Teaching affords me the privilege to dig deep and fortify relational bonds with young bonds. My impact can range from the quotidian (e.g., getting a student to capitalise and punctuate his sentences) to the life-changing moments (e.g., students confide in me when they have miscarriages or are diagnosed with cancer).

This is the kind of impact that I’m happy I’m achieving, for doesn’t every bright-eyed and wonderfully naive teacher join the profession, guided by the desire to make a difference? I’m heartened that the Universe aligns all the stars such that I can make an indelible impact in these individuals’ lives. Cast-iron impact, so to speak. I have some particularly loyal ones who like almost every photo on my social media; I’m not kidding.

I do enjoy making a significant difference in the lives of some students. However, it seems that the more experience you gain, the higher up the corporate ladder you must climb. Now that I’m a father of two and need to enhance my earning potential, I have to shift my thinking from cast-iron impact to canopy impact. This means advancing to either a managerial or mentoring role so that my work influences systems more than individuals. Improving the processes to level up the competencies of novice teachers is one such example. Make an impact on more people essentially.

I guess developing relationships with receptive and intelligent adults can be rewarding in its own way. But it isn’t something that fire my loins, to be honest. Teaching children and teenagers is fun, and fun is ranked among the top for both my personal and professional values. I doubt if I can derive fun from mentoring and coaching young teachers. Even if they happen to be earnest and have effervescent personalities, I will still need to stick to protocols when it comes to evaluating their lessons. I don’t see how I can become satisfied when I need to channel best practices from the system.

In recent years, I have thought I would want to be a senior teacher. But, if I take a long hard look at myself, I just want more money. I don’t think I will extract much meaning from being a senior teacher.

So, what are the itches that I need to scratch? Writing is one; that’s why you see me posting here, day in day out. Travelling is another. Back when it was a simpler world, I used to use Couchsurfing quite often. I hosted travellers and stayed at locals’ homes in equal measure. I absolutely adored getting to know new people and finding out what makes them tick. Alas, my travelling days are gone because I have two kids. Even if I travel with them, I will be unlikely to make friends with people from other countries, given that their choice destinations are toy shops and theme parks. 😂

In a nutshell, I need to think about creating canopy impact through my dual passions of writing and travelling - without leaving my full-time job as a teacher. Being in my early 40s, I do feel a need to evolve from the cast-iron impact that I know I’m capable to creating. Just what else am I capable of?

The road ahead of me is murky, but at least I have defined the problem for myself. Thanks for reading.