Find passion. You have got to do what you love. To be happy in your career, you have to want to get up every day and do it. I have always said it is like "being on a mission from God." Teaching for me has been like breathing- a natural thing to do.


When I was in the third grade, we put on a play and I was the "director". A new kid came in, and was a class clown. I was not going to let him or anyone mess up our production, and literally pinned him against the wall and made him believe that he had to either straighten up or get out. When I went back for my 30th high school reunion, the same guy was there. His welcoming words were, "God damn, you were the smartest girl I ever met. I will never forget when I was came into third grade and you put me in place and wouldn't let me mess up the play." I was embarrassed because I had forgotten the incident, and I didn't like being remembered as a bully, but when I was teaching others how to do something, I really meant business, even as a little kid. Amazingly, he respected me 3o years after the incident, instead of hating me for it. We were friends throughout the rest of school. People can respect you for your passion.



Beyond





What is your child's passion? How does it match with your own? Parents who love an extra curricular activity, such as sports, hope that their children's passions will match their own. Sometimes they do, but sometimes they don't. Whatever you child wants to learn and do should be what you put them in, not what you want them to do. I sat through years of baseball practices, soccer practices, drill team, gymnastics, and ballet practices and performances. These things were not what I cared about. To this day, when I pass a baseball field, I say a silent prayer that I do not have to sit on those bleachers any more. Those were the longest evenings of my life. But they were what my children loved.



My son really wanted to be an athlete. He played soccer in the fall and baseball in the spring thoughout elementary school. He was good at soccer, and fair at baseball. He wanted to be good at baseball too, and cried more than once in frustration on the drive home after not winning a game. At the time, we didn't know he needed glasses. When he got them in middle school, he had changed to playing soccer full time, but I always wondered if his baseball would have improved if he could have seen better at a distance.



My daughter started ballet at 3. In middle school, she tried both soccer and cheerleading, but both activities really weren't her passion. In high school, she joined the drill team and incorporated her years of dance experience into the complex jazz, ballet, and hip hop routines for competition and football half time performances. It was the highlight of her high school years. It wasn't work, it was passion that made both my children successful at their activities. And it was my job to support them in their passions so that they could discover for themselves what their strengths were.

I believe a good parent is also a good teacher. As a parent you teach by setting the example, the goals, and the bar. An educator does that, too. They model, they set the expectations, and children follow and try to live up to those expectations. I never met a child who didn't want to learn, whether they are aware of that learning or not.

So the question becomes, what are you teaching your children? Do you show passion for new information or a sense of apathy? Do you accept the status quo or question and wonder the world around you? What are you teaching your children, and why?