In David Epstein’s recent book Range, he makes the case that most breakthroughs in science, art, technology, medicine, music, and sports come from those with a wide range of interests and abilities.
For example, Nobel laureates in science are 22 times more likely than their peers to have hobbies outside of their field.
The ability to draw on knowledge gleaned from dabbling in several areas—regardless of what they are—arms you with broad, integrative skills that can give you a distinct advantage over those who specialize.
It provides unique insight and varying points of view, allowing the generalist to apply new forms to stagnate methods and problems.
A range of interests can also have a profound impact on the classroom.
I’ve written about the value of content knowledge over instructional methods here at SCM and in The Happy Teacher Habits.
Knowing how to properly employ project-based learning or group work, for example, is important, to be sure. But it pales in comparison to your ability to bring your subject matter to life for your students.
Your deep understanding of content is what draws students in and causes them to care about what they’re learning. It’s the stories, the personalities, the little-known history and inside-baseball that inspire students to want to learn.
Contrary to what you hear in staff development trainings, it’s the nitty-gritty details of your subject that are most interesting to students and the key to drenching them in the learning experience.
They’re critical to the development of intrinsic motivation and getting students to forget about grades, lunchtime, or anything else in favor of what you’re teaching.
They pull students into a state of flow, where time flies and learning for the sake of learning becomes the only goal.
Content expertise is one of the secrets to great teaching.
However, when combined with a breadth of knowledge, which can include hobbies like travel, sports, reading, painting, and, most important, time away from teaching, then you have the tools to be that one teacher your students will always remember.
Application is the benefit here.
The ability to take an isolated topic and make sense of it for your students through personal anecdotes and examples from outside their realm of experience increases interest tenfold and deepens comprehension.
Making teaching your hobby or primary interest—as so many teachers do—can actually make you a worse teacher. Too much focus on instructional methods, and believing they’re the be-all and end-all of effective teaching, can blind you to the real world your students need connection with to derive meaning and inspiration.
If you’re preoccupied with the nuances of reading strategies, cooperative learning methods, technology integration, and so on, then you’re rooting around in the weeds and wasting time on things that just don’t matter.
You’re missing out on what really makes for exceptional teaching. You’re missing the heart of the matter.
You’re missing the fascination and the drama, the meaning and the sparks of wisdom, the humming of life outside your classroom walls. Again, that isn’t to say that instructional methods don’t have their place.
They do. But they can be learned in an afternoon or two.
The lesson is this: Get away from teaching. Go hiking with your family. Swim. Paint. Read. Write. Play an instrument. Start a business. Take a class. Coach your kid’s soccer team. Learn and get out into the world, even in small doses.
Put down the lesson plan book and indulge in your favorite hobbies and interests without guilt.
Not only is it a powerful antidote to teaching-related stress, but you’ll become a more effective, interesting, and charismatic teacher.
One your students will be excited to listen to and learn from.
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This is great- thanks!
Most of my professional experience has been in substitute teaching. I have been interested in many subjects my whole life, and this knowledge has helped me many times in the classroom. Last year, I was substituting in a Spanish language class, and my students wanted to listen to music as they studied. After explaining to them that the music had to be instrumental (vocal is too hard to censor), they said they wanted to hear Spanish music. I thought of the Spanish classical guitarist Andres Segovia, found a recording of one of his performances online, and told the students his name and a sentence or two about him. At the end of class, one of the boys came up to me and wanted to know more about Andres Segovia, so we looked for more information. I was so excited that one of my students wanted to learn more. I told him that when I was a preschooler, my family lived in an apartment in an old house upstairs from my grandparents. I used to put my ear to the floor and listen to my father and grandfather playing Mr. Segovia’s music on the record player. I also remembered that 60 Minutes had done a program on him. Having broad interests can help make subjects come to life.
“Having broad interests can help make subjects come to life.”
