Over the years, I’ve observed thousands of children in music.
Their inventiveness always amazed me.
Their succinctness always humored me.
And their kindness always humbled me.
I’ve watched my share of the teaching species, especially “musica magister” – music teachers.
And I’ve had more than a passing interest in the market.
They say the stock market is driven by two basic human elements - fear & greed. Fear during a bear market and greed during a bull market. Two sides of the same coin.
Teaching is a little bit like that.
Teachers can be predicted to be driven by a similar coin.
The concepts of fear and greed might be motivators to some educators but I would employ gentler terms like “insecurities” and “endorsements”.
(Side bar: When neither of those motivators are present, the result is often “autopilot” and we've all known teachers who are stuck on that setting.
The autopilot skill-set never changes, the mindset never changes, and they go with the flavor of the week as presented at professional development sessions. They stay true to the school’s academic path, say “Hail, Caesar!” in their sleep, and rarely if ever deviate from that dance step.)
When things are going well in a teacher's career, they find themselves getting endorsements from many who come in contact with them: principals, their peers, kids, parents, all smile when the teacher shows up. They are pro-active.
They have momentum in their work and the wind is at their back. They may or may not be improving their skill set but sometimes that doesn't matter when you have momentum because momentum alone will take you very far.
Get enough endorsements and you might move onto the “bonus round” and get an award or two. More often than not, an award consists of a certificate, a photo op ceremony, and an “atta boy!” or “atta girl!”
Once in a great while, an award comes with a monetary prize which, when pro-rated against the 7.5 job hours as well as the hours spent over and above the 7.5 hours, amounts to pennies on the dollar. The unwritten understanding is that you plow any award monies back into your classroom. So, to paraphrase Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi “No money for you!”
Of course, once teachers with endorsements leave the environs of the school, the wind that was at their back suddenly disappears.
Once they are standing alone in the school parking lot, their sails collapse and their fate is at the mercies of the tides.
And then there are the insecure teachers.
Insecure teachers are on the outside looking at teachers with endorsements and wondering “Why them and not me?”
They have no momentum. They are tentative. They always sense that the principal is looking at them with a stern side eye. They find it hard to get kids to buy into their classes and lesson plans. Classroom management is a struggle.
They dutifully say in a metaphorical way that they “cross all their ‘T’s and dot their ‘I”s” but oddly never manage to do much that requires crossing or dotting anything of significant merit.
Risk aversion is always in the subtext of their professional decisions. Better to not rock the boat. They don’t think “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”. For them it’s “Nothing ventured, nothing lost”.
The imperative thing to realize here is that neither the teacher with endorsements nor the teacher with insecurities sees any rise or fall in their salary based on their 7.5 hour job performance.
Their 7.5 hour income rarely changes, it never blinks. It's like the Sphinx.
The monetary intake from a teacher’s 7.5 hour job moves like a glacier and withstands the sands of time. Eventually, some of the teachers with endorsements start to realize that endorsements won't buy a cup of coffee at Wawa.
With a little bit of analysis, it’s easy to see that the endorsement has the same effect as a nice warm bath. You feel good inside, it's relaxing, and you feel better for going through the experience.
My suggestion: if you want that good, warm, cozy, relaxed feeling, opt for the warm bath.
Taking an endorsement to the next level is going to require some hard work and planning.
I resist the cliché “At the end of the day . . .” because the more compelling phrase is “At the end of the career . . .”.
At the end of your career, as the teacher with oodles of endorsements turns in their keys at the front desk and checks out from their 7.5 hour room, they will be leaving with a wallet very similar to the teacher who has spent a career coasting on their insecurities.
Question: So what is the teacher with a growing portfolio of 7.5 hour job endorsements to do?
Answer: Parley those endorsements into monetary gains in their 16.5 hour businesses.
Yes.
Pleural.
Businesses.
Their inventiveness always amazed me.
Their succinctness always humored me.
And their kindness always humbled me.
I’ve watched my share of the teaching species, especially “musica magister” – music teachers.
And I’ve had more than a passing interest in the market.
They say the stock market is driven by two basic human elements - fear & greed. Fear during a bear market and greed during a bull market. Two sides of the same coin.
Teaching is a little bit like that.
Teachers can be predicted to be driven by a similar coin.
The concepts of fear and greed might be motivators to some educators but I would employ gentler terms like “insecurities” and “endorsements”.
(Side bar: When neither of those motivators are present, the result is often “autopilot” and we've all known teachers who are stuck on that setting.
The autopilot skill-set never changes, the mindset never changes, and they go with the flavor of the week as presented at professional development sessions. They stay true to the school’s academic path, say “Hail, Caesar!” in their sleep, and rarely if ever deviate from that dance step.)
When things are going well in a teacher's career, they find themselves getting endorsements from many who come in contact with them: principals, their peers, kids, parents, all smile when the teacher shows up. They are pro-active.
They have momentum in their work and the wind is at their back. They may or may not be improving their skill set but sometimes that doesn't matter when you have momentum because momentum alone will take you very far.
Get enough endorsements and you might move onto the “bonus round” and get an award or two. More often than not, an award consists of a certificate, a photo op ceremony, and an “atta boy!” or “atta girl!”
Once in a great while, an award comes with a monetary prize which, when pro-rated against the 7.5 job hours as well as the hours spent over and above the 7.5 hours, amounts to pennies on the dollar. The unwritten understanding is that you plow any award monies back into your classroom. So, to paraphrase Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi “No money for you!”
Of course, once teachers with endorsements leave the environs of the school, the wind that was at their back suddenly disappears.
Once they are standing alone in the school parking lot, their sails collapse and their fate is at the mercies of the tides.
And then there are the insecure teachers.
Insecure teachers are on the outside looking at teachers with endorsements and wondering “Why them and not me?”
They have no momentum. They are tentative. They always sense that the principal is looking at them with a stern side eye. They find it hard to get kids to buy into their classes and lesson plans. Classroom management is a struggle.
They dutifully say in a metaphorical way that they “cross all their ‘T’s and dot their ‘I”s” but oddly never manage to do much that requires crossing or dotting anything of significant merit.
Risk aversion is always in the subtext of their professional decisions. Better to not rock the boat. They don’t think “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”. For them it’s “Nothing ventured, nothing lost”.
The imperative thing to realize here is that neither the teacher with endorsements nor the teacher with insecurities sees any rise or fall in their salary based on their 7.5 hour job performance.
Their 7.5 hour income rarely changes, it never blinks. It's like the Sphinx.
The monetary intake from a teacher’s 7.5 hour job moves like a glacier and withstands the sands of time. Eventually, some of the teachers with endorsements start to realize that endorsements won't buy a cup of coffee at Wawa.
With a little bit of analysis, it’s easy to see that the endorsement has the same effect as a nice warm bath. You feel good inside, it's relaxing, and you feel better for going through the experience.
My suggestion: if you want that good, warm, cozy, relaxed feeling, opt for the warm bath.
Taking an endorsement to the next level is going to require some hard work and planning.
I resist the cliché “At the end of the day . . .” because the more compelling phrase is “At the end of the career . . .”.
At the end of your career, as the teacher with oodles of endorsements turns in their keys at the front desk and checks out from their 7.5 hour room, they will be leaving with a wallet very similar to the teacher who has spent a career coasting on their insecurities.
Question: So what is the teacher with a growing portfolio of 7.5 hour job endorsements to do?
Answer: Parley those endorsements into monetary gains in their 16.5 hour businesses.
Yes.
Pleural.
Businesses.
RSS Feed