Day 15: Passion, persistence and a joke!

Name three strengths you have as an educator.


    Whenever I have to talk about myself as "an educator", I sigh deeply. The person present in the class room each day is not a separate entity, so when I talk about my strengths, they are an integral part of my personality. I don't change when I walk into school. My strengths as an educator are embedded in my character.
     So here we go. I am passionate about everything I do. Otherwise I don't do it. I want to pass on my passion for languages to my students and I believe that for the most part I succeed.  I love sharing that feeling of wonder when you realize that there are many ways of seeing and communicating, the power of words, the beauty of language and literature and all those things that make me tick.
    I am patient and persistent when dealing with students, that's another one. I just won't give up and neither will my students if I can help it. I wasn't always like this. It took me years of self-analysis and empathizing, before I understood how important these traits are, not just in the class room, but in life as well. Finding different ways of doing things, developing ways for encouraging and motivating students and being happy with even the smallest progress made, all play an important role in this process.
    But my most important strength is that I don't take myself too seriously. My sense of humor has often saved me from myself, and my students from many a boring lesson. There is nothing like a dry comment or a funny joke to brighten up your day. I don't have all the answers, so I can mess up too, and my students are aware it's no big deal if they laugh when that happens.
    I would write more, but it's Monday and my to do list is just to big to warrant any more time spent on a blog. So passion, persistence and a joke, that must be enough for today.

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