Joel has been teaching band in Texas since the fall of 2002. He is currently teaching 6th grade beginning band and is in his 9th year as a teacher. His blog So You Want To Teach? was initially started in the spring of 2007 as an attempt for him to organize his thoughts on how to be a better teacher. It has since become a unique voice of encouragement and hope to struggling teachers on the Education Blog landscape.

Inspire Your Students By Inspiring Their Teacher

** DISCLAIMER **   This guest article comes to you by way of an elective teacher. Presumably Angela couldn’t find a “real teacher” to write today, so you’re stuck with me. But fear not, the series will continue tomorrow
when a qualified educator can be found.

Few words will incite controversy in the educational world like the
word passion does. As a musician this hurts, because the technical and aesthetic elements are so crucially intertwined in all that I do. Music that is devoid of emotion is flat and lifeless. Music that is is technically deficient does not inspire a solitary soul.

Passion separates the good, the bad, and the ugly
Stop for a moment and imagine the most uninspired musical performance ever. Though not everyone has a solid arts education (such a tragedy if you grew up in the developed world, too), we can all recognize great performances. When I was in college, I was hired to play in the orchestra for the musical at Kelly Clarkson’s high school where she was a senior. Everyone who saw the performance was amazed by her talent.

So what’s the difference between that performance and this one?

The difference here is primarily one of technical skill. Kelly sings better than the second example. But there’s something more. Something you can’t put your finger on. That something is what I’m going to define as passion. Passion in the context of great teaching It goes beyond simply having a strong emotional bond with the students or the subject matter we teach or whatever. The Latin root of passion is actually patior, which means to suffer or endure. With that in mind, passion in the transcendent, great educator sense of the word combines that deep-seated emotional connection with a little bit of anguish of heart. Passion leads you to be the best teacher in the world One of my early moments of revelation was when I came across Seth Godin‘s writings (specifically his book “The Dip”, which I addressed in 9 Reasons To Quit Teaching (And 10 Reasons To Stick) on my blog). In an interview Guy Kawasaki did with Seth, he writes:

Mastery is an addiction. Most people never master anything and never experience the thrill of being on the other side of the Dip. As a result, they don’t seek out new opportunities for mastery. I hope that as parents, we can do a better job of teaching kids this habit.

As for being “best in the world,” it doesn’t have to mean you play like Joshua Bell. The world can be whatever world your market chooses from. The best acupuncturist in town or the best $45 shoes ever made.

Of course there’s room for passion—for doing stuff because you love it. I hope that my book doesn’t dissuade a single person from playing the violin for love. But my book is about investment and effort, in doing things not just for the pleasure of doing them but because you expect something in return.

So clearly being the best in the world doesn’t mean the best on Earth, but rather the best you that you can be. Passion is what leads us to being the best. A teacher who lacks passion will be a teacher who races the buses out of the parking lot and shows up each day to collect a paycheck rather than to inspire students.

Passion keeps you healthy
Stress is one of the major factors in teacher burnout. Too much paperwork, too many expectations, too many deadlines, too many angry parents, lazy students. All of these problems will seem minuscule in light of the fact that you FLAT OUT LOVE YOUR JOB.

Passion reduces the number of parents conferences
Students like teachers who love their subject matter. Think back to that one weird teacher you had in middle school or high school who just totally loved the most random things. In middle school alone I had a Texas History teacher, a science teacher, a math teacher, and a band director who just totally loved their subject. Their passion was contagious.

“Well, I don’t think algebra is really all that exciting, but he does so I must be missing something.”

You remember that teacher, right? Be that teacher!

But wait, how does this keep the parents away?
Check it out, when the kids see that you love teaching what you’re teaching, they will be more engaged in the class. When they’re more engaged, there are far less off-task behavioral problems. Behavior problems (both student behavior problems and out-of-control teachers) are the primary cause for parent conferences. When you aren’t burned out and when your students remain engaged in class, you stay out of the principal’s office more. And who can’t be passionate about that!?!

Connect with Joel on Twitter @sywtt

Photo on Flickr by Grzegorz

We are tweeting nuggets of the conversation using the hashtag #passiondriven