Find Something You're Passionate About

If you are not passionate about a lesson, students will know it. Students have a nose for negativity; therefore, it'’s important to bring the A-game each and every day. Look, I used to hate teaching grammar. The thought of prepositional phrases numbed me to the bones. My attitude sucked and it was contagious. Since the brain imitates observed behavior it wasn'’t long before the students were recalcitrant. In an effort to counteract this slide into negativity, I resolved to find something interesting about grammar. Soon I rediscovered sentence diagramming, and got hooked. I even started diagramming sentences in my free time. It was cool, and it became something I could hang grammar and usage instruction on. Soon the class picked up on my passion for sentence diagramming, and the class was transformed. The key is to find something your passionate about in everything you teach. Make no mistake, students got into grammar instruction when I got passionate about grammar instruction.