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< Back Rachel Cicioni M.Ed. MS - Adult: French Professional French Educator for English-speaking Learners Professional educator since 2011, specializing in all levels of French as a Foreign Language (FLE) for English-speaking learners ages 12 to adult. Private & Small Group Lessons Independent Study Conversation Tutoring Test Preparation: AP French Language & Culture, TCF Go to Website

< Back 7 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Starting My Teaching Business Reading time 6 minutes Published August 14, 2025 Category: Teacher Entrepreneurship When I first left the classroom, I wasn’t worried about what to teach, how to teach, or even where to find students. I knew my skills as an educator would carry over. What I was worried about? The business side of things — bookkeeping, taxes, time management — plus all the things I assumed would be complicated or out of reach. As it turns out, much of what I feared was simpler than I thought, and much of what I thought would be simple took more un learning than I'd expected. Here are seven things I wish I’d known sooner: 1. I Could Have Charged More From the Beginning When I started, I charged $50 for an hour of direct instruction plus an additional hour of asynchronous practice. That’s two full hours of value. Now, I charge $80/hr for that exact same service — and my clients happily pay it. Lesson learned: price based on the value you provide, not your own fears. 2. My Monthly Business Costs Could Be Almost Nothing I thought I’d need to spend hundreds a month on tools and programs. The truth? My monthly operating budget stays between $40–$50. There are incredible free and open-source resources out there. You don’t need fancy software to get started — or even to scale. 3. Bookkeeping and Taxes Aren’t as Scary as They Seem I assumed I’d need to learn advanced accounting skills to keep my business afloat. Instead, I started with a simple spreadsheet and a habit of setting aside a percentage of every payment for taxes. Then I started using Wave(free version) and synced it to my bank account. At tax time, I print out reports from Wave and send them to a hired tax professional. It has been worth every penny. 4. Managing My Own Schedule Is Liberating I worried I’d waste time without a strict schedule to adhere to. In reality, setting my own teaching hours, blocking admin time, and protecting days off gave me more focus and energy than I’d ever had in the classroom — so much that I now have time for my family and even hobbies. 5. Parents Trust Me More Than My Credentials Parents don’t care about my degrees, certifications, or methodology jargon. They care that I can help their child and do what I say I’ll do. Overloading them with credentials or lesson plan details can actually backfire — keep your communication simple and focused on results. 6. “Niching Down” Means Something Different for Teachers In most industries, niching down means narrowing your service to one hyper-specific thing. For teachers, it’s more about who you work best with — the type of student, their learning needs, and the situations where you shine. Services can evolve, but your ideal student profile is your anchor . 7. Start Before You Think You're Ready Your business will always be a work-in-progress — and that’s a good thing. Done is better than perfect. You’ll be tweaking things indefinitely. It’s better to involve your audience in your journey than to spend months building behind the scenes only to launch to crickets. Start making connections, share what you’re working on, and invite people in before you’re “officially” open. If you take nothing else from this list, take this: You don’t need to wait for perfect conditions. Your business, like your teaching, will grow with you. When you start sooner, you start learning sooner — and that’s how you find your stride. And if you want someone to walk beside you, I'm here. Best wishes always 💕 ~ Rachel Previous Next

