Is Teaching an Art or a Science?

Is Teaching an Art or a Science?

If I use the same brand of golf clubs as Scottie Scheffler or use the same tennis racket as Novak Djokovic will it improve my game? Obviously, nonsense. How about if my parents were superb athletes? Maybe. How can I assure my children will be successful athletes? or musicians, or dancers? Maybe gene splicing, CRISPR …

We do know that guided practice improves skills, in athletes or musicianship or dance, or the art of teaching.

Can we identify these underlying qualities in prospective teachers?

ChatGPT says maybe and lists a long list of skills, some measurable and others not, including mindsets.

If you strictly follow the Science of Reading will all students learn? Are some prepackaged reading programs “better” than others? Should a teacher be able to modify reading instruction to meet the needs of individual students? I would argue, of course. Teaching is not an assembly line, we ‘re not tightening bolts on a fender, and the highly successful teacher understands you must modify/adjust the input (the teaching methodology) to increase the output however you define the output.

Too many educational bureaucracies leave curriculum design to be determined at the local level, frequently a package purchased from a vendor and not aligned with the state assessment tool. Louisiana leaves curriculum selection to local school districts; however the state “rates” the curriculum.

The art of teaching can be lonely, behind a closed door with twenty-five or so children: are you doing it “right?” The end of the school year test determines, interim assessments rarely impact day to day instruction.

Mike Schmoker , in his book Focus recommends assessments during each lesson.

How many teachers meet with peers regularly? Perhaps, heaven forbid, peer observations ?

Charlotte Danielson, the author of the Frameworks, a controversial teacher training/assessment tool, tells us,

… policymakers must acknowledge that professional learning is rarely the consequence of teachers attending workshops or being directed by a supervisor to read a certain book or take a particular course. Overwhelmingly, most teachers report that they learn more from their colleagues than from an “expert” in a workshop. When teachers work together to solve problems of practice, they have the benefit of their colleagues’ knowledge and experience to address a particular issue they’re facing in their classroom.

Within the New York City school system there are clusters of schools managed by not-for-profits, a model that should reflect the entire school system, for example, New Visions for Public Schools and the Internationals Network, part of the Affinity District.

Norm Fruchter, in a number of essays, describes the founding and function of the Affinity Schools, a model that the new mayor and the new chancellor should consider adopting, for a simple reason, it’s highly successful, and sadly, pushed aside by the last two mayors. New York City’s Affinity District (Part 1): What is it? | NYU Steinhardt

Your improvement as a teacher is akin to improving as a golfer or tennis player or pianist, guided practice.

Perhaps you had a mentor in your first year, then, at sea, a supervisor may “observe” your lesson a few times, usually not a learning experience. Schools are not designed to improve the skills of teachers, the goal, improve scores on standardized tests, or, in New York State, teach the “portrait of a graduate” skill sets.

On November 4th New Yorkers will elect a mayor, either Andrew Cuomo or Zohan Mamdani, the current mayor, Eric Adams is a candidate, polling poorly. Will the new mayor, I fear, only make cosmetic changes *(rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic) or restructure the school system utilizing the lessons of the Affinity District?

The current model issues a press release and may injure itself by the vehement self- backslapping. The mayor control law sunsets on June 30th, 2026, the legislature must take action or the system reverts to the pre-mayoral control model, highly unlikely.

Candidate Mamdani has only made general comments re: education, see NYT here while candidate Cuomo aside from issuing an impressive detailed plan during the primary has been mute.

The beaches are jammed, the sun beats down, three weeks until school re-opening, the anxiety is just beginning, relax, an adult beverage, or two, get back to the exercise regimen, healthy diet choices. preseason soccer practice begins for my granddaughter, my grandson, third grade bound is excited about learning multiplication,

How about Chuck Berry, School Days School Days – Chuck Berry