The Art of Teaching
Mark Van Doren, American poet, writer and professor at Columbia University said:
“The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery”.
Teaching truly is an art form.
Each teacher is a unique artist creating a masterpiece lesson plan into which they put their own carefully chosen objects, colors, shadings, meaning and a bit of themselves.
A masterful teacher creates this masterpiece lesson, and then, like any work of art, invites the viewer/recipient to explore, discover and learn at their own pace and in their own way.
A work of art is personal and sensory and contextual.
Yet it is also universal and appeals to the humanity in all of us.
Lessons need to be personal, sensory and contextual in order to become meaningful.
They also need to be universal and teach us the “greater understandings” of life.
When something is personally meaningful to us, we make a connection…literally brain and heart connections.
This is the magic of teaching, and what may be missing in some classrooms today because of various factors.
Why has this changed, and what can a teacher do to become a masterful artist at their craft? (more…)
