I loved this chapter, I really did. I loved it because it was not just about passion, but about sharing the passion. Chapter 8 wonderfully explained how important passion was in daily life, but Chapter 9 beautifully embodied living the passion. How do I make others feel as passionate about a subject as I do?
Passion is the name of my game. Not the uncomfortable behind closed doors kind of passion. But the giddy jump out of your skin excited kind of passion. My students laugh at me. They do. I get excited about EVERYTHING. Ok, not everything, but most things. My students love to watch me light up about the new box of pencils I bought that are pre-sharpened, or the great new article I found for us to read. They love my excitement about books, and how I could almost burst out of my skin when I teach them to use podcasts. They love the way I jump up and down when nobody is absent or everyone made it to class on time. I am probably the only person in their lives who sends them the message that every minute fraction of their education is important and valuable and exciting to me.
The reason they love my
passion is because it's infectious. As I get excited, so do they. My educational mission is for kids to not be able to stop talking about my class...in a positive way of course. I love when teachers or other students come to me and ask me what's going on in my class that my kids are so excited about. I love when my students come into the classroom eager to learn. Or when they comment on how my excitement makes them excited.I am proud to light the spark, spread the possibility, infect others with the passion. Kids don't get excited about workbook pages and story maps. So I don't do them. Call me crazy. It takes a lot of work to teach the skills in an exciting, engaging way. But I press on with the hope that others will join me. And one day, every classroom will be filled with passion, and so many will be lighting sparks that we'll have a wildfire of possibility in our schools.
Lindsay, I can really relate here to the teacher you're trying to be. "Sharing the passion" is something I try to do daily, and I am known among my students for my tendency to jump up and down when I'm excited or need their attention. I co-teach a lot, and "sharing the passion" is what I find hardest about co-teaching. I am really able to get excited and into a topic when I'm on my own with the kids, but most of the time its harder for me when another adult is in the room. Its like a whole different realm of self-consciousness opens up, and I'm worried about looking silly, what that person might be thinking, or the judgement they may be casting. This probably comes from negative experiences - if that adult doesn't buy in to what's going on and rolls their eyes instead of sharing the excitement, everything will go downhill.
ReplyDeleteSince I have an assistant teacher almost all the time, there are certain things that I specifically save for days when I'm alone (because I've sent that teacher out with another student, because they're absent, etc.). I also can act differently with some teachers than others, and have learned what will and won't work. I don't mean to stray from the Zander's central message, but as I think about how to apply a lot of these truths to my teaching, I recognize more and more that the adult dynamic within my classroom is the most prohibiting factor I have.