Well said. We get too boxed in if we think education is just meant for students to be “successful”. It’s to become a well-rounded, interested and interesting human being.
I agree 100%. A wide variety of interests and a deep love and knowledge of at least one of these interests has huge benefits in the classroom and also contributes to the emotional well-being of teachers, an essential component. General knowledge and specific knowledge are often referred to as trivia unfortunately, especially in North America. There’s nothing trivial about it! Call it what it is – knowledge.
Thank you! Needed to hear this. I feel like I can never catch up with all the teacher stuff–grades, planning, strategies etc., and if I could just devote more time to it I would be OK or would improve….but I feel like I am losing myself.
Thanks also for emphasizing the importance of content knowledge. I have seen studies that rank it very low in terms of factors that influence student achievement (sorry, I don’t have references; the info was presented in either a teacher ed course or PD at some point). In my opinion, you can’t teach what you don’t know!
Thank you for this post…in a weird way you have given me “permission” to re-connect with my hobbies and passions. I love teaching, but lately, the stress and demands of keeping up with grading, planning, and kowtowing to constant evaluations, IEP meetings, district PD days (of which we have many and actually take time away from what we really need to be doing), and fending off sickness are slowly taking its toll on me. I need to make time to renew my spirit, connect with my family and let me be me.
I am a birder, and frequently share my birding “finds” with my students. They know I particularly love owls. I have big prints of bird photos I have taken on display in my classroom. Last week I got a hand-made picture of an owl for a valentine. It is a keeper.
Even drawing as a hobby can be used to teach .Reading novels help my students to win a compition ,too.
Well said, as usual! You can’t be an interesting teacher if you’re not an interesting person.
And by “interesting,” I don’t necessarily mean “cool” or “hip.” I happened to mention the other day that I had taken my dog to the dog park the previous day after school. Not exactly scintillating stuff! But my high school students were instantly curious and engaged. What kind of dog? How old is she? How long have you had her? And I got to hear about their dogs, cats, reptiles, and other assorted critters. And, being in a rural district, I also got to learn about their 4-H project cows and pigs! Given that the discussion started about 3 minutes before the bell, I let it go to the end of the period, but some students stayed behind to tell me about their animal friends.
The point is, the hobby or interest doesn’t have to be race car driving or bungy jumping. My students know I’m a Star Trek nerd, love my dog and my cat, am in a book club, and several other activities. None of these are super “exciting,” yet they still make me relatable and human.
I also could not agree more about subject content. One of the most popular lessons I give in history is on the development and use of the guillotine. Any students uncomfortable with the subject matter are excused to the library, where they get to watch a fun history movie. Then my class gets into the nitty-gritty and they love it! I have students come back years later and still remember all about the French Revolution just because of the guillotine.
One note: Although I love to share my hobbies and outside activities and weirdly macabre store of historical “trivia,” I always maintain boundaries. My students don’t know where I live, don’t have my phone number or email address (except school email), are not on my (limited) social media, and do not know the details of my personal life. Michael emphasizes this in his books, and I agree 100%. I have no non-school contact with students, period. Some of the young teachers who have small children hire girls from the school as babysitters and I personally feel that is a mistake.
Anyway, I started all this to say, thanks again, Michael, for another great article! You make my weekends!
Michael,
I wonder what your take is on some of the research around “teacher background knowledge.” I am a big believer, as you are, in the power of teachers having strong content knowledge for the all the reasons you enumerate in Happy Teacher Habits. Our district is big into John Hattie’s research, especially his contention that teacher background knowledge is “low impact” on students. How does one push back against such a claim?
Be the well-rounded, interesting person you want your students to grow up to be!
This can be but, it is not totally necessary in teaching, Each setting is unique in it’s self. I substitute teach and not all of the students know anything about me but my name. At some point and time the content of the lesson and the concepts that are to be developed is all the time you have to spend with the students. However, hands on and actual experience is always a plus in teaching and learning.