It is with great sadness that we announce the loss of a friend, colleague and all-round outstanding person. Michael Merrett, the marketing manager of EvaluNet and deputy editor of Teacher’s Monthly tragically passed away on Monday 13 September 2010.

Mike, a volunteer fire fighter in his spare time, was on his way back from a fire on Lion’s Head in the Table Mountain National Park when he died in a motorcycle accident.

He was 24 years old.

He was instrumental in the design of Teacher’s Monthly and helped the magazine achieve over 7,000 visitors on a monthly basis.

You can read Mike’s last column on Teacher’s Monthly by clicking here.

Here are some photos to remember him by …

Mike throwing a Steri Stumpie (his favourite drink) from the 3rd floor of the EvaluNet office building

Mike studied Graphic Design at CPUT and came out top of his class

Mike with his brother, Richard. Richard is also a volunteer fire fighter.

Good times at the office on the day of the opening ceremony of the World Cup Soccer

Mike with his mates from the Volunteer Wildfire Services

Mike was instrumental in helping to extinguish fires that ravaged the Helderberg Mountain range in 2009

Mike, always a joker, playing the fool in front of a moving fire services vehicle

“Sir, this is the most boring book I’ve ever read!”  I chirped my matric English teacher. “It’s got no relevance to us,” I continued as we plodded our way through another double period taking turns to read sections from “Shades”, our English set work book. The monotonous drone that was the tone in which most my peers chose to read their parts only exasperated the situation and drove home my point.

We were finding it a dull read. I’m not saying it is a dull book, (for those of you who haven’t read it, it isn’t badly written) but I don’t think it was suited to grab the attention of 18 year old boys living in the year 2004. Not only was it a dull read, but the whole classroom environment was dull. We were sitting in a bland classroom that had one lonely poster on the wall which had probably been left behind by the previous inhabitant judging by its faded appearance and dated look.

I almost think my teacher agreed with me as he half-heartedly defended why we were reading the book. There were so many other topics and themes we could be reading about that would engage us, I thought as I drifted off into a daydream and  began developing a vision in my head of a utopian classroom that looked something like this:

Before entering the classroom there is a thought provoking message on the door that changes on a daily basis, perhaps an interesting quote or breathtaking image. Something to set the tone and get some inspiration flowing.  As I enter the room, there is an explosion of colour as creative and interesting posters and murals adorned the walls and ceiling. The carpeted floor requires we leave our shoes at the entrance – one wouldn’t want to get mud on a pristine Persian rug now would you? The teacher, a leggy, blond, former swimsuit model strolls in (remember this an 18 year olds’ fantasy) and tells us she’s got some extremely relevant and interesting books to choose from for our set work. “This one’s about a drug addicts struggle to get clean and be accepted into society, and this one’s about the lives of the teenage children of New York’s rich and successful, purrs Ms McKenzie as she glances over at me and gives me an inviting wink.

Ok, so it’s a pretty far-fetched vision, but I was and still am convinced that if teachers can find more ways of relating to their target market then we’ll see an improvement in interest and therefore results. There is a big gap between teachers and learners, now more-so than ever. The things that interest children and teenagers now are very different to what they were as little as 5 years ago. I believe teachers should embrace this and tap into what makes the youth tick. Embrace technology and social trends and incorporate them into what you teach this generation to whom the words chip, boot, window and apple have completely different meanings to what they did to the previous generation.

Think like a business. You’re a teacher. Your ‘product’ is knowledge. Your ‘target market’ is your learners. In advertising, a business will do whatever it needs to do in order to make it’s product appealing to the target market. So package your knowledge enticingly. Make it colourful, and start thinking like a business.

Here are some more words that have taken on a completely new meaning thanks to technology. Use them in their new context to your class to “wow!” your learners.

If you’re a teacher reading this column heading with shock and disgust then hang in there. I do know how to spell and my grammar is about as good as any 24 year old, technically-savvy, sms generation man.

I matriculated at SACS High School in 2004 after spending both my junior and high school careers at the oldest school in South Africa. When I finished school, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life other than knowing that it would be along the creative line. I toyed with the ideas of being a chef, a fine artist or something in the film industry.

After two years pottering around working random jobs and generally gaining post-school experience I woke up one day knowing exactly what I wanted to do with my life … I wanted to be a graphic designer. What’s more, I had made the decision all by myself, and I knew it was the right one.

“Take that, people who said dropping maths and science would be a grave mistake!” I thought to myself as I read my acceptance letter to study Graphic Design ND at CPUT. “Take that teachers! In fact, take that school! What did you do for me?” I thought.

Sure I had studied Art at school and that was probably my favourite subject (not only because we could get away with almost anything thanks to a few very liberal teachers over the years). Otherwise I couldn’t think of a single other subject that I had taken and stressed-out about come exam time, which played the slightest role in what I had decided to study and most likely would make a life of.

“What a waste of money!” I convinced myself. All those years of wearing a uniform and boater and getting average marks when I could have just gone to some design school to begin with.

I actually immaturely held that view for most of my tertiary education until it gradually dawned on me that what I had learnt at that fine school was far more important than the subjects or the sports games.

I had learnt how to be a gentleman, a people’s person and a confident young man. I had learnt social skills, etiquette teamwork and leadership. Qualities that made me stand out from others and skills that made me proud of everything I had achieved. Skills that didn’t come from any particular subject but from my entire, fortunate schooling experience at the hands of dedicated teachers and traditions that dated back over 150 years.

I now see the absolute importance of a good education and how vital it is to developing character, as well as a sound academic mind. It doesn’t matter whether or not the subjects you did had any bearing on what you end up doing after school.

Today I am working as a Marketing Manager for a company that develops educational software for schoolchildren and teachers.

Thank you SACS.

About this column

Thanks for visiting! In the upcoming months you’ll find out what a young gent who works as a Marketing Manager/Graphic Designer has to say about schools, education, art and design in schools as well as his recent nostalgic memories of the institution he called home for 12 years.

Be sure to watch out for his first article entitled “Wat did skool do 4 me?”.