Whether you like it or not, teachers have a difficult time as well as students, especially today. More homework, more tests and more assessments – it seems endless doesn't it. The reason for all these tests for good or for bad, is that they are supposed to measure and monitor both the system of learning i.e. the school, the material, the teacher as well as the students performance. The other aspect is that sometimes, the extra homework is a way of compensating for the lack of actual teaching and learning that takes place in the classroom. From your point of view, and according to the situation that you seem to be in, if there is an easier way, it is called focus or concentration. Sounds boring?

Well, do you play computer games? What about Pacman? Have you played it? It is boring? Why is it boring? Play it again, in fact three times. Each time, observe how you play. When do you feel that the game will never end? When do you do well in the game and when do you do badly in the game? Is there a connection between when you are actually interested in what you are doing and success and does the time seem shorter? It is all a matter of state of mind.

The brain copes with emotions as well as thinking and learning. When you feel good about what you are doing, you enjoy it more, and also you are more interested in what you are learning. When it comes to homework, are you more interested in what else you could be doing or on the homework? Silly question, but the more focused you are on what you are doing the more you understand, the more you will get out if it and it also takes less time. If you resent doing homework, any feelings of fear, anxiety, anger and frustration will undermine your learning or doing well in a boring game of Pacman!

So, basically, the more you make the most of what you are doing, while you are doing it, the more time you will have on your hands to do other things.

Effective learning is helped by:

• yourself
• your capacity to learn
• The method os studying that works for you
• your interest in, and knowledge of, the subject you wish to learn

Organize your time by studying at a set time each day for a set number of hours. E.g. 6.00pm for two hours, then half-an-hours break/ break for refreshments/meal. Then resume for another hour-and-a-half. Then relax before you go to bed.

With softball season coming up, you might want to study less on practice days and more on the days that you do not have any softball practice, but as much as possible, stick to the set-time. The reason for this, is that you prepare the mind and the body, to study/do homework by being regular with the times of studying, in this, so they mind and the body learns to expect that you will be studying at 6.00pm for instance. Also in this way, you develop the habit of doing homework/project work. If you were a Muslim, I would suggest that you organize into the all-important prayer times. Each prayer only takes five minutes, and the act of prayer in Islam exercises the spine and heart along with the connecting nerves which together according to recent findings from a university in Malaysia, increases the ability to concentrate.

Time-management is also the skill you develop by sticking to a set time scehdule as to when you will study. As you sit down to study, make a list of the tasks you want to complete within that time. Prioritize the tasks from the most important task to the least improtant task.

Learning style . Knowing your own learning style, also helps to get the best out of you. The reason for this, is that the learning process, is not simply listening, reading or writing. For example, with my duaghter, when she had to study what she considered to be a boring subject, I suggested that she read it out aloud so that she could record the subject on a tape-recorder. When she, played the tape back, she realized how boring she sounded, so she would record it again with more enthusiasm. The end result is that she learnt how to enjoy what she was doing and had the tape to play back and listen to for revision. She could also be doing something else at the same time. Does that contradict the idea of focusing? Not really, because as previously mentioned, learning includes the ability to absorb, listen and the ability to understand. Because all of her energy was not struggling to concentrate, she was mor relaxed and therefore receptive. Three of the conditions for learning are:

By assessing your learning style, you can discover the different ways of learning that suit you best and then you more able to establish how to study.

As for your concerts and softball, they are just as important too. These activities help to keep you alert, and you will feel less jaded when it comes to studying, but firstly, establish your learning style, because maybe the way you are studying now, is what is making homework and project less fun.