How Teachers Can Be More Relevant in their Community

Being a double professional is possible. It only needs discipline.

Everyone is a teacher.

Are you one?

Not everyone specialises in the teaching profession, only a few.

Countries have different policies about how the teaching circle revolves.

While many countries want teachers to be pure professionals, others give allowance for anyone, yes anybody, to teach professionally, with or without an educational degree.

Despite education being the “mother” of all professions, teachers aren’t getting enough rewards. They get meagre pay, unrespected opinion and low socioeconomic identity.

However, teachers have the potential to make more impact and earn more. They’re just too busy moulding minds.

You’re a teacher wanting to fight the scourge, here’s how to raise your income, impact and influence.

1. Change your mindset

Thinking you’re nothing but a teacher is wrong.

Is there a course called “education” alone or it has a bias?

Educational management, Physics education, Educational technology, English education, Instructional design are but a few.

Those that study these courses are double professionals, an educationist and a technologist in the case of an educational technology graduate.

Nothing should stop you from intensifying your professionalism in both fields.

If you study English Education, you can position yourself as a -Teacher and English Professional. Same goes for other professionals who find themselves in the teaching profession.

Change the mindset of olds.

2. Manage your time

As if the stress of talking all day isn’t enough, teachers mark tests, design their classrooms, write lesson notes and are also expected to show up at work, hale and hearty to impact knowledge the next day.

Teachers hardly have time. Especially the female counterparts.

It’ll be difficult to flag your double professionalism if you’re not a good time manager.

Plan your time by the minutes. Know when to say no and allocate your task strictly so that your main school work doesn’t override your side hustle.

One hour of focused work in a day will amount to 7 hours in a week. Multiply for a month.

3. Outline your steps

Your journey to success as a double professional will be thorny.

The reason is that you’re pulling two poles at a time — Teaching implies moulding the human mind.

It’s delicate.

And it’s difficult to merge with unaligned hustle roadmap like providing accounting services to small and medium enterprises.

But you’ll be successful if you outline your steps to success. Include milestones and deliverables with realistic timelines.

4. Launch your course

What are you waiting for? Launch into the realm of impact. Asking for permission and waiting for people to approve your course is a thief of your precious time.

That won’t do you any good.

Research ways to launch into the realm.

Start and put your heart to it.

5. Always think the end goal

What motivates you to push forward when the going gets tough?

Is it your mother’s words or your belief that the path is of success?

Don’t let the journey discourage you — cos it will, since the destination fuel your first step, let it motivate other steps.

Having the end goal in mind will help you reach for gold even when all walls fall.

6. Evaluate your process

It is important you review your process map as you’re making an impact.

Dealing with people can be difficult, particularly when resources and time are limited.

Taking a constant look at your steps towards achieving a particular task and making adjustments when needed will fast track your feats.

To become a relevant person in the community, you only have to contribute towards bettering people’s lives. The easiest way to this is to have a course you promote. And push with the listed points.

Published originally on TSI medium page