I am mildly obsessed with instituting business practices in the world of teaching- or what I would call, "incentivizing" the profession. After teaching for more than 10 years of teaching I've come to the following conclusion about the practice; there are virtually no financial incentives to becoming a better teacher. Zippo. When I look at making more money I'm surrounded by few prospects. I could 1) Coach a sport- every day after school for 2 hours ( or more). I know a lot of great coaches, and a lot of great teachers who coach. But there is no possible way that coaching doesn't come at the cost of teaching. 2) Become an administrator- In other words, get out of teaching. 3) Get Nationally Board Certified or get some more post graduate credits- although I'm not really convinced that will make me a better teacher- it will get me some extra money. 4) Do some other non-teaching related activies.

What I really need is some incentive to work harder, or work more efficiently than I already do, in the profession I view (its why I signed up for it afterall) as one of the most important there is, teaching. I need some incentive to look hard at my practice, to think about how I do it and why I do it, and make the changes needed to get better. What I really need is somebody to say, "if you do this, or if you reach this goal, I will give you more money. But when you look around, there's not many incentives to do that. That's not to say I don't work hard. But when 4pm roles around, I'd rather be with my family than spend time at work if my family is not going to get anything out of it (ie: a nice vacation). That's why I love reflections like this over on InterAct in California.

If anyone is out there who can help me reach my goal- please contact me (insert silent prayer here).