Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom

About passion in the classroom ~ “The classroom should be an exciting place. If we are all emotionally shut down, how can there be any excitement about ideas? When we bring our passions to the classroom, our collective passions come together and there is often an emotional response, one that can overwhelm” (pg. 154).

I think that this quote by bell hooks shows us teachers that we need to make sure that we keep the spirits in the classroom high. Lots of times from experience I know that if a teacher is mad one day then the students will not respond as well to the lesson being taught. As the old quote says "Misery loves company". I also believe that hooks made a good point in that if there is passion involved in teaching and learning then students will perform better. I think bell hook is telling us as teachers to love what we teach so that students will love to learn, it is in a way teaching by example. As a novice teacher working as an interventionist in the schools I believe that hooks brings up the vital point of the necessity of care about subject matter. Ultimately if the environment is happy and energetic then the students will become more engaged and interested about learning, also by being interested in the students they will realize that you the teacher is trying to do whats best for them and therefore they will make more of an effort to please you.