29th August 2012 12:22
By Blue Tutors
Get Creative - it’s in all of us, not just the chosen few.
Steve Jobs was know for thinking outside the box. Not only in terms of product innovation but also how he reorganised his office building.
Recognising that the most creative ideas came when people were relaxed he repositioned all the places where people would naturally bump into each other so that they were central in the workspace. The coffee shop, cafeteria, mailboxes and even the loos were placed right in the centre of the office building so that people would have to meet in an informal setting, encouraging interaction and creativity.
What Jobs acknowledged we can too. Although a private tuition hour is unlikely to be able to force such radical change upon a student we can introduce a more relaxed atmosphere to our lessons. Instead of announcing the lesson goal at the beginning of the hour, perhaps we can just start a conversation: ‘I was watching a film the other night and it got me thinking about what I would invent if there were no technological barriers’ or ‘where I would go if I could fly...’, ‘what medical breakthrough would really change the world...’.
Homework could follow up on what is a lesson spent being mentally creative - if you don’t give it the time, it will never develop. So many young pupils have every hour of their waking day planned with activity that to spend an hour with you thinking creatively could be seen as essential, especially where creativity is measured and marked.
It probably wouldn’t work for every subject, or indeed every lesson, but if you mix up your teaching style it at least keeps your students on their toes.