How can we develop a passion for teaching
Introduction — It is possible to grow our passion
Can we develop a passion for something we do not like? I believe we can. But the caveat is we cannot leave it to chance. We must set the right conditions to develop a habit and feel good about doing it.
I always wanted to learn skateboarding, but it was so intimidating! I tried once on my friend’s skateboard and fell off almost immediately! Many years later, I decided to try again. I wanted to show my daughter that nothing is difficult if we take one step at a time.
So, I bought a second-hand skateboard. I went slow — really slow, almost not moving. I practised at a place where few people walk past. I told myself that I would only practice 5 minutes a day. I wanted to feel motivated for the next practice.
By keeping the learning environment safe, the only stress was challenging myself to go further. But it was manageable. Surprisingly, within two weeks, I could skate at the speed of brisk walking.
Skateboarding became easier with each passing day. By the third week, I was skating at the speed of jogging. I was skating further and further. I put my skateboard in the car to skate at different places during the weekend.
What made me enjoy skateboarding was the constant improvement, although each improvement was small. I managed to show my daughter the power of taking small steps, and although that was why I learned skateboarding, I developed an interest in it.
If I did not have the aspiration, I would not even take the first step of buying a skateboard. Therefore, the first step in developing a passion is to have an aspiration — What do we really want at the end?
Believe in your aspiration, and stick with it
So, what is your aspiration? Are you clear about it? When I went for a teaching interview, I told the interviewer I wanted children to believe in themselves. But very often, I lost track of this vision.
The first step to having a passion is having a clear vision. Without it, we become passive in our job. We make an average of 3,000 decisions a day. Are we making each decision based on other’s expectations?
Pause for a moment and think, “What do you really, really want your students to become?” It is difficult to develop passion if we are not working towards that dream. My dream is for my students to believe in themselves. What is yours?
The first step is always to believe we can achieve our vision. If you do not believe you can complete a marathon, you can never complete one. If you believe you will eventually achieve that vision, you find a way to make training fun.
The thing about beliefs is that we cannot see them! If we can see them, we do not need to believe in them. Do you believe you can motivate the “lazy” students in the class? Looking at their sloppiness in learning, it is so difficult to believe.
To make things worse, other teachers also did not believe in them. They will tell us to be realistic and not to waste our time. The easy way out is to change the aspiration — something we can see.
But what is there to aspire to if we can see it?
You cannot be passionate about something you already have. For example, can you be passionate about mathematics if the ultimate goal is to be able to do simple additions? If there is nothing to strive for, there is no passion to develop.
To believe in something, we need to see it in our heads. Hence, we need to be clear about our aspirations. Then we must stick with it!
So, what is your aspiration in teaching? Whatever it is, I believe it will be difficult to stick to it. The students will prove that your aspiration is wishful thinking. But it is the most important thing you must do to develop the passion.
Overcoming challenges — Be a critical thinker
We only live once. Let’s not give up every time we meet a challenge. Let’s stick to our beliefs, no matter how difficult they are. After all, we want the best for our students. If it is difficult, find a way to overcome it!
In learning to skateboard, the simplest way is to think about how to make it easier. Telling myself to go slower is one way. Stop comparing with others is another. The safer the learning environment, the faster the improvement.
“There will always be a better way to solve a challenge.”
In school, we also need to think critically about our actions. Are we following what others are doing, or are we doing what we believe in?
For instance, in my collaboration with a teacher, Michelle, we asked ourselves what we really wanted the students to learn from netball. We wanted the students to enjoy the rules of netball, where every player has a role and everyone works together.
Before the collaboration, how would I teach netball? Probably some skills first, then game concepts like running into space, attacking, and defending. That was the plan initially, like how everyone else would teach, like how the books would suggest.
However, when we considered it critically, we thought it was impossible to cover so many concepts in a limited time. We were worried the students would be overwhelmed by the rules and skills.
As such, we threw away our plan and returned to our aspiration again — appreciating the rules. After repeating it a few times in our heads, we decided to be different. We would just focus on the rules, one new rule at a time, or until they were used to them.
Do we need to teach them the skills and concepts? No. We believe their skills would improve if they played many small-sided games, and we also believe they have already learned those in other sports.
After eight lessons, the students were so used to the netball rules and the various positions that we no longer needed to remind them.
Recently, we allowed them to try a full-court netball game. Everyone enjoyed the game and helped one another. The students’ ball possession skills have improved greatly, as has their perception of netball.
As we followed the students’ progress, we felt happier about it. Before each lesson, we were excited. After the lesson, we were satisfied. We might not have felt this way had we followed what everyone else was doing.
We developed the joy of teaching netball because we stayed focused on our aspirations.
Believe that you will see results if you persist long enough
My school used to have the National Police Cadet Corps (NPCC). It is a uniform youth organisation, which many Singapore schools have. Many years ago, our NPCC was not great. The enrolment was low, and attendance was poor.
One year, my colleague Mehraj volunteered to take over the group. She aspired that one day, the students in NPCC would be proud of themselves. To achieve that, she set a target of achieving gold in the Unit Overall Proficiency Award (UOPA).
To earn a gold award for UOPA, training must be more rigorous. Students must attend various camps, competitions, courses, and other activities.
However, the students were unmotivated to attend training, their parents were not supportive, and colleagues did not believe the group could one day achieve a gold award.
Mehraj believes that with persistence, everyone will eventually be able to see their potential. She tried hard to convince the students and spent many phone calls to convince the parents.
