**ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 2016**
Bank products, bonds, stocks, retirement fund, investment funds, annuities, commodity futures etc... There are many types of investment options out there when looking to make a buck. So many, that most people hire someone to tell them how they should invest their money. Why is this so important? When I searched "investment" in google this result came up: "In an economic sense, an investment is the purchase of goods that are not consumed today but are used in the future to create wealth. In finance, an investment is a monetary asset purchased with the idea that the asset will provide income in the future or will be sold at a higher price for a profit." I think this clearly answers the question of why we pay other people to tell us how to spend our money. The goal of an investment is "that the asset will provide income in the future or will be sold at a higher price for a profit." When making an investment there is always a risk for a loss. You are probably familiar with the saying, "The greater the risk, the greater the reward." In the same way, the greater the risk, the greater the potential for loss. As educators we are always making investments. The question I want to pose is, what kind of investment are you making? This is my 7th year teaching and my first year (since my first year teaching) that I am not coaching any sport. I thought that I would have so much more free time, but it hasn't seemed to work out that way. First I was very frustrated by this. Then, I started to think about why this is the case. Here is what I found.
What I didn't mention is that I am still tired. I still feel discouraged at times. I still have moments when I fly by the seat of my pants and fail miserably. When my focus is on the negative, I start to question the investment I'm making. Is it really worth it? Am I investing wisely? Is the risk too big? Yes. Maybe. No. Yes, the investment is really worth it. I may be investing wisely. It is something I can continue to evaluate. No, the risk is not too big. We make investments in student lives. The potential return on investment is ALWAYS worth the potential loss.
I haven't often been able to see my return on investment. This summer though, I received an email that I will treasure forever. This email is from a student who was in my class my first year of teaching. He was a difficult student in class. He often showed up late, walked out of class and was off task too many times to count. I invested many hours in this student. I even created a behavior tracking sheet just for him. At the end of the year not much had changed. He emailed me this summer and I received it when I returned to work in August. I replied immediately and received this response: "I am so happy you answered, for some reason I thought you weren't going to. You still have a behavior system with me on it? Lord I don't know if that's good or bad, we both know I was a horrible student. I see you actually enjoy your career, I want to thank you for not giving up on kids like me. It is because of teachers like you that some people decide to change the course they're on. I know it was the reason why I did, and I thank you for that. I went to Sharpstown high school for all 4 years and graduated top 15% of my class with a 3.65 GPA. Became commander for my JROTC unit for 2 years and brought home three 3rd place trophies and a 1st place for my district. After high school I enlisted in the U.S. Army." You see, the investment is always worth it. In an educational sense, an investment is giving up something you value for the sake of another's success. An investment is made with the hope that the person you are investing in does not leave your class in just the same way they entered. I challenge you to consider what kind of investments you are making at work. I also would like to encourage you to continue to make those investments. You may be the only person that believes in "that" student. Keep believing. Keep investing.
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Regan RayI have a lot of thoughts so I decided to put them all here. Archives
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