A Passion is Born

As I begin to think about how my passion for teaching, Direct Instruction, and effective and efficient curriculum and teaching methods began, I picture Maria sitting with the Von Trapp children beginning to sing, “Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.”

This is the story of how my passion was born.

I went to college knowing that I was going to be a teacher. I did well in all my classes, but quickly learned that most required little effort and that if I jumped through the hoops, a passive recipient of knowledge, I would pass with flying colors. As I neared the end of my junior year, my grades would have told anyone I was well on my way to becoming an effective teacher. But I wasn’t convinced. How could I be considered for a teaching position when nothing I had been “learning” in my program prepared me for the classroom? I didn’t know the first step in teaching a child to read. I didn’t know the first step in how to teach a child much of anything, nor the curriculum I should be using. I was taught that learning should be made fun and that I should want to be able to create my own curriculum because I was the “expert.” I was in no way ready for such responsibility.

I spent the summer before my senior year as a director of a summer youth program in South Korea. I loved every minute of it and realized that THIS was what my degree had been preparing me for—having a lot of fun with children and if something was learned a long the way, that was a bonus.

I returned to school in the fall, committed to finishing my degree in education, but taking additional classes that would prepare me for a career in youth and leisure services. That fall I took Dr. Berg’s, Schools in American Society class. He was unlike any professor in education I had had. His approach to teaching the class was, “If it is worth believing, it is worth questioning,” and we spent the semester unraveling everything we had been (for lack of a better word) brainwashed to believe with regards to education. He did not tell us directly, but made us come to our own conclusions through the assignments and readings.

Half way through the semester, he introduced the idea of a solid, specific, sequential curriculum. The entire class was in shock—such a common sense idea, yet none of us thought of its value before. He told us that if we were interested, we should go to the Core Knowledge website and do a little exploring. I was intrigued and visited the website later that week. I clicked on the “Core Knowledge Schools” link and realized there was a school in the town in which I was hoping to do my student teaching that used Core Knowledge. I set up a time to visit the school over Christmas break.

I went to the elementary school, excited to see Core Knowledge in action. What I saw in addition I can only explain as “guilty pleasure.” Besides the use of the Core Knowledge curriculum, the teachers were presenting in a fast-paced, teacher-directed, unison oral responding, highly engaging manner. I had no idea what it was. All I knew was that I LOVED it, even though every fiber of my training told me I shouldn’t—such a method was boring, highly ineffective, and down right wrong. I was intrigued and became instantly aware that the teacher training I had received had serious holes.

I met with Dr. Berg when I returned for the spring semester, telling him what I saw at the school, and how I was still planning to go into youth and leisure services. He quickly said, “I am not going to let you throw your life away.” We set up an independent study for the semester in which I would investigate the “guilty pleasure” I witnessed. I spent the entire semester researching Direct Instruction—its history, research, philosophy, and myths. I was in contact with all the big names and read anything I could get my hands on—all the while, “if it’s worth believing, it’s worth questioning,” running through my mind. I was sold! I arranged to do part of my student teaching at the elementary school I visited in the fall.

My student teaching experience at the school was a dream come true. Everything I learned the semester prior was put into practice and I was teaching—truly teaching! No thanks to the teacher education program my university is so famously known for—but a huge thanks to a professor who taught his students to think outside the box.

Passion comes to people (if at all) in many different ways. Maybe it’s a person, maybe it’s a class, maybe it’s an experience or event. All I know is that passion and genuine excitement are contagious. As a teacher, I shared this with my students everyday in the things I taught them. Their interest in the subjects grew from my passion for teaching them those subjects. It took about two days of me teaching history for them to decide it was their new favorite subject (along with reading, writing, math, grammar, literature, and spelling!)

If you love what you do, it will be apparent to those around you. Loving what you do will make all the difference.