A PASSION FOR TEACHING

Luthfiyah Nurlaela

Home Economics Department, Faculty of Engineering, Surabaya State University

Kampus Ketintang, Jalan Ketintang, Surabaya, Indonesia, 60230

luthfiyahn@yahoo.com

Abstract— Passion is defined as “any kind of feeling by which the mind is powerfully affected or moved” (Oxford Dictionary, 1989). Sustaining the passion for teaching is intimately connected with their commitment; and commitment is related to their sense of professional emotional identity. It is the combination of the emotional and intellectual which results in teaching at its best, characterized as “passion for teaching” (Day, 2007). A passionate teacher is highly motivated, has full of energy and enthusiasm about his/her teaching, about the students and their learning and has a deep sense of commitment to providing the best possible opportunities for every student. The article discusses definition of passion for teaching, factors influence the passion, and the effort we should do to sustain the passion for teaching. The discussion is based-on the result of brainstorming in the 3^rd Regional Forum Seameo Innotech in Quezon City, Manila, at March 22nd -24th, 2011. The writer has a chance to participate the forum, and met participants from 9 countries of South-East Asia, i.e. Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Lao, Vietnam, Brunei, Thai, Philippine.  The great quote from the forum is: “Being world class doesn’t mean going international and showing our best out there. Being world-class is passion and commitment to our profession. Being world-class is giving our best to our country and our people. For teachers, being world-class starts right inside the classroom.”

Keywords: motivated, passionate and effective teacher

I.           Introduction

It is well known that during and after the colonial era, a teaching job was highly respected and dreamed of by many of parents in this country for their children’s future job. Teachers or generally called Gurus owned a high social status in the society. In a rural and remote areas, where usually no definite home numbers, names of blocks or streets let alone home telephone, there was hardly any difficulty for a stranger to find a teacher’s dwelling. That is simply because within the radius of more than 3 kilometers, a GURU was well recognized by most people in the neighborhood.

As the time went by, the noble status of being a teacher “declined” in a way that many people didn’t want to be a teacher anymore. The job as a teacher was by far underrated as earning low salary and giving no promising prosperity. Being a teacher was indeed still respected but many refused to be one or made it a very last choice when better jobs had not been owned yet.

But it is not until the last five years that a job as a teacher has regained its noble status. Many people has recently been so eagerly willing to be educational personnel or suggesting their children to choose that job for them. Consequently, institutes and universities that produce GURUs, that were formerly underrated have been flooded with students having dream of being teachers.

The article discusses definition of passion for teaching, factors influence the passion, and the effort we should do to sustain the passion for teaching. The discussion is based-on the result of brainstorming in the 3^rd Regional Forum Seameo Innotech in Quezon City, Manila, at March 22nd -24th, 2011. The writer has a chance to participate the forum, and met participants from 9 countries of South-East Asia, i.e. Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Lao, Vietnam, Brunei, Thai, Philippine.

II.         the meaning of passion for teaching

Passion is defined in the Oxford Dictionary (1989) as ‘any kind of feeling by which the mind is powerfully affected or moved’. It is a driver, a motivational force emanating from strength of emotion. People are passionate about things, issues, causes, people. Being passionate creates energy, determination, conviction, commitment and even obsession in people. Passion can lead to enhanced vision (the determination to fulfill a deeply held goal) but it can also restrict wider vision and lead to the narrow pursuit of a passionately held goal at the expense of other things.

Sustaining the passion for teaching is intimately connected with their commitment; and commitment is related to their sense of professional emotional identity. It is the combination of the emotional and intellectual which results in teaching at its best, characterized as “passion for teaching” (Day, 2004; 2007). A passionate teacher is highly motivated, has full of energy and enthusiasm about his/her teaching, about the students and their learning and has a deep sense of commitment to providing the best possible opportunities for every student.

Premised on Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy , which states that a person’s beliefs in his/her ability to succeed in a particular task influences how he/she performs that task, Teachers with a strong sense of self-efficacy demonstrate the following behaviors: 1) view challenging problems as tasks to be mastered which means willingness to continuously new and creative teaching practices; 2)develop deeper interest in the activities in which they participate; 3) form a stronger sense of commitment to their interests and activities or get involved not only in improving one’s students performance but also of other students; and 4) recover quickly from setbacks and disappointments. On the other hand, teachers with a weak sense of self-efficacy manifest the following: 1) avoid challenging tasks; 2) believe that difficult tasks and situations are beyond their capabilities; 3) focus on personal failings and negative outcomes; and 4) quickly lose confidence in personal abilities (Bandura, 1994; Quijano, 2011).