< Back Personal Solution to a Teacher-Centered Movement Reading time 3 minutes Published June 23, 2023 Category: Business coaching While I enjoy the opportunity I stumbled into of teaching privately and raising awareness of self-employed teaching as an option for other teachers, leaving the classroom, left me completely heartbroken. But my heart was mended by the wonderful, affirming, and human experiences I now enjoy with my private students, families, and the teacher-entrepreneurs in my community. I found my spark and my joy again as a private practice educator. My mission was to let teachers know that this was possible and help them create their own private teaching businesses. Since then it has been and continues to be my honor to do this work. The teachers I work with are brilliant and caring professionals. I am constantly amazed and humbled by the innovative and beneficial services and learning opportunities they create for their students and communities. If you have time, please check out the business on the Teacher Directory. They truly are inspiring. This last year has been so inspiring in fact, that we have evolved both in mission and number. The Private Practice Teacher® has grown from one teacher (me) to eight pioneer teacher entrepreneurs (we have space for just 2 more pioneer teachers) and from our two original goals to a movement. Yes, we still work to spread awareness of the possibility of being a successful, self-employed teacher. Yes, we still help teachers create their private practice teaching businesses. However, we’ve been so galvanized by what we’ve been able to accomplish this year that we now see it as an opportunity to elevate our profession as a whole. We believe that meaning and lasting positive change in education can’t happen until teachers are recognized and respected as experts in education. We see private practice teaching as a means by which teachers can finally be recognized as the highly educated, trained, and experienced professionals we work so hard to become. Private practice teaching provides the opportunity for teachers to demonstrate to society what we can create and what our students can accomplish when teachers have the autonomy to practice our craft the way we know it should and can be done. As such we have the opportunity to be recognized as authorities in education, and hopefully gain a seat at the tables discussing education reform. If not, we have already started building the foundations for our own tables. Previous Next

< Back Would you rather? Summer Edition Reading time 5 minutes Published June 3, 2024 Category: Teacher life In my neighborhood, summer break is almost here, and it has me reflecting on the summer break after my last year in the classroom. ! It felt like a breath of fresh air after an entire year of insanity. But we all know that summer break does NOT mean a summer off. I don’t know about you, but I honestly only ever really took off 2 weeks a year. The first week of summer break and the week of our family vacation. What summer break actually meant was that I got to make my own hours. It meant that I got to work at a pace that allowed me to not feel overwhelmed while also feeling like I was “setting myself up” for a less overwhelming school year next year. (This never really happened because there was always some new something added to my plate.) And thus the cycle of The Teacher Hamster Wheel continued year after year after year. But what if I told you there's an exciting alternative? Let's dive into how much time teachers typically spend on summer prep and compare it to the mere 5 hours a week it takes to kickstart your own teaching business using The Private Practice Teacher® 90 Day Jumpstart Mentor Program. Trust me, this could be a game-changer for you! 1. Traditional Summer Preparations :The summer break turns into a whirlwind of planning, curriculum development, resource curating/creating, and professional development (all while attempting to recover, relax, and have fun). According to the National Education Association (NEA), teachers usually devote around 12 to 20 unpaid hours a week to school-related tasks during their well-deserved summer break[^1^]. It's a significant (unpaid) time commitment that eats into our precious downtime. Even though everyone tells us we don’t “have” to do it, when else are we supposed to do it? And so we do it during breaks. 2. The Private Practice Teacher® Alternative: Now, I want you to imagine reclaiming your summers and life by creating your own teaching business. With just 5 hours a week, you can make it happen! This is exactly why I created The 90-Day Jumpstart Mentor Program the way I did. This program provides everything you need to create, market, and run your teaching business. Say goodbye to the teacher hamster wheel and hello to more personal time for relaxation and enjoyment year-round. So, dear teacher friend, I believe it’s time to think outside the traditional summer prep box. Instead of sacrificing so much of your break to school-related tasks, why not invest 5 hours a week in yourself and build a career that fits your life? I and all the Jumpstart Alumni are here to guide and support you every step of the way. Best wishes always, Rachel References: [^1^] National Education Association (NEA). (n.d.). Teachers’ Summer Break: How Often and How Long? Retrieved from https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/teachers-summer-break-how-often-and-how-long Previous Next

