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How teachers can be leaders and advocates for the profession

Every job shares one simple requirement for you to fill if you want to be successful in your chosen career. You have to really love what you do. May that be because you're passionate about your chosen line of work, or you are trying to help as many people as possible. When you love what you do, work doesn't feel like work. And when you're having fun at work, you are in a more positive mood to improve your skills in your area. The same rule follows in the teaching career. It's easy to tell who wants to be a teacher and who doesn't by how they act. Passionate teachers are always promoting their content area to be used outside the classroom instead of on a test, they are always ready to learn something new, and care about their students.

The only teachers I've had that promoted their content area outside of class are Mr. Knierim and Ms. Otteman from Rocky Mountain High School. Mr. Knierim teaches government and history and encourages his students to be informed voters. He finds ways for students to get involved in solving community problems. Every student who ever stepped into his class can tell who passionate he is about his subject, which makes us want to learn it even more! Ms. Otteman also encourages her content area to be used outside. One creative way was having her students look at advertisements, and write about why the advertisement used certain imagery, diction, or metaphor to convey their message/product, and who their audience was for the advertisement. That paper was very fun to write because I was able to use the skills I learned in class and use them for examining advertisements! I felt so self-aware.

I hope to bring the same type of energy and passion to my content area. I know I will make mistakes along the way, which is unavoidable, but hopefully I learn new things with each mistake. I want to promote my content area to be used outside of the classroom by discussing controversial texts in class, and having students self-reflect or self-improve along the way. As I have said before, asking yourself why you believe what you believe is the best way to learn and to improve yourself. Hopefully, I will be able to accomplish this goal in my classroom.

Comments

  1. Mudita, I love how you touch on the part about how passionate teachers promote their content to be used outside of the classroom. I cannot stress how important this is! Adding relevancy to your content and curriculum helps make lasting impacts on students which ultimately results in building a relationship with your students!

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  2. Mudita, did you see Ms. Otteman at Get Lit? It was really great to watch her as she watched her students. Just seeing how she looked at them and encouraged them warmed my heart. You can tell that she really loves what she does because she so clearly wants them to learn. I bet you'll be that kind of teacher, too.

    You should tell her and Mr. Knierim how they continue to inspire you!

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