Mehraj told me it was tiring, but she told me, “What’s the point of joining a club if the students develop a fixed mindset that they would never be as good as others?” She persisted in her mission, even when it was an uphill battle.
Over time, students saw the meaning of joining NPCC. They built stronger bonds with other members. And they started to enjoy every activity and saw themselves becoming more confident.
After two years, the unit achieved silver. In the next three years, they achieved gold. Many might ask, “Is a gold award worth all the hard work? Would it affect our mental wellness?”
To Mehraj the award is not the most important. What was truly memorable was the journey the students went through. In every camp, Mehraj saw the development of mature leaders. In every course, she saw the development of a growth mindset in them.
Whenever we see students becoming mature, we feel our effort is all worth it. When students become self-directed, we feel more passionate about the job.
I felt the passion in Mehraj every time I talked to her. It was different when I talked to her a few years ago. Now, she is a passionate teacher who always thinks of bringing out the best in every student.
Over time, Mehraj received many affirmations about her hard work. The affirmation increased her motivation and self-efficacy as a teacher. Self-efficacy is another must-have if we want to develop our passion for teaching.
We need to feel competent
Research has already shown that our self-efficacy has a direct effect on our passion for the job (Ferreira-Neto et al., 2023). That means we have to feel we are good at it!
In learning skateboarding. I made sure I would be motivated to do it again. I would set an achievable target, and when I achieved the target, I felt good about myself. As teachers, we also need to feel good about our pedagogical abilities.
After many years of mentoring and collaborating with teachers, I concluded that every teacher has many strengths. However, most of them are tacit knowledge, which we may not notice.
One friend was so focused on getting the school to exercise that she often posted on her social media of herself doing simple movement exercises. It was so successful that many of her students also did the exercises at home.
Another friend believed every student can learn no matter how unmotivated they are initially. She constantly motivated them and affirmed their effort. And the positive classroom culture influenced the motivation of her students.
Above are just two of the many strengths we possess. If you know what constructivist theory is, you will know we all construct new skills and knowledge as we reflect on our experiences and interact with people around us.
We could become better at understanding students or have better content knowledge. Unless we live in a cave and do not teach, there is no way we cannot develop many teaching competencies.
As such, we need to understand what we are good at! Are we good at giving instructions? Are we good at designing engaging drills? Or are we good at giving pep talks?
We feel good when we know we are improving. How do you feel when you run faster? And how do you feel when you attain better scores on your mathematics test? How do you feel when someone told you have conducted a good lesson?
We live in a culture where many use a deficit-based approach in professional development. We hear more of our gaps than our strengths because “The fastest way to improve is to fill the gaps.”
Or is it?
When someone gives us negative feedback, we feel anxious. We might think, “How do others look at me?” “Am I shortchanging the students?” or “Do I have the abilities to be a good teacher?”
When that happens, can we still reflect positively and build on our prior experiences? Would we still be motivated to improve what we have been developing? Are we still moving towards our aspirations?
One way to know more about our strengths is to write down all the positive things we see in our lessons. Ask, “What good attitudes do I see?”, “Where are the improvements?” and “What do I like about the lesson?” No matter how small it is, write them down. Even if the lesson looked like a “failed lesson”.
Then, we asked ourselves, “What do I think I have done that resulted in these good behaviours?”
Once, I observed a lesson that the teacher felt was a bad lesson. Students were rowdy and talking away when she gave instructions. However, we noticed that the students were engaged and motivated during a ten-minute self-practice.
Although the positive part of the lesson was only ten minutes out of the one hour, it was a clue to the teacher’s strength. We realised the students like to be empowered. Whenever they helped their friend, she always praised them.
As we delved deeper, we realised she was effective at giving positive affirmation. Her students knew she liked it whenever they helped their friends. As such, almost everyone was helping one another. They enjoy the autonomy of helping one another.
Based on the inquiry, what could the teacher done differently? Focus more on students’ agency and positive affirmation! After that, she increased students’ empowerment and focused on peer coaching. Students shared with us they enjoyed the lesson so much!
Conclusion
At seventy years old, my mother still goes to work as a waitress in a Japanese restaurant. Being a waitress in a restaurant is hard work, especially during lunch hours! Most of her friends are already retired, but she still insists on continuing to work.
She always tells me that she enjoys going to work every day. How can a seventy-year-old still enjoy carrying heavy trays and standing for hours?
My mother often told me she felt purposeful whenever she went to work. She could help the boss to ease her load, and she enjoy seeing satisfied customers.
Many relatives tried to convince her to stop working, but being a critical thinker, my mother did not follow what they said. She could confidently explain why working in a restaurant makes life more meaningful and enjoyable.
My mother also believes that being good at the job can increase the passion. She always learns new skills, such as online payment and the Japanese language. She can converse fluently with every Japanese customer, making her feel really good!
We need to rethink what work-life balance means. Is it reducing the work hours? Or is it making work joyful? Are we really going to have better mental well-being if our work hours are reduced, but we continue to “live other’s lives”?
We only live once. We had better make sure our work and our lives were joyful!
Reference
Ferreira-Neto, M. N., De Carvalho Castro, J. L., De Sousa-Filho, J. M., & De Souza Lessa, B. (2023). The role of self-efficacy, entrepreneurial passion, and creativity in developing entrepreneurial intentions. Frontiers in Psychology, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1134618