< Back I spent over 11K on a coaching program, and it almost killed my business. Reading time 10 minutes Published December 20, 2023 Category: Business coaching Offers for paid coaching are literally everywhere right now, & I want to have a very frank conversation about it. Personally, I have spent over $20,000 in paid coaching & courses over the last 3 years. That's how I learned A LOT of what I teach my clients. I also learned a lot about what works (and doesn't work) for me both as someone being coached and as the coach I strive to be. I wish I could say that all of it has been worth the money, but sadly that wasn’t the case. In my experience, the phrase “You get what you pay for!” doesn’t apply to business coaching. When I started my first my business, MyFrenchU, it was by accident. I didn't pay for any coaching. I learned EVERYTHING as I went. It felt like a second job sorting through the constantly-changing, free advice of so-called gurus. On my own, it took me over 18 months to get my business to the point where I was consistently earning 4-figure months and my business was running smoothly. With my second business, I didn't want to take that long. There was still a lot that I didn't know, and I wanted to educate myself. That's exactly how I approached it too. I researched coaches and their programs the way I researched grad programs. I also met with them to make sure that we were philosophically aligned and someone I would enjoy working with. Finally, I met with one or two people who had been through their program and asked them my questions too. For my first business coach I paid $6,000 for a 6 month program that included a self-paced digital course with resources and live group coaching. That program was worth every penny. I made back my $6,000 investment and begin earning a profit in less than 6 months of opening The Private Practice Teacher®. I do not believe I would have been able to accomplish so much so quickly without her guidance and feedback. I was able to experience much faster growth in that businesses and with significantly more confidence. I believe in my ability to learn and put into practice what I learn. I also really appreciate having someone "lay it out" for me rather than having to do ALL the research and trial & error on my own. It was also incredibly helpful to have other people to bounce my ideas off of and to learn from. Then, about a year after starting The Private Practice Teacher®, I started looking for coaching again to help my business grow AND help me have a bigger voice when advocating for teachers and education. The algorithm heard me and started sending me ads for a coaching program co-developed by a well-known TedX speaker. I thought, “This could be perfect. I’d love to do a TedX talk about all the wonderful programs the teachers I work with have created for their students and communities.” Sadly, this time I did not do my due diligence. I researched the Ted-X speaker who acts as the face of the program, but I didn’t push for clarification about the particulars of their program during my discovery call. Nor did I meet with any of the actual coaches/trainers or ask to connect with current program members or alumni, so I could ask them my questions. My discovery call was with a masterful sales person. I trusted him and in my naivety and fear, I went for it. I spent almost $12,000 on that coaching program, and it almost killed my business. They pushed me to use sales tactics that I believe to be unethical and intrusive like “pain-point marketing”, cold DM'ing, and told me NOT to explain any of particulars of my program and what it includes - instead lean into their hopes and fears. I found myself questioning if there even is a place for transparent and ethical business practices in business coaching. Because if it’s all sales tactics, manipulation, and a “numbers-game”, than it's not for me. I don’t want to be someone who makes money that way. If it wasn’t for the wonderful teachers I’d coached up to that point and the community we created together, The Private Practice Teacher® wouldn’t still be here. They lifted me up, reminded me of who I am and why they chose to work with me instead of other teacher coaches. They also reminded me of the inspiring businesses and lives they created during our time together. Now , last but not least, the $2,000 coaching program I most recently invested in. This 9-week digital course plus live coaching and community gave me everything that the $12,000 program promised it would but failed to deliver. The least expensive coaching program I ever paid for was exactly what I and my business needed . As a result of that program, I have been able to: Make my Jumpstart program less expensive and more accessible for more teachers Create the Teacher 2 Entrepreneur Bootcamp to help teachers make the mental transition necessary to create a successful teaching business Learn marketing strategies and operating systems that allow me to work for efficiently, be more productive, and provide better service All of which is exactly what I need to grow The Private Practice Teacher® into the business I want it to become. The bottom line is this: You're going to have to invest some ratio of time and money when starting a business. Only YOU know what ratio is right for you! Before you invest any money in anyone’s programs I encourage you to do the following: Make sure you are comfortable with the person/people you will actually be working with in the program. (ie. not a sales team or onboarding member - the actual coach/coaches) Ask to preview the course or for a course outline Reach out to people who are in their program or have complete their program Familiarize yourself with their refund policy Don’t be afraid to ask “too many questions” or “dumb questions”. This is your hard-earned money. You have a right to ask as many questions as you need to in order to make an informed decision about how you spend it. Listen to your gut not your fear or self-doubt. Thank you for reading. I hope this helps. Best wishes always, Rachel Previous Next

