Passion

   I think if a teacher if passionate about what they are teaching, their energy and enthusiasm is going to rub off on the students and make them more excited to learn. For example just last semester I had to take a class on insects in the environment for a science credit. I was dreading having to take this class, the last thing I wanted to be learning about was insects. However when I got there, even though it took me a while, I started to really enjoy the class. The reason why I believe I actually liked the class what because the teach was so passionate about what he was teaching. They way he spoke about insects made them seem like the most important, exciting, and interesting thing out there. He was generally wanted to be there teaching us, and it made me want to be there as well. His attitude in the classroom and the way he made what we were learning seem very important really got all the students interested in insects. On the other hand I have also had negative experiences when a teacher was not passionate about the subject they were teaching. For example up until my senior year in high school I thought I was going to be a math teacher. I was one of the very few people who thought math was cool, and I really liked it. However my math teacher was less enthused about the subject. She was a good teacher, and could explain the concepts very well however there was no passion. She did not really emphasize that what we where learning was important or interesting. The class very dull. She made math boring for me. After that class I no longer wanted to be a math teacher. She did not really look like she enjoyed he job and what she was teaching so it kind of crushed my hopes for being a math teacher. I did not want to have that job anymore. Passion is so very important in teaching. If you can get students to be excited about what they are learning and have your positive attitude rub off on them you all are going to learn a lot more and have a lot more fun.