by Jules Roberts

Created on: April 21, 2008

Education is an important subject, as our access to good education and our success with it can have a huge impact on the quality of our lives. There is a lot of snobbery about which subjects are more valuable than others. There is also a school of thought that you can only measure 'success' in terms of grades received. My experience of education is that it is often unimaginative and rigid and oppressive. Too often, it lacks CREATIVITY.

I have witnessed teachers strangle a subject by speaking flatly and at length in a dull and painfully long session that is guaranteed to send student brains to sleep. The content of the whole lesson can get lost in a sea of dreariness that drowns all previous enthusiasm for the subject. My history teacher actually made me think I hated the subject of history. I only discovered I liked the subject when I got Discovery Channel and National Geographic on my TV. My history teacher used to stand at the front of the classroom reading us long and boring accounts of historical events from text books. This style of teaching can really hold back the potential of not only students, but also the teacher. The way the lesson is taught is very important.

People all learn differently. Some people have the gift of a great memory and may do well in exams simply by remembering facts. Other people may remember tasks they have completed. My stubborn brain will only bother to remember what it finds interesting. Because of the way my brain works I have often been described by teachers as an 'under-achiever' because although I may initially show potential in a subject, my brain can suddenly switch off too easily when it feels bored. When this happens, my good grades take a nose-dive as my brain focuses on doodling cartoons all over my notepaper instead of submitting itself to the task of extracting facts from the boring droning in the classroom.

Whatever subject is being taught, a huge injection of CREATIVITY can deliver the contents of the lesson straight into the brain. Creatively planning lessons is a great start to waking up sleepy brains and leaving a memory of the lesson imprinted there for a longer period of time - evidence that students are truly learning. I am not a teacher, but as the owner of a stubborn brain, I offer a few tips below that would work for me;

1. Release the enthusiasm for your subject into the classroom. Passion can be infectious. Maths is not interesting to me, but for one year I had a maths teacher who spoke about maths so passionately

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