< Back Rose Gause K-12: Reading, Literacy Reading With Rose Hi, I love helping students not only become better readers, but also have an appreciation for it. I’m a virtual reading instructor with a literacy program that uses a phonics based curriculum. I also have experience teaching in a classroom setting and abroad. I provide customized lessons in ELA, reading, and phonics. I’m passionate about creating an immersive online learning experience for my students to learn and express their creativity. With the use of digital tools and story telling your student will excel in reading. "Reading should not be presented to children as a chore, a duty. It should be offered as a gift." - Kate DiCamillo Go To Website

< Back Abbie Wence ⭐️ MS, HS: Life & Study Skills ** PPT® Verified Educator True YOU Coaching Abbie is a wizard at making connections! She does an outstanding job of connecting with the students and helping them connect learning to their lives and unique interests. Abbie specializes multiple content areas for individual and small group instruction for grades 3 through adults. Book Clubs, Art Journaling, and Writing Workshops for genre and skills. ** Also offering instruction in math, life skills and self-care, and "Playing the Game of School" workshop for parents. Website Under Construction ~ Not Currently Taking New Students

< Back What are your task avoidance behaviors trying to tell you? Reading time 3 minutes Published February 9, 2024 Category: Self-employed teacher Are you finding yourself constantly sidetracked by tasks that seem urgent but are ultimately unproductive? As a self-employed teacher, I understand the struggle of managing your own business while trying to stay focused on important goals. Let's delve into a recent realization I had and how it might resonate with your own journey. Last week, with a looming deadline for a presentation proposal, I caught myself engaging in a classic task avoidance behavior: productive procrastination. Instead of tackling the proposal head-on, I found myself engrossed in mundane tasks like transferring events between planners. Sound familiar? It was a wake-up call. I had to confront the root cause of my avoidance. Was it self-doubt? Fear of failure? Uncertainty about my abilities? As I dissected my thoughts, I realized that none of these reasons held true. I am qualified, experienced, and fully capable of delivering the presentation. So why the hesitation? The answer was fear. Fear of stepping out of my comfort zone, fear of the unknown, fear of failure despite ample evidence of success in my teaching career. Recognizing this allowed me to push past the paralysis and submit my proposal before the deadline. If you're experiencing similar challenges, know that you're not alone. Self-reflection is key to understanding and overcoming task avoidance behaviors. Remember, growth happens outside of your comfort zone. Embrace the discomfort, trust in your abilities, and go for it! Remember ... Nothing extraordinary ever happens by staying in your comfort zone. Best wishes always, Rachel Previous Next

< Back Sheryl Uehling K-8: Reading, Writing Tutoring with Sheryl began 4 years ago and has been supporting students as a private service for 2 years, supporting struggling readers. The mission of Tutoring with Sheryl is to build confident and knowledgeable readers and writers who are successful in all academic areas. Students meet regularly with Sheryl Uehling, owner, via Google Meet. Learning gaps are identified and taught through personalized lessons for each student. Students have a dedicated learning library they can return to for links, pdfs, and printable materials. They also receive a dedicated digital space they can return to as they practice skills in reading, math, and typing. Most students are back to grade level or above in 6 months to a year. Many of the Tutoring with Sheryl students have IEPs, SATs, or have Speech services. Sheryl easily navigates those and supports goals with the student's needs in mind. Go To Website

Accessibility Statement for The Private Practice Teacher This is an accessibility statement from The Private Practice Teacher®. Measures to support accessibility The Private Practice Teacher® takes the following measures to ensure accessibility of The Private Practice Teacher: Include accessibility throughout our internal policies. Conformance status The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) defines requirements for designers and developers to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. It defines three levels of conformance: Level A, Level AA, and Level AAA. The Private Practice Teacher is partially conformant with WCAG 2.1 level AA. Partially conformant means that some parts of the content do not fully conform to the accessibility standard. Feedback We welcome your feedback on the accessibility of The Private Practice Teacher. Please let us know if you encounter accessibility barriers on The Private Practice Teacher: Phone: +01 484 713 4909 E-mail: rachel@theprivatepracticeteacher.org Instagram: @privatepracticeteacher We try to respond to feedback within 2 business days. Compatibility with browsers and assistive technology The Private Practice Teacher is designed to be compatible with the following assistive technologies: Provide captioning on all monetized video content. Date This statement was created on 4 December 2024 using the W3C Accessibility Statement Generator Tool .

