I am a huge supporter in the belief that teachers should release their inner “geek” or inner “weird” into the classroom. I think by showing students some of that genuine passion and personality a strong rapport and trust can be built with them because they can get to know the real you better. Showing off your passions will also increase the interest students have in you and can even normalize passions that students may be withholding because they believe their passion would be something others may judge them for. Overall, by being more yourself you can help the creation of an accepting and supportive environment inside the classroom.
I think people can also be surprised by how transferable their “weird” can be into a classroom. For example one of my “geek” passions is dungeons and dragons. This is a picture of my dungeon and dragons (DND) set up. When I play DND I am the dungeon master, the person who runs, organizes, and writes the story and game. DND is all about adapting to a constant new flow of challenging situations, especially in creative ways. As a dungeon master I always must come to each session extremely prepared because I have no idea what the other players will decide to do and what I will need to quickly think of to adapt to their decisions. I think organization and preparedness is key to handling any unforeseen challenges (a.k.a. students). DND is all about expressing yourself, having fun, and being creative, which are all components of the classroom environment I hope to attain.
