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Hodl basically means holding on to a particular Cryptocurrency despite its price dipping. HODL is referred by some as Hold On for Dear Life. The concept is fairly simple, don't sell out of fear despite the price fluctuations, hold on and eventually it will come back up, for some coins at least.
I have been hearing people yelling HODL recently with the dip in the Cryptocurrency market and in many ways, found much similarities between HODLing and teaching. For starters, students are a volatile bunch. No, not volatile to the extent that they will suddenly explode sending debris in every direction, but that the classroom situation is an every changing landscape.
The Volatility
Most who have invested in Cryptocurrency know that it can shoot to the moon one day and drop to the earth the next. In general, the price fluctuation can be rather scary. However, holding on and being patient will eventually lead to great rewards. It takes time, but it is worth the wait.
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The same goes for teaching, to a certain extent. The volatility of my classroom comes from this other life that teenagers have. Underneath the surface and what is seen in the classroom, there lurks relationship conflicts and of course family issues that are never really dealt with. I had a student once breaking down in the classroom after I asked if she is alright. I found out later that her family was going through a difficult divorce. That has affected her in her studies as well as her life.
It does not help that with each passing year, students are expected to do more tasks and complete more projects as ordered by the powers that be. It can be daunting for the teacher to study, plan and chart an entire semester filled with never-ending challenges. The same goes for Cryptocurrency, have you seen the list? Coinmarketcap shows about 1398 coins. The amount of studying, planning and charting one's investment strategy is a very daunting task.
So in such situations, there are not many things that a teacher can do. Although, what a teacher can do in volatile classrooms is similar to what can be done with Cryptocurrency.
The strategy
Well, I am a newbie and am by no means an expert in Cryptocurrency, but one strategy that I use in the classroom and in choosing the right Cryptocurrency is by working from the bottom up. If the top ten Cryptocurrencies represent the best students in the class and the bottom few represent the ones who are not performing, then they are the ones that need help.
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My strategy in the classroom would be to help them, guide them and hopefully improve their results. My goal is for these students to have similar results as my average students. With that, I can conduct activities that cater to a larger group. It takes time, but it will pay off eventually.
Similarly, with research and reading, there will be one or two new coins that are not high up in the rankings. These are the coins with the best potential. Some of the coins have great projects and a good community behind them. Of course, the price needs to be right as well. When these coins do eventually perform well, the profit would help in getting into other coins or just storing their value up in more stable coins.
Having faith
While that strategy in teaching and Cryptocurrency has worked thus far, one thing that normally would derail the plan is doubt. When a particular coin nosedives or when a large portion of the class performs badly, there is this feeling that comes. The feeling of anxiousness, fear of losing out and doubt. When that feeling comes, there is this urge to perhaps push the students harder or perhaps to sell off an ill-performing coin.
While those seem like great ideas at that time, it is always important to have faith. It is important to believe that what you have done is enough to see the students through. The practice and preparation is more than sufficient for the students, with time, they will eventually improve. Just like the current cryptocurrency market. With time, the sea of red will turn to green and the market will recover. However, before that time comes, we must...
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