Teacher Appreciation

I've talked about my Education class, Personal Adjustment, and my feelings for math in this blog before. But the one class I haven't talked about yet is my Social Welfare class.

Social welfare is one of my "don't stress about it" classes because it's not the most challenging class I'm taking this semester. In order to study for tests, all I have to do is read and take notes. Most of the time the readings are easy despite it being lengthy. The classtime is mainly lectures and there is no homework assignments (other than reading). However, what I like most about this class is my professor.

My professor always grasps at opportunities to increase learning. He always asks, "What can we do to learn more?" Although he's elderly and has many degrees, he's continuing his studies in Chamorro and will be graduating next semester. He gives the class time to participate in local conferences. (The most recent one was the Island of Sustainability conference. He canceled class so all of us can have an equal chance to attend.) He incorporates his passions into his lectures, talking about his stories and intrinsic and extrinsic values of being in this field of work. He inserts jokes from time to time, and he always encourages students to speak.

Despite the class being about Global Social Welfare, my professor ties the lessons we learned into the local community. We talk a lot of local current events from news, to changes in the university, to festivals, etc. He spoke about the best countries to live as well as how to help improve countries that aren't doing well in their Human Development.

For a man his age, I can see my professor beaming with youth whenever he teaches. When I become a teacher, I hope to keep as much passion as he does.