Is Teaching An Art, Science, or Craft

Art Be very creative Relational between students – feeling and empathetic Teaching is expressive – impulsive Teaching is intuitive Teaching is a very social activity Motivation Sublime and unexplainable Not routine or formulaic

Scientific Put theory into practice We have research on what works and what does not work, so we can apply that to teaching Science is creative and is social construction Some teaching is procedural that we can use You can measure learning, where they begin and what they learn You can evaluate or assess Reliability of methods Empirical nature of public accountability and civic responsibility

Craft There is a historical aspect to teaching – it can be modeled – what is good teaching A certain aspect of technique The process and skills can be learned like basket weaving Balance between art and science – having the knowledge but also the relational aspect that helps us to know how to meet the needs of students We work within a certain framework, but we have freedom within the framework for how we teach We have tools, like a craft that can be shared Motivation – you have to know each student individually to know where they need to go in their learning

What role does technology play? Offers different modalities for teaching and learning – audio, visual Offers choice Distance learning Integrates us to the rest of the world – and this is a way of life in our larger world and this is one medium Allows us to tap into many more resources than we have in a traditional classroom Access to people in rural areas – connect us across a hundred miles or so Technology is a tool - the art that we know can be translated across media Motivation Challenge – it’s not easy. PCK – PTCK – Attend to the learning hierarchy of the content, but also the learning trajectory of the technology – not always aligned. Sustainability Requires us to become literate in new ways – 21st Century literacy