We must firstly have passion in order that we become a great teacher. Passion is loving what we do and loving what we teach. But more importantly, passion is conveying our love to our students in a ways that impacts their lives.  Passion also means that we share our knowledge of the subject with our students as a partner in the learning process.

A passionate teacher will figure out what material is most important for the students to learn and make sure that the material is well understood by them. The passion is about how we the teachers make the students interested in the subject.  It is also important to have a passion for our students.  To have a passion for the students means everything we do in the classroom is for them.  That is to say, the students are the most important people in the classroom.

III.        factors influence the passion for teaching

There are many factors which help or hinder effective teaching and learning. As Day (2007) states, not least among these are the family histories and circumstances of the parents, the students, the leadership and learning culture of the school, the effects of government policies, the perceived  relevance and value of the curriculum, behavior in the classroom and staff room, relationships with students, parents and the wider community, and teachers’ knowledge, skills and competencies. Yet the primary factors in good teaching which is effective are much more than these. They are the inner qualities of the teacher; a continuing striving for excellence (in herself and others); a caring for and fascination with growth; and a deep commitment to providing the best possible opportunities for each pupil.

Moreover Fried (1995) states, passion and practicality are not opposing notions; good planning and design are as important as caring and spontaneity in bringing out the best in students. Although not the whole story, passion, uncomfortable as the word may sound, is at the heart of what teaching is or should be.

According to Ratnam and Aw Wai Lin (2011), participants from Singapore, the vision of Singapore Teachers is to Lead, Care and Inspire. It is about leading through the words and deeds, caring for the students and peers and touching the lives of the future generations. Most of the passionate and motivated teachers are people who have taken on teaching not just as another job but as a calling. These excellent teachers prepare their students for life. They are role-models of commitment to continual learning and enterprise. They are those who inspire both their students and peers; are also exemplary of a life-long learner, a reflective practitioner and continually make effective connection between their learning, reflection and practice. As individuals and as a community of professionals, they seek to deepen their expertise and collaborate with peers to forge strong bonds of as a fraternity, taking pride in their work and profession. Many of the good stories from these motivated and passionate teachers are captured in the online education news http://www.schoolbag.sg/teachers/.

What are the success factors and important elements of a motivated, passionate and effective teacher in Thailand? Yuthtamanop (2011) states there are self-worth, confidence, caring and sharing, and student success. Teachers with healthy self-worth are able to feel good about themselves, appreciate their own worth work, and take pride in their abilities, skills, and accomplishments. What make teachers confidence are knowledge, well-organize and responsibility for learning. A good teacher will build relationships with his/her students; relationships that consist of mutual trust and respect. This can be seen as an essential element of the learning process. If a student respects and trusts his or her teacher, they will trust and respect the message and knowledge that teacher imparts to them. Not only just to get students to be able to do higher math but also do well in life, give inspiration to succeed. Effective teachers understand of building community of learners . Love to share their new knowledge with colleagues. They are self-motivated visionaries who strive to build partnerships with members of school and community and also understand important of building effective relationship with parent and community members so that the entire surrounding community is the classroom. Student success is a key factor considers on the passion of teacher. It is strongly supporting teacher confidence, promoting their pride and encouraging them to keep going on their work to make it better. Obviously, the most important part of passionate teacher is the student. It is what teaching is all about. Being a passionate teacher, you will continuously be thinking is the way you are presenting this material most beneficial for your students, how you evaluate students and bring out the excellence in every person and give the students recognition when they have reached that point. It is also important to make learners become self-confident achievers and understand the world around them.

According to participants from Malaysia (Syarifah-Bee Aboo-Bakar & Choong Kam Foong, 2011), the teachers agree that teaching is highly emotive – very personal. ‘Teaching is touching the heart’. It is the feeling that they can make a difference. It is ‘selfsatisfaction… like walking on air’ when you can make a child learn when everyone else says he is a lost case’. What this teacher seems to say is that teachers need not only engage their job with their heads but also with their hearts. These passionate teachers seemed to be highly motivated by teaching challenging students. “It is not how many ‘As’. I see them improving”. These teachers were given ‘bottom classes’ in ‘bottom schools’. But they do not see them as ‘problems’ but as challenges. One of them says, ‘the more the system breaks down, the more dysfunctional the kids are, …( the more I) keep the teacher going… I don’t care so much about the system – I just try to pick the kids up.”

