A few weeks ago I was talking with a friend who said he did his day job like he made art. This got me to thinking. This is true of me, too. I teach like I make art.
Here is my process for making art:
1. I pull in all the inspiration I can from my life and the world around me--past and present.
2. I hatch the idea and I learn everything I can about it.
3. I create a plan for how I think it will work, with a picture of the end product in my mind or loosely interpreted in a sketch.
4. I start to create. It's usually messy and the process is never exactly what I predicted. It is trial and error as I try out different materials and resources. The process is never ever identical to any previous experience. I work at trusting my intuition.
5. I usually stop because it feels like it is time to stop.
6. I let it rest.
7. I might come back and tweak it or just launch it out into the world. Sometimes the launch is big--like a juried show, and sometimes it is smaller--just hanging it on the wall in my house or studio.
SO HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO TEACHING?
My process for teaching is very similar:
1. I pull in inspiration from the world around me, my current students, and all my years of past experience.
2. I hatch and idea because I am always evolving as a teacher, and then I try to learn everything I can about that idea via books, the internet, workshops, etc.
3. I am a huge planner. I loosely plan out each year over the summer. I write it down. This is rarely where I end up, but I feel like the planning is an important part of the process.
4. I start to teach. Sometimes it looks messy and chaotic, because I don't think kids learn in a straight path. I never do exactly the same thing two times, because I'm never working in exactly the same situation two times.
5. I push the students to do their best work, but I try to trust my intuition about when it is time to stop. {This is different for most students, and this is an easy step to overlook, but oh, so important.}
6. I let the content simmer and settle in them. Sometimes we take a break before revisiting something.
7. I try to launch students out into the world to show what they know. It might be with a comment from me or it might be in a larger presentation arena.
I'm not a fan of coloring inside the lines, and I'm not a fan of teaching to tests of following scripts. I think the world deserves more imaginative art, and students deserve more creative teachers.
I'm inviting you to join me in Teaching Like An Artist!
I would like to offer you a FREE 20 minute coaching session about what your next step or microstep will be in this journey toward more creative and intuitive teaching and living will be. This is a no strings attached offer. I'm not trying to sell you some other product. I genuinely just want to encourage you at this moment. {You don't need to be a formal "teacher" to take advantage--it's open to everyone.} I want to extend a special invitation to school administrators. SIGN UP HERE.
Here is my process for making art:
1. I pull in all the inspiration I can from my life and the world around me--past and present.
2. I hatch the idea and I learn everything I can about it.
3. I create a plan for how I think it will work, with a picture of the end product in my mind or loosely interpreted in a sketch.
4. I start to create. It's usually messy and the process is never exactly what I predicted. It is trial and error as I try out different materials and resources. The process is never ever identical to any previous experience. I work at trusting my intuition.
5. I usually stop because it feels like it is time to stop.
6. I let it rest.
7. I might come back and tweak it or just launch it out into the world. Sometimes the launch is big--like a juried show, and sometimes it is smaller--just hanging it on the wall in my house or studio.
SO HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO TEACHING?
My process for teaching is very similar:
1. I pull in inspiration from the world around me, my current students, and all my years of past experience.
2. I hatch and idea because I am always evolving as a teacher, and then I try to learn everything I can about that idea via books, the internet, workshops, etc.
3. I am a huge planner. I loosely plan out each year over the summer. I write it down. This is rarely where I end up, but I feel like the planning is an important part of the process.
4. I start to teach. Sometimes it looks messy and chaotic, because I don't think kids learn in a straight path. I never do exactly the same thing two times, because I'm never working in exactly the same situation two times.
5. I push the students to do their best work, but I try to trust my intuition about when it is time to stop. {This is different for most students, and this is an easy step to overlook, but oh, so important.}
6. I let the content simmer and settle in them. Sometimes we take a break before revisiting something.
7. I try to launch students out into the world to show what they know. It might be with a comment from me or it might be in a larger presentation arena.
I'm not a fan of coloring inside the lines, and I'm not a fan of teaching to tests of following scripts. I think the world deserves more imaginative art, and students deserve more creative teachers.
I'm inviting you to join me in Teaching Like An Artist!
I would like to offer you a FREE 20 minute coaching session about what your next step or microstep will be in this journey toward more creative and intuitive teaching and living will be. This is a no strings attached offer. I'm not trying to sell you some other product. I genuinely just want to encourage you at this moment. {You don't need to be a formal "teacher" to take advantage--it's open to everyone.} I want to extend a special invitation to school administrators. SIGN UP HERE.
RSS Feed
