It was about the time I thought I needed a change in my first business that I found Primerica and started to build my second business. I would describe this business as a financial education one, educating families on financial literacy in the comforts of their own home, or virtually, in these days. This was, and still is, a difficult business to run due to many factors.
For starters, like the traditional scientist, the image of a person that does finances is someone who is White, male, and older in age. I do not have any of these attributes and thus as a young adult, I found it very difficult to find families to talk to. This is a free service and thus there is nothing that the families could lose, but still my other business partners who fit the bill of a financial educator have no problems with trust. I think this experience really allowed me to work with older learners who I would have never had a chance to in a school setting. Since adults have ideas and biases which they conceived throughout their years of living in society, it is very difficult to treat them as blank slates and have them trust you off the bat. I really enjoyed this challenge though as I know if I can earn their trust, I can earn any student's trust, which is so crucial in the classroom. Students with IEPs can often be misunderstood, just like those who live in neighbourhoods that are not are fortunate often carry around a stigma that is hard to shake off. Even families living in affluent neighbourhoods with prestigious cars, driveways, and gardens, many are living paycheck to paycheck and their spending habits come more from just the status quo of the neighbourhood. The first step to building trust is to show vulnerability and relate to the individual. This will boost some likeability ratings with your student so that teachers are not seen as someone unreachable and are humans who have human emotions. However, with the families that I work with, it's very difficult to relate to them since I do not own my own house, nor do I have children to provide for, and bills to pay. I also find it difficult to show vulnerability since I am already disadvantaged when it comes to the financial world in terms of my race, sex, and age that I should not demonstrate more uncertainty in this field to the families. Instead, how I try to gain trust is by sharing information about myself, from my accomplishments, to my travels, to how I got involved. Since I have a diverse background in many fields, careers, and stories, I always find there is at least one event that is common to the families that I am talking with and this is how we start building trust. Just like in a school setting, not every student will respond to my attempts at rapport building but it is important to think of new ways to engage the students. I believe that hard work will lead to results, and eventually, a community can be built. For some, it just might take time to get to know someone, and only time, not anything else will get them to trust and open up to you. This parallels Allison Bailey, the business and French teacher from DSSS with 11 years of teaching experience who often tries to find ways to create the "noisy classroom." Friends and social networking are so important to everyone and it's our bodies' natural desire to connect on a social level with another person. In fact, social media sites rely on this desire for their successes and popularity. As awesome as ZOOM is, it cannot replace that intimacy factor which we so need as students. Thus, focusing on the student, perhaps going off on a tangent to allow relationships to be developed is as important in a classroom as delivering content.
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AuthorHi! Thanks for taking the time to read about my journey. I hope you can take something from my experiences and share yours in return. Don't be shy! Archives
September 2021
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