What are the success factors and important elements of the motivated, passionate and effective teacher? According to Pengiran Othman & Wee Ying Tan (2011), participants from Brunei Darussalam, an effective teacher has been considered, as a perfectionist, encouraging, approachable and caring, other time as intelligent, enthusiastic, funny, clever, affective, understanding, open and with a relaxed style while teaching. There is no single, simple ‘effective teacher characteristics’ as individual teachers vary considerably in their effectiveness in the teaching and students make different amounts of progress with different teachers. But most would agree that the essential characteristic of effective teachers is that their students learn academically and grow personally in the ways identified as desirable in a particular society and in the curriculum.

A passionate and efficacious teacher is considered as main part of the social environment of the classroom as well as school, because teacher is the first drive in influencing on the learning motivation of students (Socheata & Tann Munna, 2011). According to the important role of teacher, MoEYS of Cambodia  set the 7 criteria based of good teacher as follows: 1) good teacher always empathy toward students and communities. Good teacher always understand and resonate with their feeling and emotions; 2) good teacher must be positive mental attitude. Good teacher must be able to think more on the positive and smile when facing problem; 3) good teacher be able to acknowledge for change, for new ways or approaches to improve the teaching, to get more quality in education; willing to listen to other’s developed ideas; 4) good teacher be as the window through which many young people will see their future. Good teacher must be a fine role model in class, in school and in society; 5) good teacher be able to motivate the students by using creative and inspirational methods of teaching; 6) good teacher must accomplish at least 95% of class preparation; and 7) good teacher look to increase day to day the commitment, and improve the professional knowledge base.

How about in Indonesia? What are the success factors and important elements of the motivated, passionate and effective teacher in Indonesia? We have interviewed a number of teachers letting them analyze and recall what factors that have motivated or will motivate them. The followings are the findings ensued from the interviews and that according to those teachers as motivating factors: 1) sufficient salary; 2) comfortable atmosphere; 3) appreciation and promotion; and 4) well motivated and successful pupils (Nurlaela & Sigit Wiyono, 2011).

·         Sufficient salary. Among the teachers that we happened to interview, the first aspect to motivate according to them is a salary commensurate with their worth. This is perhaps understandable since it is generally acknowledged that teacher salaries are low compared to other civil servants with similar qualifications. By giving teachers sufficient salary, their financial problems at home will be a less burden on their part. We believe that a teacher cannot perform his duties well if s/he is not properly compensated. His mind will wander thinking on how he can provide the daily needs of his family and many other money-related matters. It is not uncommon then that many of them take a second job to make ends meet. This low level of remuneration and unhealthy financial problem affect teacher motivation, attendance, and performance. And if this phenomenon continues, the students are likely to be the first to “suffer”. The nation-wide quality of education, as a macro implication, will definitely decline as well.

·         Comfortable atmosphere. A comfortable environment, in which a teacher is able to express and apply his skill as an educator optimally and safely is another aspect that can motivate a teacher. This can mean both a harmonious relationship among the principal, administrator and all staff as well as sufficient infrastructures including instructional materials like board markers, good white board, computer sets, etc. Still relevant with comfortable feeling, a teacher should also feel safe over his/her family regarding their health, education, and the future. Therefore, sufficient health insurance program, children’s education and family allowance should also be provided. To a greater extent, a comfortable atmosphere also means a good school management and healthy bureaucracy system of local/district government.

·         Appreciation and promotion. Appreciation is the greatest gift of all. When a teacher has done something well, s/he feels a sense of accomplishment and even personal growth. It might be an intrinsic reward that s/he gets right from his/her own soul. Yet, an extrinsic reward like appreciation from the principal in terms of both appreciation and perhaps promotion as well as from colleagues is also important. Teachers, like students are also individuals who long for encouraging words and praises no matter how small their contribution and achievement are. Good reward will make more accomplishment. However, when a teacher has done something with an unsatisfying result, s/he is unlikely to be reluctant to accept suggestions and proper feedback. They will not get irritated being criticized or evaluated provided that fair and good communication is carried out.

