Passion

A teacher's excitement about a subject plays a great role within a class's response to what they are learning. My favorite subject, aside from music, has by and large always been social studies. My history classes growing up were never boring nor did I ever struggle with relating to what we were learning about. I owe this to the teacher I had that instilled a passion for history in me. They didn't make this subject learning about a distant past, but about lives that are relatable and relevant to those we live out today. Had this enthusiasm and passion been lacking, I am quite positive I would not have enjoyed learning about dead people or memorizing dates and events anywhere near as much as I did. To me, it wasn't a simple memorization game, but the lasting influences and how events played out to effect how we live today.

On another note, I have never been especially keen on the science. No matter how passionate a teacher was about electrons, amino acids, or acceleration caused by gravity, I hated science. Although their passion may not have caused me to drop my flute and pick up a beaker, it did make heading to the lab a little less intimidating. Their love for science made it a little less hated in my eyes. If they could tolerate it, so could I, as their enthusiasm made this seemingly intolerable subject somewhat fun. Be it forcing a child to take a second look at a dreaded subject or encouraging a love for learning, a teacher's passion for their subject can have drastic influences upon their students.