Thank you Mary for this reminder of how important it is for students to develop their passions!

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First of all, I want to thank Angela for the opportunity to contribute to her blog. I am always energized by her passion for learning and for engaging teachers in helping unlock passions in themselves and their students.

As I was completing a short biographical video for Will Deyamport’s Peoplegogy blog I realized that part of what guided me toward being a member of such inspiring niche of learners is that I was blessed with having been educated as a child rather than schooled. I had never really thought of the difference before, but as I reflect back on my own childhood and my own educational experiences (which were, at times, very non-traditional) I understand that I was exposed to more than reading, writing and ‘rithmetics. In fact, for two months during my senior year of high school I only went to school once a week and spent the rest of the week working at an internship in NYC. As a child, the elementary school I attended engaged me in year-long projects based around my own interests. I was taught, no–more like guided, toward becoming an independent learner. I was given a chance to explore my own passions and interests. I had the opportunity to be truly educated rather than going through the motions of being ‘schooled.’

When I sit back and reflect on the learning experiences that most students have both in the schools that I have taught in and the schools I attended later in my childhood, I don’t often see students fostering passions or getting a chance to explore their interests in a real-life way. Too often, students go through the motions, not really sure of why they are learning what they are learning. Curricula are often fragmented and take a piecemeal approach based on ‘eligible content’ (i.e. what’s on the Test) rather than students’ own interests or passions. The end result–students leave School without any direction or idea of what their interests are or how to guide their own learning and passions.

This is why it is imperative that we, as teachers and adults in children’s lives, make a point of guiding students toward finding their passions, exploring what interests them. Even if we are stuck within a system that is narrow-minded or highly structured, we can take steps to share our passions with students and model for them what it looks like to explore your interests. As Jeff Zoul stated in his guest post here on Angela’s blog, we need to “Teach With Passion.”

For more on finding your Passion, I suggest Ken Robinson’s The Element. If you want to read about non-fragmented teaching, check out David Perkins’ Making Learning Whole.

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Mary Beth Hertz is an Elementary Technology Teacher and Instructional Technology Specialist in Philadelphia, PA. She is a co-founder of edcamp Philly, a co-moderator for #edchat and blogs at her Philly Teacher blog, for Edutopia, The Co-operative Catalyst as well as other places. She can be found on Twitter as @mbteach.

iBio: Mary Beth Hertz