Comments on: Engage Me or Enrage Me! (Pt.1)

By: How Do We Nurture Passion? | Teacher Reboot Camp

How Do We Nurture Passion? | Teacher Reboot Camp — Sat, 22 May 2010 10:46:01 +0000

[...] Enrage Me or Engage Me Part I & II by Lisa Nielsen [...]

By: To Scale « Teacher in Transition

To Scale « Teacher in Transition — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 02:14:27 +0000

[...] found this article, “Engage Me or Enrage Me” by Lisa Neilsen, that has some good advice. She recommends not having kids blog or wiki…or at least not right [...]

By: Kay Stoner

Kay Stoner — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 00:08:37 +0000

Sounds like you might appreciate this:
“Perceptual Pleasure and the Brain.” American Scientist, Biederman, I., & Vessel, E. A. (2006). http://geon.usc.edu/%7Ebiederman/publications/Biederman_Vessel_2006.pdf

By: Shelly Terrell

Shelly Terrell — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:05:19 +0000

What a great post about supporting student passion! I wish every educator believed in this concept because the world would truly be a better place. If students are motivated by their passions to learn then they are less likely to commit violence and involve themselves in danger. I think when teachers lose passion this often translates to their students. Therefore, I additionally believe teachers should find what motivates them.

By: Masha

Masha — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:25:05 +0000

I completely agree about the importance of passion based learning, with this condition:

To be a good teacher, I must also teach my students to be passionate about things that do not immediately appeal to them.

This is my great challenge as much of what I teach is not good in the instant gratification department. But with a little bit of perseverance, a student can reap the rewards of self confidence in having achieved a difficult task in an area they thought they did not find interesting.

For me, this is a life skill as well. If I am not interested in my job, I perform poorly. Its a skill to find an angle that will hook my interest and improve my performance.

Of course, everyone is going to have areas that they are innately more interested in. But I believe in pushing my boundaries, and those of my students.