Great teachers can make anything interesting

We're back to Carol Ann Tomlinson's book The Differentiated Classroom again and here's a quote from Paul Fleischman who wrote Dateline: Troy, which illustrates the events of The Iliad with headlines from contemporary newspapers. I think his thoughts are right on the mark.

My real hope is that teachers will be inspired to do what the best teachers have been doing all along-making seemingly remote subjects real and relevant to their students...I think that showing them meaningful links to their own lives will make real readers of them, rather than takers of tests and memorizers of facts. This applies to every subject in the curriculum. Why else did I get a D in trigonometry? I was unconvinced that mastering sines and tangents was interesting in its own right or of any practical value to me. I'm confident, however, that the right teacher could convince me (p. 41).

Aint that the truth. I still vividly remember the great teachers in my life. Through their creativity and passion, they ignited a thirst to know more about the given subject.