When I began my "Professional Twitter" journey several months ago, my goal was to gain knowledge. That meant information, PLN members, book suggestions, etc. to help me become the best teacher that I can be. There was one overwhelming book suggestion given to me by many, many people. It even has its own twitter hashtag! I will let you in on the great book, it is called Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess. When I bought it and began reading it, I could not put it down. I suggest this book to any and all teachers, you will not regret it.
There was one section of the book that really stuck with me and make me think. Dave wrote out some of his "professional passion" (what drives us and the reasons why we became teachers). I began thinking "I know I am passionate about teaching, but what is it about teaching that really fuels me?". I was inspired to take the time to write out my own professional passion. I know that some days, especially as a first year teacher, will be overwhelming. Maybe reading over my professional passion will ground me and bring me back to why I am doing what I am doing, that this overwhelming feeling is because I am fulfilling my professional passion and it will all be worth it in the end.
Here we go, my Professional Passion:
I am passionate about service to others. I love doing everything that I can to help anyone in need. In a more narrow focus, I am passionate about helping the future generation and therefore, helping children. Children are our future and our future needs to be a kind and educated one. I am passionate about further developing and maintaining kindness in the hearts of children as well as teaching them their academics. I am passionate about children loving school and loving learning. I want to create a classroom that is a safe haven where my students are listened to and cared for. It is important for me to know that my students feel loved, comfortable, and safe in my classroom. I want my students to think critically, be problem solvers and risk takers. My goal is for my students to feel powerful and passionate about helping others and working towards their own goals in life. I am passionate about helping my students find their goals, passions, and empower them to work towards their purpose. I am dedicated to attending to all of the needs of my students. I refuse to let anyone in my classroom fall behind. I will instill excitement in my students by providing them with an engaging, interesting, and challenging learning experience. I believe in short, engaging, authentic, relatable and flexible instruction with clearly expressed objectives. I want my students to fall in love with the complexity of mathematics, the intrigue of the sciences, the excitement of reading, the creativity of writing, the brilliance of the arts, and the importance of physical education. I will model my own practice of life-long learning and self-improvement so my students can learn to do the same. My classroom will be an empowering place where children will encounter kindness and gain the skills and knowledge they need to be successful.
My passion is fueled when:
There was one section of the book that really stuck with me and make me think. Dave wrote out some of his "professional passion" (what drives us and the reasons why we became teachers). I began thinking "I know I am passionate about teaching, but what is it about teaching that really fuels me?". I was inspired to take the time to write out my own professional passion. I know that some days, especially as a first year teacher, will be overwhelming. Maybe reading over my professional passion will ground me and bring me back to why I am doing what I am doing, that this overwhelming feeling is because I am fulfilling my professional passion and it will all be worth it in the end.
Here we go, my Professional Passion:
I am passionate about service to others. I love doing everything that I can to help anyone in need. In a more narrow focus, I am passionate about helping the future generation and therefore, helping children. Children are our future and our future needs to be a kind and educated one. I am passionate about further developing and maintaining kindness in the hearts of children as well as teaching them their academics. I am passionate about children loving school and loving learning. I want to create a classroom that is a safe haven where my students are listened to and cared for. It is important for me to know that my students feel loved, comfortable, and safe in my classroom. I want my students to think critically, be problem solvers and risk takers. My goal is for my students to feel powerful and passionate about helping others and working towards their own goals in life. I am passionate about helping my students find their goals, passions, and empower them to work towards their purpose. I am dedicated to attending to all of the needs of my students. I refuse to let anyone in my classroom fall behind. I will instill excitement in my students by providing them with an engaging, interesting, and challenging learning experience. I believe in short, engaging, authentic, relatable and flexible instruction with clearly expressed objectives. I want my students to fall in love with the complexity of mathematics, the intrigue of the sciences, the excitement of reading, the creativity of writing, the brilliance of the arts, and the importance of physical education. I will model my own practice of life-long learning and self-improvement so my students can learn to do the same. My classroom will be an empowering place where children will encounter kindness and gain the skills and knowledge they need to be successful.
My passion is fueled when:
- I see young people creating and thinking.
- I hear children helping and supporting one another.
- I watch and listen to a child overcome a struggle.
- I see a twinkle in my students' eyes when I relay exciting, new information.
- I see that lightblub go off in a child's mind.
- I hear questioning and intense discussion occurring.