I was an adjunct for a few years and I fit into neither of your &quot;categories&quot;.<p>When I taught my first class, I did it as a personal favor to the department chair, whom I had a good relationship with (I&#x27;d often come in to different classes and speak to the students about our field and such).  A few days before classes began, the instructor for this particular course &quot;fell through&quot; and she asked me if I would be willing to teach the course. After some thought, I gave in and agreed. I ended up teaching several different courses of a few years and I didn&#x27;t do it for either of the reasons you mentioned.<p>While teaching the first course, I found that I genuinely enjoyed it. At the end of that term, I received my (anonymous) evaluations from my students and they were outstanding. I was compared to (and rated much better) than their previous instructors, many of whom I considered friends. I agreed to keep teaching.<p>I certainly didn&#x27;t do it for money. I was only paid for the hours I spent in the classroom -- no pay for &quot;prep time&quot;, the hours I spent grading papers, etc. All things considered, I earned less than $10 per hour. I could have made more working at a fast-food restaurant -- and probably been less stressed out.<p>I taught because I truly enjoyed it and became, to use your word, quite &quot;passionate&quot; about it. To this day, I remain friends with a lot of my former students -- many of whom now work in my field. I&#x27;ve even had the pleasure of working with a few of them professionally. It feels good to see them &quot;grow up&quot; and to have them thank me, years later, for making a difference in their education.<p>Sometimes I actually miss it but, then again, I never did it &quot;just as supplemental income&quot;.