Passion

Some teachers have it, some teachers don't.  There has been many times that I have been in a class that I would have enjoyed much more had the teacher really loved teaching. 

From personal experience, the teachers that made me dislike certain subjects in school did not put teaching first.  They were more concerned in coaching our below average sports teams.  This made me very sad for not only my education, but every other student's future education as well.

Even though there are those teachers who would rather be any where else than in a classroom, there are the teachers who were made to teach.  They love everything about teaching.  They love the subject they teach, they enjoy teaching the material to students, and they will always take the time to answer any questions.  They want to make sure you succeed, not fail.

I personally have always loved math, and I was actually not too bad at it. Throughout high school I had three different math teachers.  Their teaching styles were drastically different.  My math 1 and 2 teacher was the sweetest teacher I have ever had.  She was always smiling and very soft spoken.  Anyone could tell you that she loved math and was very passionate about teaching it to students.  My math 3 teacher was a different story.  Although it was fairly obvious that he was really passionate about math in general, he was one of the worst teachers ever.  His teaching style just didn't work well for me and a lot of the times he wasn't very good at relating the information to us in a way that connected.  There were many times that we had to teach ourselves the lesson or get help from the other math teachers.  After taking several classes from him, I really didn't want to pursue any of the higher math courses, but when it came to scheduling for the next year I saw that he wouldn't be the teacher and so I decided to give it a try.

I am so glad that I did.  My math 4 and 5 teacher was the best teacher ever.  Although he was the really nerdy, I love math so much type of teacher, he made math easy.  He knew how to connect with the students with his very silly math jokes and outrageous math music during work time.  He was so passionate about teaching math, it was insane.  He wanted his students to ask him questions; wanted them to understand.  He asked me what I wanted to do regarding college, and made sure to check the college's requirements to make sure I took enough higher level classes in high school.  He encouraged me to go take calculus during senior year, and took the time before, during lunch, and after school to help me with any questions I had.  And trust me, I sure had questions about calculus....ugh!   To this day, I still consider him one of my favorite teachers. 

I truly believe that if teachers don't have passion for what they do, it will affect their students and their enthusiasm to learn.