Passion

This week in following a blog called http://adifference.blogspot.com, I was drawn to an article entitled, "The Ten Commandments of Teaching."  On the surface, these 'commandments' seem like no-brainers, but the writer of the blog (Darren, from Canada) has delved more deeply and really explored what each rule means.  I suppose that the same is true of the actual Ten Commandments - simple, yet study brings added insight and responsibility.  I'm impressed that Darren has spent about 2 years so far working on this particular post.  Within the body of the post, he has a link to another article that I really appreciate: http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/2007/02/05/passion-based-learning/.  Konrad Glogowski talks about how important it is to teach with passion and how using technology for the sake of technology will only be engaging for so long. He inspires me when he says that the important thing is really to show the students that the subject is important to you and why it is important.  He cites the example of his use of the Diary of Anne Frank.  He didn't choose it just because it's well-written or because it describes a part of history that everyone should know about.  He tells what it means to him.  He is passionate enough about his subject that he has written about it on his blog and other networking accounts.  In short, he makes it personal.  I agree with this.  I need to make learning personal.  I need to model this for my students and then help them to make it personal for them as well.  The question now is one I'm afraid I won't like the answer to: how am I doing?  I recognize that I still have quite a way to go.  I like to think that my students know that I care about them - and I believe that is even more important - I hope they never think that I love the topic more than I care about them as individuals.  But I wonder if I demonstrate a passion for the subject matter as well.  I know I could make it more personal than I do.  This is where the real work begins...