Passion

This past Friday during a morning review a tad of sadness crept over me.  I realized in a short time period that I would not see these students again.  That these seniors who had dedicated themselves all year were in a short time moving on.  When first period came (also seniors) I started to explain how sad I was at the review and I started choking up.  My appreciation and love for these students started to overwhelm me.

As in most cases, giving yourself time to reflect, brings perspective to the situation.  I am now in the mindset that the journey is not over, but truthfully just beginning.  What is truly great about teaching is that you often get to see your student’s dreams come true. 

Now some students are not sure yet what their dreams are which I think is a good thing.  If I asked most students who they were going to marry they would not know but for some reason we put this pressure on them to know at 18 what they want to do for the rest of their lives. 

We need to change our mindsets about both the high school and college years.  Instead of spending time trying to think what colleges or future employers want, students need to be spending the time trying to find their passion. This search for your passion might carry on into your work life which is fine as you change jobs still looking for the one that you can spend be passionate about the rest of your life.  We do not continue to date people we do not like so why should we feel pigeon holed into a job we are not passionate about.

When I was eighteen, my parents worried about me.  I did not take school seriously (always called an underachiever) and truly did not have a career plan.  I remember when I took a job at Domino’s Pizza my father said, “you went to college to become a pizza maker” As I rose in the organization however my Dad did become proud of me.  That is what made calling him to tell him that I resigned from the company that much harder.  “You are leaving this great company (wow his tone had changed) to become a teacher, do you realize you are about to have your third child?” 

When I first started teaching I remember thinking that I wasted all these years of my life chasing different dreams.  With perspective however, I now realize chasing all those dreams allowed me to find the one that I am truly passionate about.  I have always thought that my true strategic advantage as a teacher is that I love coming to work every day and thinking about different ways to get students to learn.  This passion is what allows me to fail like a six but rebound like a ten.

I will end with a great quote” Life is messy. Get used to it.”.  And that is what makes the journey so enjoyable.