This past weekend I saw several television shows featuring a writer, actor and rap artist named Lin-Manuel Miranda. He currently has a Broadway musical about the life of Alexander Hamilton performed in modern rap. The show has been wildly successful and already has pre-orders for tickets over $56 million. I first heard of Lin-Manuel in 2009 when he performed a rap at a White House state dinner about the life of Hamilton. You can find the video here. A social studies teacher showed it to me and told me all about having her kids communicate with Lin-Manuel via Twitter to ask questions about his motivation and style as they were assigned to write similar performances about the lives of other founding fathers.
The story of Alexander Hamilton is great and one truly founded in the concept of grit. An orphaned immigrant moves to America, works incredibly hard and eventually designs the foundation for our entire monetary system. He was passionate about his goals and driven to success. It was these character traits that resonated with Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Miranda attended a school for gifted and talented students, however his talent was in the arts, not in the regular classroom like almost all other students in the school. In his 60 minutes interview, the reporter asked Lin-Manuel why he had been so successful despite "treading water" academically in this school. Lin-Manuel responded, "I found my lane and I stuck with it and ran." He was simply determined to be successful in what he was passionate about. When he read a biography about the life of Hamilton on vacation, he was hooked. Here was a man that he could connect with and a personality that resonated with his own.
Determination and passion to succeed can often overcome other shortcomings in life. When all signs point to failure (or in our world "at-risk") these traits seem to more than level the playing field. I see the same in many of you in your classrooms. Successful and memorable teachers are the ones that are determined and passionate about what they do. They are the ones that students truly believe eat, sleep and breathe the lessons that they teach because of how involved they become. So what is it that makes you passionate about what you teach? Can your students see it? Are you running in your lane? If so, maybe there's a little Alexander Hamilton in you too.
Determination and passion to succeed can often overcome other shortcomings in life. When all signs point to failure (or in our world "at-risk") these traits seem to more than level the playing field. I see the same in many of you in your classrooms. Successful and memorable teachers are the ones that are determined and passionate about what they do. They are the ones that students truly believe eat, sleep and breathe the lessons that they teach because of how involved they become. So what is it that makes you passionate about what you teach? Can your students see it? Are you running in your lane? If so, maybe there's a little Alexander Hamilton in you too.
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