based on the democratic idea of power residing with the people. If teachers choose to sit out, little help will be available for other teachers. But if everyone creates a profile, joins an interest group, submits lesson plans, meets new teachers seeking help...it can and will rise, and oh how far can it rise! In the end, we just hope to provide educators the help they need, and to make them as effective as possible.
Nate and Amy are the ideal couple for a place like WetheTeachers. Amy has an advanced degree in education and teaches full-time...Nate has an advanced degree in computer science. Nate strongly believed everything should be free to the teachers (knowing firsthand how little his wife was paid), and so used his personal time and background in technology to create an easy to use, friendly environment for teachers to meet.
"We originally just wanted a really well organized site for lesson plans...but what was born was something much much better...yes, it is a website where teachers can share, rate, and discuss their lesson plans, but it is also a place where they can meet, talk, and network. You don't just find a lesson plan you like, you can meet the person who wrote it!" -Nate
