Passion

Passion is something that I feel really does need to be present in a classroom.  It definitely needs to be within the teacher, and if the students are passionate about the subject, music in my case, then it will be all the more exciting to work together.  It also is exciting to see passion grow from student to student, teacher to student, or just within one individual.

In my middle school the grades ranged from 6th to 8th.  While I was there I had 3 different choir directors (music teachers) for the 3 different years.  The teacher I had my 7th grade year was the most influential of those years, if not all of my choir/musical years.  Mr. DeBoer was not only a great musician, but a very passionate about what he did, and all students could tell.  During the year he was there he worked with 2 choirs during the day as well as many general music classes.  After school he put in time with "Showstoppers" and he also started a group called "World Music Chorale."  All students were very excited about more opportunities to perform and learn new music.  Also this gave a different type of music to students more interested in one or another.  This show how involved and passionate he was with what he did.

Another thing that showed how much he cared was when the time came to do solo and ensemble contest.  It was my first year doing it and was very nervous when it came time to select a solo.  I asked him for his opinion and he said he look to see if he could find something.  A little less than a week later he came back with "Ave Maria."  The only thing was that it wasn't just Ave Maria, it was an arrangement by him.  He took time out of his crazy life to arrange a piece just for me to sing.  This really has made a huge impact on me to this very day.