·         Well motivated and successful pupils. Another aspect that motivates us is motivated students. Enthusiasm of our students play an important role in the classroom as the teacher will feel that s/he is performing his job well. Competing hand raisings, enthusiastic questions, or curious and eager look on our students’ faces are rain drops from the sky in a long dry season. We feel a personal satisfaction seeing cheerful faces in our class though often times that does not reflect a satisfying result in terms of learning target on assessment day.

 IV.  the effort we should do to sustain the passion for teaching

A.    Passionate Teacher

To be a passionate teacher, we have to do at least the following things: 1) be creative and innovative in using teaching media and method; 2) be a good model and care for the students; and 3) maintain and upgrade professional skills.

·         Be creative and innovative in using teaching media and method. We cannot rely on our excellent skill on e.g., lecturing when teaching since not all our students have good auditory learning modality. Explaining, describing, or narrating a subject/topic in words will only benefit a group of students while others might experience total confusion. On the other hand, teaching a subject/topic with great visualization but less or poor explanation can also put another group of students in a serious trouble. We must be aware that our students have different learning modalities. Some are prone to be auditory and others have stronger preference on the use of visualization. And still others will tend to learn best by the optimum use of their body movements/kinetics. This phenomenon is even more complicated when a student may have more than one learning modalities. One student may tend to be visual-kinetic while someone right next to him is perhaps pure auditory. Imagine that our large-sized class can consist of 30 to 40 students. This means a large number of different individuals with different learning modalities. How is it that our subject can be an interesting one when we the teachers do not accommodate these “demands”? Therefore, a good teacher will have to use a variety of media and methods in his/her class. Old newspaper can be a means of teaching Bahasa, waste paper or tissue can be best models to teach water characteristic (capillarity) in science, and a slice of bread or an apple is able to be used to lessen an abstract concept of fractions in a math class. And there are still many other reachable media a teacher can use in the classroom to make his/her subject well understood. One occasion we might use an over-head projector or LCD and another day we can use fun indoor games that require physical activities.

·         Be a good model and care for the students. As stated previously that being a passionate means that the students are interested in our subject. And it is unlikely that our students will get interested in our subject unless we are someone whom the students love or always wait for. And the students will not love and respect us unless we show our love and care to them. Being a teacher is not enough to have only competence in terms of content and transfer of knowledge. Teachers are always engaged in multi-tasking; as a facilitator, an advisor, a counselor, a friend, a parent, and many others. Perhaps there is no other job where we are to perform the many and the many and varied tasks as a teacher. Those multi tasks will mean nothing to our students when we are unable to perform any of them well. As a friend for example; if the students do not see us as someone they can trust and share with, then we fail. How could we get our students to accept us as their substitute parents (that makes us respected) if we cannot maintain our good manner and behavior in our daily lives?

·         Maintain and upgrade professional skills. Joining seminars, workshops and the likes on contemporary method or model of teaching will upgrade and expose us to new inputs and knowledge for a better performance in the classroom. Those out-class activities will also allow us to have a change of environment. Being confined in the four corners of classroom for one entire school year will result to boredom in the long run. Sometimes, for more experienced teachers, the topic being attended at a workshop is not really a new one, but it will still serve as a recharging activity. Moreover, those forums can be a means to expose them to others and have the chance of meeting new friends, thus making them motivated and happy.

B.    Effective Teachers

An effective teacher is the one that meets the following traits: 1) a depth of knowledge about the subject; and 2) competence on teaching and learning areas. 

