GIVEAWAYS: The author is giving away (3) $5 Amazon Gift Cards during this tour! For your chance to win, all you have to do is leave a comment below as well as leaving a comment on the author’s 4WillsPub tour page. GOOD LUCK!
Today, it is my great honor to turn my blog over to an inspirational author and RRBC member, John J. Fiorvanti. I’ll let him tell you about his book, “Reflections!”
Good day to you! I extend my appreciation to Jan, who generously agreed to have me as a guest, and to the good folks at 4 Wills Publishing who organized this tour.
An Incurable Romantic
“One might say I am an incurable romantic in that my emotions have a lot to do with who I am, what I do, and why I do things. I must write about that which inspires passion within me.”
~John Fioravanti
I took this quote from the Introduction of my book, A Personal Journey To The Heart Of Teaching. It is an autobiographical work in that I trace my path from childhood to professional teacher. I wrote the book primarily for new teachers, those studying to join the profession, and for those who are thinking about teaching as a career. I recognized the signs of high stress among new teachers and I hoped the book would help them realize that they are not alone in these feelings and that it is a good thing to reach out for help.
I used the word romantic in the first line above in the sense that I’m an idealist. I strive to keep myself grounded in reality, but I refuse to lose sight of what is possible both for myself and the world in which I live. Throughout the book, I speak of my quest for the heart of teaching. I searched for over three decades for this ideal in order that my work in the classroom would reflect it, even if it paled by comparison.
As well, the first sentence of the quote reveals that I am a person driven by emotion. There were times when this got me into all kinds of trouble as a child and as a young adult I struggled to harness my emotions and just sit on them. I failed. I am what I am! During the ensuing years, I came to understand that these emotions that I regarded with a jaundiced eye, were not the enemy. It was what I did with them that could be judged as good or bad.
Good ideas appeal to my rational side but they don’t motivate me to action or to write. Feelings about ideas or events galvanize me to express myself through writing. Whether I’m writing a reflection like this or writing a fictional story, I must be emotionally invested in order to produce anything that satisfies me. Thus, I write for myself. If others enjoy what I write, that pleases me but I write because my feelings about something compel me. If there is no passion, there is no writing happening. I don’t see this as good or bad; it just is.
This is the kind of teacher I became – one driven by passion. Some students would lament that history is boring and useless. I’d smile before I replied and would notice some students who knew me were smiling as well. I taught history because I thought it was exciting to find out about people who lived long ago, breathed the same air, saw the same sunsets, and felt the fears and joys that we the living still do. I allowed my passion for the subject at hand to flow freely and enjoyed watching the bored students transform into avid listeners who started to think about the past in a different way. I could not teach any other way. It is who I am.
An Amazon Review:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Voice of Inspiration
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2019
Format: Kindle Edition
On the cover, John Fioravanti is described as ‘A Voice of Inspiration’. That intrigued me. The further I delved into his writings the more this bold claim proved to be true.
The concept of this book is simple. Take fifty quotes from a variety of people that have touched the author’s life, ranging from ancient philosophers to more recent influential characters and talented individuals from the present day. Then add personal experiences and interpretations to those inspirational quotations. A simple concept maybe, but it takes real skill to write the motivational passages Mr Fioravanti has done in such an easy-to-understand way.
Enthusiasm and the love of writing shine through as you read the author’s astute observations. His background as a History teacher for thirty-five years gives reassurance of his own experience in tackling many challenges in the real world. Despite his own self-confessed demons, which he has learned to overcome, a positive and refreshing approach to life inspires you to achieve the same.
I read this book after Christmas, a period of reflection on the year just gone and the year to come. It challenged me on many levels. The lessons learned will help improve my attitude toward life. It is an inspirational volume I will return to when I need renewed motivation.
– by Robert Fear
Author Bio:
John Fioravanti is a retired secondary school educator who completed his thirty-five-year career in the classroom in June 2008.
Throughout his career, John focused on developing research, analysis, and essay writing skills in his History classroom. This led to the publication of his first non-fiction work for student use, Getting It Right in History Class. A Personal Journey to the Heart of Teaching is his second non-fiction work; it attempts to crystallize the struggles, accomplishments, and setbacks experienced in more than three decades of effort to achieve excellence in his chosen field.
John’s first work of fiction is Passion & Struggle, Book One of The Genesis Saga, and is set within Kenneth Tam’s Equations universe (Iceberg Publishing). He claims that, after two non-fiction books, he’s having the time of his life bringing new stories and characters to life! Book Two is Treachery & Triumph.
At present, John lives in Waterloo, Ontario with Anne, his bride of forty-six years. They have three children and three grandchildren. In December of 2013, John and Anne founded Fiora Books for the express purpose of publishing John’s books.
JOHN’S LINKS:
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