< Back Demi K (B.S.Ed.) 2nd-5th: Math, English 🎉 Hello, families! I’m Mrs. K! I’m so excited to officially launch Education With Mrs. K — where young learners build confidence in reading and math through fun, personalized support! 📚 I’m a certified teacher with 5+ years of classroom experience, and a passion for helping 2nd–5th graders thrive. Whether your child needs help with tricky math concepts, wants to become a stronger reader, or simply needs a boost in confidence — I’m here to help. ✨ Services: ✅ 1:1 Private Virtual Tutoring ✅ Grades 2–5 ✅ Reading fluency, comprehension, and math support ✅ Progress monitoring 👩🏫 Fun fact: I loved reading in school — but math didn’t always come easy. That’s why I’m so passionate about making learning clear, encouraging, and enjoyable for students 💕 Go to Website

< Back What Does It Mean for a School to Fail? Reading time 3 minutes Published September 16, 2025 Category: Education Reform, Teacher Satisfaction, Teacher Burnout Every fall, I notice the same pattern: teachers start strong, riding on back-to-school energy, excited to try all the ideas they saved on Pinterest over the summer, but by October, the burnout begins to creep in. This year, though? It’s already showing up, and it’s only mid-September. The teachers I talk with are reporting exhaustion faster than ever, and that should make us all pause. So it begs the question: What does it actually mean for a school to fail? How We Usually Define “School Failure” When we hear the phrase “failing school,” most people think of: Low standardized test scores Poor state report cards High dropout rates Accreditation warnings Those are the metrics policymakers love to point to. But ask any teacher, and you’ll get a very different picture. How Teachers Experience “School Failure” Failure isn’t just numbers on a page—it’s the lived reality inside classrooms. It looks like: Teachers are so burnt out that they’re leaving mid-year Students’ basic needs (safety, mental health, belonging) are going unmet Administrators are pushing compliance over creativity (and connection) Mandates that strip away joy and professional autonomy The truth is, schools often start to “fail” teachers long before test scores ever dip. And when teachers don’t feel supported or valued, it directly impacts students, families, and communities. New Definition of “School Failure” Now, when I think of schools failing, I think of schools no longer able to keep enough adults on staff to keep their doors open. It makes me sad to consider it, but I've already seen it happen because of shortages of substitute/supply teachers. I've heard stories of one elementary school teacher "covering" two classes in the gym because only 2 of 4 third-grade teachers were able to come to work that day.Local and state governments put together committees to address "The Teacher Shortage" or "The Teacher Crisis" years ago. How many of us can say we've seen any improvement? 🙋🏻♀️ (If you have, please email me and share your story. I would really love to share what your school/district is doing in the hopes it inspires others.)My fear is that until schools start to really experience my new definition of failure, they'll continue to exhaust and exploit teachers. Then, when they've finally driven out too many teachers to keep their doors open, they'll finally listen to teachers and/or look to schools that appear to be thriving and learn from their examples. What If We Flipped the Script? If my new definition of failure is when schools can no longer staff enough adults to keep classrooms running, then maybe the opposite is also true: a thriving school is one where teachers want to stay, grow, and do their best work. Instead of defining failure only by numbers, what if we defined success by the people at the heart of it? Think about the way magazines run their “Best Places to Work” lists. Why couldn’t we have a “Great Place to Teach” designation ? Imagine if schools were recognized not just for test scores and data points, but for things like: Teacher job satisfaction Professional autonomy Administrative support Respectful work culture Opportunities for growth Balance between work and life Wouldn’t that shift the conversation—and the incentives? Your Turn I’d love to hear from you: What criteria would you include in a “Great Place to Teach” designation? Drop your ideas in the comments or share this blog with a fellow teacher who has thoughts. The more voices we add to this conversation, the harder it is to ignore. Because at the end of the day, schools don’t fail because of bad teaching; schools fail when they stop listening to teachers. Previous Next