One thing I’ve been thinking about for the last year or so, that I didn’t comment on in the work for this module (so something I plan to consider more as this year continues) is the role of energy in pedagogy. I recognize that many of the folks in this program about pedagogy are teaching college age students but many of us teach younger people and some people have to show pedagogy for the very very young. What is the role of energy in the classroom?

By energy, I mean enthusiasm and boisterousness. Do your students know that you clearly love the material you are sharing? Do you contagiously attract students to your subject matter? One of the articles we annotated discussed the role of authority that teachers assume to some degree or other. I think that authority is earned by expertise in many cases. Expertise in a subject area is not the same as pedagogy and the strengths of teaching.

So if much of teaching involves authority, how much involves energy. I suppose I am biased for two reasons. One, I feel like a strength of mine has been that students find me interesting because I try to be funny and compassionate in the classroom but know enough about my content and care enough about it to come off clearly interested. I think the energy I bring to the table makes my subject more attractive and therefore something students want to understand and learn. If I taught with low energy, especially in a history class, I think I would lose attention and have a generally trickier time teaching and engaging my learners.

Secondly, I think that the teachers I remember most (again there’s a personal bias here) were the ones that were clearly passionate about their subject matter. I had a music teacher that was such a great singer and motivator of other reluctant singers, I stayed in chorus throughout middle and high school. I don’t particularly like music or singing other than the minor appreciation most of us have for tunes, but she sucked me in. Math was so intimidating to me throughout my education 6th grade and up-and yet when I had a math teacher who seemed energetic, friendly, and excited at sharing math with me, I responded better. Many people I talk to about positive teaching experiences talk about how they had fun, engaging, passionate teachers.

I’ve had a hunch for a long time that it’s not even passion for the subject matter that makes good teachers, but general passion for working with youth. I think elementary teachers know this well. There aren’t many adults getting revved up by the alphabet…it’s the work with the youth and possibly the joy of watching young children understand the alphabet that truly gets kindergarten teachers out of bed. All this to say, I think there’s folks that LOVE history-they think it’s absolutely amazing. But they aren’t exciting, engaging teachers because they cannot translate that energy into something that makes an audience for it want to form.

So to conclude-I am thinking about energy and its role in a quality classroom experience for learners of all ages. I am at the same time thinking about ways to keep my energy levels high. I am constantly worried that I will stop being happy to go to work. So far, teaching is something I “get” to do as opposed to something I have to do. I dig the profession-but if I run out of energy for it at 40 or 50, then it will be tough. How can we bolster people’s energy and motivate teachers to keep the spark alive? What kinds of students need our energy to infect them and which ones don’t?