Passion by Hannah

Passion by Hannah - January 2015 Scholarship Essay

"Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you." –Oprah.

These days there are plenty of distractions in the world, even ones you can access in the classroom. Now teachers have more distractions then students passing notes or whispering which they can easily notice and end. With phones people can access the World Wide Web, stay in contact with their friends, anything and somehow teachers need to keep their attention. How does someone compete with a phone?

Passion. You need to love teaching. They say you should do what you love and you’ll never work a day in the life, but if you don’t like teaching, aren't passionate about it, you shouldn't teach. Then you’re just dragging yourself to work, forcing yourself through a lesson, the whole day feels like a boring waste, and if that the energy you give off, that’s the energy your students will take away. If you’re passionate about what you’re doing then you are energized and excited to teach, and your students will be excited to learn. Instead of looking down in their lap, they’ll be watching you to see what you do next. Maybe you’ll crazily write a student’s idea on the board out of excitement from their understanding, or maybe your crazy arm gestures in an attempt to quantify the excitement of a scene in Romeo and Juliet send the book flying across the room. Maybe merely your excitement and passion you have will create an excitement which will draw your students in.

A teacher’s job is to teach, but it also entails getting your students to learn. In a world of so many distractions there are few ways to keep their attention, but when you’re passionate about what you’re doing, you will have more energy then a phone battery ever could.