Since my presentation on the eduConference of eduFire.com about “Turning Teachers into Rockstars” I have been thinking about this picture. The more I thought about it, the more I found out that this is indeed a very good picture of what an online teaching carreer might look like.
So I decided to make a “documentary” about this. It will consist of three parts and we will follow a teacher Rockstar and his music making brother on their way to the top.
First Episode: The Early Years
Like every Rockstar, our teacher starts at home. Let’s call him Jake. Not in the garage like his music making brother, who we call Axl (sorry, can’t help it) but probably in the living room. Jake is in his teen-age years and a bit smarter than his school friends. He though starts explaining them topics in school, they don’t understand, helps them after school for free because they are his friends. They really love it and start to understand what he explains to them. This is the moment where he finds out that he has a passion and maybe even a gift for teaching. Axl has the same moment in the garage, playing “his first real six-string”.
Time goes by and both brothers stick by their passions. It comes to the moment when Axl wants to get out of the garage and play in front of some new guys. So he is preparing for his first gig. Maybe on a college ball, maybe on a birthday party. There he will find out that other people than his friends, who listened to him in the garage all the time, love his music, too! This is the time he decides to become a professional.
Jake maybe teaches somebody he did not know before for the first time because a friend of him recommended Jake to one of his friends. And then it goes on, more and more people contact Jake who never met before because his friends are recommending him to others. Jake now knows that he really can teach and it may be the right profession for him.
And maybe both of our brothers earn some money for the first time with what they are doing. Axl gets some cash for his gigs and Jake gets payed by the parents of the students he teaches. Now they both know, there is also money in the game!
They will start to advertise locally for themselves. On blackboards, in the local newspaper and they will become “local celebrities” in their small town. But after a while, they want more. Get out of the little town and see the world. They just don’t know how. This is the time when they meet their first manager.
More about Jake and Axl on their way to the top in the next episode. Stay tuned!
