As a teacher, how can we help students discover their passions?

Being a former College teacher in Japan, you ask the most important question that any teacher can ask. Never force a student "into" something. If they don't feel it, they don't have it for that area. The "passion bug" as you call it does not really start to set in until mid-high school years. Beleive it or not. Even in college many students "think" they know what they want to do as a career, but in the end, some, not all do something entirely different, sound familiar?

Discovering a "passion" is like discovering a person who is truly passionate about life. Many are not. "Oh, he is so passionate about this book etc"...But how does that relate to the dream of desire? that thing that drives us to what we want to do in life? We tend to live in a secular world of doubt and frustration. Even today I ask myself, "what do I truly want to do in it", I still haven't found it yet. Is this an "un-focused mind? I have done so much in life and it beckons me on to do more and not just "1 thing".I have taught in Japan at all levels and yet as disciplined as the Japanese are...they doubt to as to what they truly want. They say, " I like chocolate ice-cream now", but then change to "orange sherbert" later...why? As I told you if a student does not truly feel what life is all about, how can you say, "how can I help students discover their passions?". Your question is cryptic only because you do not disclose "how old are the students you are teaching"...high school? Elementary level? College? This is important because the psychological state of maturity is important here...their frame of mindset...they will start to show aspirations in many areas as long as their maturity level and how they grasp life is put into play. Meaning their "age".Time is a teacher and the teacher knows when to ignite the fire of "want" in a student when the time is right. it is not a focus point in an academic format

Time is a teacher and the teacher knows when to ignite the fire of "want" in a student when the time is right. it is not a focus point in an academic format or teaching curriculum.

I have taught in Japan at "all" levels and yet as disciplined as the Japanese are...they doubt to as to what they truly want. They say, " I like chocolate ice-cream now", but then change to "orange sherbert" later...why? As I told you if a student does not truly feel what life is all about, how can you say, "how can I help students discover their passions?". Your question is cryptic only because you do not disclose "how old are the students you are teaching"...high school? Elementary level? College? This is important because the psychological state of maturity is important here...their frame of mindset...they will start to show aspirations in many areas as long as their maturity level and how they grasp life is put into play. Meaning their "age". it is everything in determining their aspirations into the direction of life in which they will one day follow. You as a teacher will never have total control on this...you can only plant seeds in them, whether they will sprout in them or not, you will never know until they graduate, and then they look back on what it is you "instilled in them". And only then, they will, "say you did this to me"...Yes, Miss, this is a deep subject to discuss, but don't worry about it. Just be true to them always.

Time is a teacher and the teacher knows when to ignite the fire of "want" in a student when the time is right. it is not a focus point in an academic format or setting. You should know this. "Age", is everything in how to "focus" a (young mind) into comprehension of desire. I had a student in Japan who had all the focus of being someone mechanical later on in life....today, through family pressure, he became a Dentist like his older brother and father. But if you saw this kid, you would agree that from speaking to him that the way his mind works is "mechanical" and not medical. Is he happy? I think not. So you see, we tend to do not as we wish or dream in life but, in some way get sidetracked somewhere in the process of life and make a wrong turn into doing something that we truly are not as passionate about.

I hope this helps you. Students of all ages look for that "intuitive connection" with heir teacher. Just focus on that and let the pieces fall as they will in the course of time...