Created by and owned by Educators.

Welcome to Thrifted Wisdom! An educational resource hub dedicated to strengthening brain development and supporting academic success through meaningful learning and critical thinking.

With over 30 years in education, we created Thrifted Wisdom to honor the expertise educators bring to their work every day. This is a space to connect, collaborate, and share practical strategies that truly work in classrooms and at home.

Explore our growing collection of research-informed resources, professional learning tools, and easy-to-implement enrichment activities for parents. Visit our Membership Plans page to unlock full access.

Have an idea, question, or topic you’d love to see featured? I’d love to hear from you.

Enjoy your visit,
~ Dr. Jill Dorman

Thrifted Wisdom Blog Entries

Designing Brain-Ready Schools for Academic Success

Are you following the Science of Reading, using updated curriculum, and intervening more than ever before, but your students are still struggling academically? You are not alone. Schools across the country are working hard to improve academic outcomes, increase engagement, and close achievement gaps, but even the strongest curriculum or instructional strategy can fall short when students are not neurologically ready to learn. In many schools, attention is focused on the Sci

Dr. Jill Dorman

6 hours ago2 min read

Thrifted Wisdom - Educators sharing with Educators

I'm thrilled to officially launch my website, Thrifted Wisdom ! After spending over 30 years in education, I've seen firsthand the incredible knowledge educators carry—knowledge that often goes unshared because teachers tend to work in isolation. Many have amazing ideas, strategies, and resources, but without a dedicated space to collaborate, those insights can stay hidden. That’s where Thrifted Wisdom comes in. While the site includes a wide variety of helpful resources, it

Dr. Jill Dorman

Nov 1, 20252 min read

Data Faces for Getting to Know You Activity

Looking for a new way to gather data on students without them even realizing you are collecting data to get to know them? Have you tried data faces? I learned this activity over 27 years ago when I was taking my methods Math class in college. Essentially, you work together with the class to make a set of faces that represent each child in the class. For example, the nose on the class data set may stand for the way a child gets to school. If they come by bus, there nose w

Dr. Jill Dorman

Nov 1, 20251 min read