One simple sentence underlines my credo on teaching: We desire to learn. I firmly believe this truth resonates within each and every individual and it is only interference and distraction that divert students from realizing this.

There are two fundamental reasons we all desire to learn, the first being that we recognize the necessity for it. We all couldn’t wait to learn to tie our own shoes, read a book or drive a car because we realized the immediate applications of such knowledge. My job as a teacher is to guide my students to recognize the applications of knowledge and thus develop a desire for each and every aspect of education.

Going hand-in-hand with a desire to learn is the fundamental idea that learning is enjoyable. As critical as the destination of our knowledge is the path we took to acquire it. The entertainment involved in seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting or even smelling something for the first time is unlike any experience. Why else does the entertainment, food and tourism industry thrive in almost any culture? We love the path of discovery just as much as we love the discovery itself. My job as a teacher is to make the journey to knowledge enjoyable for my students. This is what a classroom is to become: a production, a discovery, a means of engaging the senses. By revealing both the love for learning and the necessity for it, we develop a desire to learn in our students.

What I value above the abundance of memorized facts, is that my students develop a desire to learn and progress, independent of myself or the school system .We have not succeeded as professionals until we have made ourselves unnecessary. This desire arises from discovering the implications, applications and mental reformations the knowledge carries with it. Students do not learn because you are a great lecturer or because you are full of great knowledge, they learn because at some point they make a conscious decision to learn. The first five minutes of class, the pre informational period, is worth far more than the last 50 minutes of information. It is then when we instill a desire to learn, it is at that point you either gain or lose a student, it is then they decide to learn or not.

My goal is to develop a classroom where students are constantly engaged. I want to make learning fun and applicable, I want students to leave my classroom with a desire to build on the foundation I have lain. I want to sow and water the seed and create a longing to grow with each of my students that they may continue to seek other sources of water and nourishment and perhaps grow independent of teachers and parents.