• ·         A depth of knowledge about the subject.  An effective teacher must have a good content knowledge. A math teacher, for example, must possess sufficient knowledge upon that subject before s/he is given change and trusted to transform that knowledge to his/her students. In this case, a degree on mathematics discipline is generally considered sufficient for a candidate to perform as a math teacher in schools though most of state-run schools require an educational degree background for their teachers as it is stipulated in the new regulations. Private schools have a consideration that their teachers, even though many of them don’t possess educational discipline background, are still able to do their job as good teachers because they are also to attend upgrading forums dealing with teaching skills like teaching methodology and curriculum. They send their teachers to workshops and seminars in order to keep up with those from educational discipline background..
• ·         Competence on teaching and learning areas.  An effective teacher has to be able to see his profession from a global and wider view. By doing so, we would not be like a group of blind people having to figure out what an elephant looks like that each of us describe it differently based on the beast body part we are holding. We must recognize and possess sufficient knowledge of our profession areas in order that suitable decisions and actions in the classroom practices can be made. An effective teacher should have some knowledge about: 1) educational ends and purposes; 2) curriculum; and 3) pedagogical and learner characteristics.
• Pedagogical knowledge has to do with our models or methodology of teaching as well as professional decision following objective assessments. Effective teachers having good pedagogical knowledge will consider the followings: good preparation; the use of a variety of media  and method of teaching; good communication skill; confidence; recognizing students’ characteristics; and commitment.
• Teachers of excellent commitment will make effective ones. All The previous aspects of effective teachers are those categorized as competence aspect. Along with competence aspect, there exists commitment aspect needed by a teacher to carry out his/her job effectively. A teacher with less competence might be learning during his/her teaching process and gaining what attributes a competent teacher owns later on. But one with less commitment will be unlikely to do his job well. Not only that the way he/she teaches will be less interesting for the absence of passion resulting in poor atmosphere of nurturing the students to develop, the teacher himself will not be growing and developing into a great one since s/he does not love what s/he teaches or worst: not loving the students and not accepting himself as an educator.

V.  Conclusion

Teaching is not only a profession. It is a mission. It is a passion and what is a passion? It is working beyond compliance. It is working with commitment, with a happy heart.

Passion is fundamental to commitment, resilience and effectiveness. If teachers are to sustain their commitment, resilience and effectiveness - their passion for teaching -

they and those responsible for their training, education and leadership must be encouraged to build understandings of the cognitive and emotional contexts in which they work in order to increase their capacities to manage these. It is in everyone’s interest to ensure that the inner values, qualities and purposes which form the foundation for passion among effective teachers, and which find their expression in the vision, knowledge, expectations and practices which children and young people experience, are developed and nurtured.

The great quote from the forum is: “Being world class doesn’t mean going international and showing our best out there. Being world-class is passion and commitment to our profession. Being world-class is giving our best to our country and our people. For teachers, being world-class starts right inside the classroom.”

References

[1]     Day, C.. A Passion for Teaching. London: RoutledgeFalmer. 2004.

[2]     Day, C. “A passion for teaching”. Paper presented in Public lecture: General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland, 30th April 2007

[3]     Fried, R. L. The Passionate Teacher: A Practical Guide. Boston, Mass: Beacon Press.. 1995.

[4]     Nurlaela, L. & Sigit Wiyono. “Rediscovering the passion for teaching in Southeast Asia: The Indonesian case”. Paper presented in the 3^rd Regional Forum Seameo Innotech in Quezon City, Manila, at March 22nd -24th, 2011.

[5]     Pengiran Othman & Wee Ying Tan. “Rediscovering the passion for teaching in Southeast Asia: The Brunei Darussalam case”. Paper presented in the 3^rd Regional Forum Seameo Innotech in Quezon City, Manila, at March 22nd -24th, 2011.

[6]     Ratnam, M & Wai Lin Aw. “Rediscovering the passion for teaching in Southeast Asia: The Singapore case”. Paper presented in the 3^rd Regional Forum Seameo Innotech in Quezon City, Manila, at March 22nd -24th, 2011..

[7]     Socheata, S & Tan Munna. “Rediscovering the passion for teaching in Southeast Asia: The Cambodian case”. Paper presented in the 3^rd Regional Forum Seameo Innotech in Quezon City, Manila, at March 22nd -24th, 2011..

[8]     Syarifah-Bee Aboo-Bakar & Choong Kam Foong. “Rediscovering the passion for teaching in Southeast Asia: The Malaysian case”. Paper presented in the 3^rd Regional Forum Seameo Innotech in Quezon City, Manila, at March 22nd -24th, 2011.

[9]     Yuthtamanop, S. “Rediscovering the passion for teaching in Southeast Asia: The Thailand case”. Paper presented in the 3^rd Regional Forum Seameo Innotech in Quezon City, Manila, at March 22nd -24th, 2011..

[10]  Quijano, YS. “Sustaining positive energy and motivation for teaching”. Paper presented in the 3^rd Regional Forum Seameo Innotech in Quezon City, Manila, at March 22nd -24th, 2011.