Contagious enthusiasm
“Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm. It is the real allegory of the tale of Orpheus; it moves stones and charms brutes. It is the genius of sincerity and truth accomplishes no victories without it.” Edward Bulwer Lytton
There is no substitute for experience in teaching, and experience is something that we have in abundance at Challoner’s. However, a truly great school will have a certain restlessness to become even better. One key source of inspiration and best practice to inform improvement is academic educational research about teaching and learning - an area which I find fascinating.
A significant body of research centres around the differences between how boys and girls learn, adding weight to the ad-vantages of single sex education, although I have been interested and disappointed to note that there is significantly more research about how boys learn best than for girls. However, one finding that holds true for both boys and girls is that they react as much to a teacher’s emotional investment in the subject as in their mastery of it. If both mastery and passion are combined then a potent teaching force is created.
My own educational turning point came at the beginning of Year 10. Despite enjoying John Hampden Grammar School, mostly from a social point of view, I didn’t have a favourite subject until I met Mrs Curtis. Her great overflow of love for English Literature swept me along, both enriching and motivating me. Her palpable joy at teaching her subject was inspir-ing and lit a fire in me that continues to burn. Later, Mr Reed, who remains a legend to me, coaxed another flame into life, this time for Geography. I will always feel great gratitude for the privilege of having been taught by them.
One of the great joys of teaching is to fall in love with our own subject over and over and to use that passion to awaken the joy of learning in others. Visitors to Challoner’s regularly enthuse about the school’s incredible buzz and vibrant atmos-phere. This is fuelled by the contagious enthusiasm of both our teachers and students and is one of our greatest strengths.
As Henry David Thoreau wrote:
“Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still.”
Best wishes,
Alan Roe
