The Artful Educator

Book excerpt: Is teaching an art, rather than a science? Instead of measuring education and reducing everything to data, what if we looked at it through the lens of the arts? Sue Cowley demonstrates how teachers can become artists, sculptors, actors, dancers, musicians, playwrights, poets, designers and directors, no matter which subject or age group they happen to be teaching. The artful educator paints the air with ideas and weaves magic with words. They aren't afraid of a little risk, or of planning and delivering lessons a little differently. Learn how to be more creative, experimental, playful and imaginative in the methods you use to manage your classroom, and in the myriad ways in which you help your students to learn. Discover what an 'artful attitude' to education looks like, with plenty of practical, real-life ideas for artful teaching and learning. Sue has collected inspiring examples of how colleagues in a range of settings, from early years to secondary and further education, are already using artful approaches in their classrooms. Find out how to engage with your artful side, reinvigorate your approach to teaching and inspire yourself and your children with the pure joy of learning. Getting artful can involve borrowing techniques from the arts to use in teaching, getting learners hands-on with creating artworks themselves and also engaging learners with great existing works of art, cultivating the cultural capital that comes from this in the process. A collection of suggestions designed to inspire you to take creative risks with your learners, this is a book for explorers and rebels. An ideal resource for trainees, NQTs and experienced teachers alike, The Artful Educator is for anyone looking for inventive, innovative approaches to teaching.