Times like this I realise my voice just isn't up to it. Eight days after the death cold began, I am still coughing and spluttering and struggling to read a whole story to the kids. So easy to damage your voice... Pretty sure I already have.
My principal is lining up an appointment with an EQ staffing officer for me tomorrow - so I can talk about going permanent if I want to. Not sure I want to. She's happy to keep me on contracts.
So what will my next career involve? Not sure I can do that much but teach. And teaching is lucrative and easy and fun. Working for a church would be heaps harder. Children's minister. Now, there's a bad job. Admin, admin, admin, admin, admin, child safe, blue cards, FORMS. Nope.
Full time christian song writer. No. I'd be driven to madness. (And I'm not good enough.)
Here's an idea. I'd like a job as an ideas person. You come to me with a situation - something not working quite right, you need a new approach, a new employee, new model for business, a new employer, a new church - and I'll come up with an idea to make things better. I'll describe the outcome you want in some detail and tell you what to do to get there. I like doing this. I'd like doing it even more if there was money attached. Anyone want to employ me?
That's called a life coach. I knew one once. He got paid for it.
ReplyDeleteIt is so easy to damage your voice teaching - I did it in my first year! Needed multiple visits to a speechie and dealing with Workcover. EdQld needs to recognise that a teachers voice is their primary asset and help them to look after it better. For one I think teachers need to be allocated more sick days in total in a year so that teachers are coming to work when they are sick with colds etc. that compromise their voice (eg. The NZ government gives their kindy teachers 20 days sick leave per year as they recognise that being around little snotty nosed kids all the time means that teachers are probably going to get sick more often)
ReplyDeleteNot a life coach. No way.
ReplyDeleteIt is easy enough to damage your voice as a parent, let alone a teacher, especially a music teacher when you have more noise than the usual classroom!
ReplyDeleteAs for another career? What about distance ed - they don't use their voices as much.
"I'd like a job as an ideas person..."
ReplyDeleteActually not so much a life coach as a management consultant. Lots of people make their living that way and it can be quite lucrative.
Possibly a writer or author is your calling Simone. Then you have the benefit of not even needing someone else's situation, you can just write your ideas and get paid for them.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Mark - you need to write that book Simone!
ReplyDeleteIan goes to a speech and drama teacher down here and in Mackay he saw a speech pathologist.
ReplyDeleteYou may also benefit from reading, "I could do anything, If only I knew what it was" by Barbara Sher.
OOOohhh be very careful with your voice :)
ReplyDelete