Teenagers are my jam. I love teaching them, hanging out with them, and helping their teachers make learning engaging for them. I started teaching high school English in 1990. Before we had computers in our rooms, before anyone ever even talked about the Internet, before digital learning was even a thing, I was hand writing lesson plans and photocopying what I needed. By the time I left the classroom in 2013, my students were writing collaborative essays via Google Docs using our classroom set of Chromebooks, and they were designing their own websites to demonstrate their knowledge and skills.
Times change, and we have to change with them, but good instruction is good instruction.
Now I write curriculum materials so that teachers can spend their time and energy on differentiation and feedback, not the reinvention of the wheel. An English teacher’s life is HARD, harder than most I would argue. Our grading load is almost unbearable, and we can never manage it effectively if we spend our evenings and weekends planning. I am PASSIONATE about teachers leaving school at school.
Why Am I So Passionate About Teachers Leaving School at School?
By the end of my time in the classroom, I had gained 130 pounds. Panic attacks had introduced themselves, and perfectionism had driven me into the ground. My husband and I adopted a newborn in 2012 when I was 43 years old , and when he started walking, I couldn’t keep up. I was morbidly obese and exhausted. In May of 2013, I looked at my life and the fact that I had waited 43 years to be a mom and realized that I was missing it—all of it. So I left.
As soon as I resigned, I found out that I had aggressive breast cancer, what my oncologist called “the NASCAR of cancer.” At my weight and with the combination of chemo and radiation I was undergoing, my body just buckled. For two years, I had to use a walker or cane. No way to live.
My health and my family moved to the front of the line, and I lost 165 pounds over the next few years. Now I play soccer with my kid in the front yard, walk in the evening with my husband without pain, and run two micro businesses.
I genuinely want teachers to have a life, and I write curriculum materials to help them do that.
What’s My Background?
Certification
- Secondary ELA North Carolina “A” Certification
- K-12 Gifted and Talented Certification
- Adult/Young Adult Literacy, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (2001 and 2011)
- AP English Language & Composition Training at Duke University and Wake Forest University
Experience
2009-2020 Owner, Deep River Solutions, LLC, DBA Angie Kratzer
2009-2013 The Academy at High Point Central, High Point, NC
English 9-11
AP English Language & Composition
English Department Chair
2006-2009 Secondary ELA Curriculum Specialist, Guilford County Schools
Summer 2005 AP English Language & Composition Exam Reader, Tampa FL
1999-2005 Grimsley High School, Greensboro, NC
English 9 and 10 (Standard and Honors)
AP English Language & Composition
Department Writing Lead Teacher
Speech & Debate Club Advisor
Summer 1999 Church Resource Ministries Summer ESL Camp, Lake Balaton, Hungary
Summer 1995 Trefort Ágoston Bilingual Vocational High School, Budapest, Hungary
Intermediate ESL
Advanced ESL
1991-1999 Dudley High School, Greensboro, NC
English 9-12 (Standard and Honors)
Newspaper Journalism
National Honor Society Advisor
1990-1991 Sylvan Learning Center
