Teachers need passion every day in the classroom. Burgess breaks down passion into three distinct categories: Content, Professional, and Personal.

• Content Passion: The love and excitement you have for specific topics and standards you teach

• Professional Passion: The reasons you became a teacher

• Personal Passion: The things you love and enjoy outside of the classroom that have nothing to do with teaching

In the book, Burgess suggests writing down your professional passions to realign yourself as a teacher. I mean, seriously, when was the last time you wrote down what you were passionate about as an educator?

Take just a few minutes and write some thoughts down. Here are mine:

I am passionate about creating lifelong learners who love math and see it everywhere in the world. I am passionate about getting kids to think deeply, ask questions, and think creatively. I am passionate about helping my students become problem solvers and community leaders. I want them to understand the power of YET and perseverance. I want to create a community of learners that think math is fun and that see the different strengths in each other.

Once I got started, I almost couldn't stop. It turns out I have a lot of professional passion.

Passion is not a singular entity. It comes in many forms. By including a mixture of all these passions in your teaching, your classroom becomes a place where engagement, joy, and excitement thrives for both the students and the teacher.