When I was in Grade 7, our music teacher gave us an assignment on researching our favourite band or music artist and re-write one of their songs. I was extremely eager for this assignment because 1) music, specifically singing had been my passion for as long as I can remember and 2) I had always been interested in song-writing but had never taken the time to actually go for it. I chose to re-write the song Untitled by Simple Plan and put my whole heart and soul into a song dedicated to my grandmother who had recently died. This assignment and song has continued to stick in my memory because it was not only a touching experience, but opened up my eyes to a new passion of singing/songwriting.
Now as an aspiring teacher, I know that passion-based learning is an approach that I would love to utilize in my classroom. Passion-based learning is an instructional approach that is driven by student interest and commitment (Drake, Reid, & Kolohon, 2014). Through this interest, the curriculum becomes personalized and relevant to each student (Drake, Reid, & Kolohon, 2014). For much of my assignments throughout my educational career, many of my teachers gave us the option to create a topic for say a speech, essay, or science project. What I think is really unique about passion-based learning, however is that students are able to steer the curriculum into an area that really interests them, and actually take action within their passion. Although the example of my song-writing assignment was not necessarily considered passion-based, it certainly created a passion within me. If it had been a passion-based, I could see that there would be so many other aspects of music that I would have loved to explore. For example, producing my music. I know that it would be a challenge and the end results of something I had created would have been an extraordinary thing.
When looking at ways that one can incorporate passion-based learning into the classroom, there are several ideas posted online. An example that was discussed in EDUC 4P27 is Genius Hour. In Genius Hour, students are given 20% of their class time to working on a passion project. This method can not only inspire a love for learning, but also guides students to inquire, learn and reflect (Laura Lane, Personal Communication, March 16, 2016). Passion-based learning may be difficult to commence in a classroom because sometimes students are too nervous to delve in an area of interest in fear of failing. In order to create passion within students, teachers need to find out what their students are innately passionate about as well as exude passion in their teaching, so as to infect their students with excitement about their project (Laura Lane, Personal Communication, March 2016).
As I have grown older, I have discovered new passions of teaching, working with children of special needs, and recently playing the guitar. With the example of my Grade 7 music assignment, yes I had known that I had a passion for singing, but it helped me realize my passion for song-writing as well. As a future teacher, nothing would make me more excited or inspired if that through a passion-based learning approach, my students would find and explore their own passions to new heights into something they could never imagined. For those of you reading, if you were to take away anything from this final blog I would hope that you are inspired to further explore your current passions, create new ones and know that learning can be fun!
References
Drake, S., Kolohon, W., & Reid, J. (2014). Interweaving curriculum and classroom assessment: Engaging the 21st century learner (1st ed.). Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press.
