Why Not Both: Teaching as an Art and a Science
In her latest blog post, Connie Chow, C3Be Associate Researcher Senior, explores the multifaceted nature of teaching, comparing it to leading a jazz ensemble. She highlights how integrating five core competencies—like thinking like a designer and teaching for justice—can equip educators to turn classrooms into spaces of creativity, equity, and transformative learning.
**
What analogies do you associate with the act of teaching? Acting, juggling, sculpting, gardening, healing were a few that came up for my students who are pre-service teachers. These certainly encompass the functions and aspirations of an educator. They situate the learner as passive, however. What about conducting music, or coaching, they say? Learners are active in these scenarios. They follow the lead in the former and are guided to develop specific skills to improve their overall performance in the latter.
Almost all of analogies above have shaped my teaching at different points in my career. Nevertheless, I now prefer the idea of teaching as being a lead in a jazz ensemble. Before I discuss why, I want to introduce a few core competencies for teachers of today and tomorrow, that our team here at C3BE and former colleagues at the High Meadows Graduate School of Teaching and Learning have incorporated into a discipline-based (STEM) preservice licensure program, and an in-service educator program. These are:
- Thinking like a Designer – which guides the design and experimentation with learner-centered instruction, policies and environments;
- Grounding in the Science of Learning and Development – which ensures practice is informed by research and theory, centered on the whole child;
- Teaching for Justice – which is focused on equity as an outcome for learners and as a goal for educators;
- Learning to Improve – which develops an orientation towards continuous learning and unlearning; and
- Collaborating for Change – which asks educators to proactively seek out and work with school building staff, community members and disciplinary professionals to create better outcomes for students.
Why are these competencies considered core?
The craft of teaching asks educators to draw on multiple competencies and dispositions (PL). These core competencies listed above are designed to equip educators with the professional ethics, theoretical and practical knowledge, and a learner-centered orientation, so they can practice teaching with a whole-child AND socio-historical perspective. When integrated and practiced in conjunction with high leverage instructional strategies, teaching and learning can be engaging, joyful and intellectually challenging.
We are facing a changing landscape in education, in society and the planet. The demographics of the US student population is also increasingly diverse - from racialized identities, ethnicity, country of origin, language, culture, gender etc. Students bring a variety of experiences, family backgrounds, traditions and ways of knowing into schools. Preparing children and youth for life in a society that is distinguished by constant change, increased diversity, and profound challenges requires educators who have the skills and courage to do the same, and who will be role models in their schools and communities for positive change.
Neuroscience tells us that any child who is threatened will not be able to make the neurological linkages by which they can learn – hence the need for culturally sustaining and relevant teaching. Teachers have the skills to be responsive in their practice, to appreciate and integrate student and community assets, who ensure that their learners feel welcome, safe and connected, who can draw from the science of learning and development to motivate and develop students’ capacity for learning, and to differentiate for varying levels of readiness in their classroom, are sorely needed – no matter the subject they teach.
During the immediate crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic and lock-down, teacher educators from the High Meadows Graduate School were identified and tapped as leaders in their schools in re-imagining what schools and education, in a time where everything we knew shifted. Because their practice is based on these core competencies, they had the internal compass, research-based justification as well as the skills to design and work with colleagues and communities in getting to the core of what matters to support students who had complex needs.
Teaching is complex, but is it like jazz?
It is a truism and a contested idea that teaching is both a science and an art. While analogies are not perfect, how might leading a jazz ensemble help elucidate why these competencies we have been developing are fundamental for an educator of today and tomorrow? See if you can match the descriptions below to one or more of the core competencies above.
- A) The leader of a jazz ensemble listens and studies widely to music within and beyond the genre. They have a firm grasp of music theory, have a broad repertoire, and have mastered one or more instruments. They consult with other musicians, instrument makers, sound technicians.
- B) Behind the scenes, or perhaps shared while introducing a song, or in show notes, an attuned leader would know not only the musical history of jazz, but its sociocultural context. They would be inclined to ask: Who or what community should this composition, style or performance history be attributed to? Who is being celebrated and acknowledged (instead)? Who gets to play, where is/was it performed, for whom? What barriers prevent talented artists from entering the profession? How might I make amends?
- C) Skilled jazz ensemble leaders arrange and compose pieces with the talents and capacities of the members in mind. Whether playing a classic or spontaneous jam, members solo and improvise within a structure. For that to work well, the lead and the ensemble must listen to each other. The lead is attuned to how each member is feeling and playing. When members of the ensemble change, the arrangements may be adapted. A good leader (and ensemble) is not satisfied with reproducing a sound – they use each other’s and audience feedback to make improvements.
Jazz is exciting because of the improvisation, the experimentation, the call and response, when it transcends mechanical technique and fundamental theory. It is exquisite when everyone is playing as best as they can, having fun emotionally and intellectually, and connecting with each other in more ways than one, and making music new. This is what I aspire to in teaching and learning.
Takeaways
Did you try to identify which core competencies are in action in the scenarios above? (See below for “answers”). When an ensemble is playing, you may not be able to clearly delineate each move outlined above. The art of jazz is interconnected with the science of music and humans. Similarly, effective teaching integrates multiple competencies, always with the learners in mind. Teachers must be able to take into consideration students’ psychological and social development to design and create an inclusive environment as the foundation of learning. Their lessons can be meaningful because they connect big ideas in the world with their students’ interests, experience and backgrounds into curriculum and lesson designs. Most importantly, with the support of colleagues, leaders and community members, they can use equity-based design principles in their classrooms and in their school to identify, interrupt and repair harm, and make learning safe, engaging and transformative.
We offer a few questions educators can ask themselves on their journey to becoming the grounded teachers who can “play well” your students and their communities.
Who are the students in front of me? How might I learn more about their histories, experiences and community wealth? How might I combine this knowledge with the science of learning and development to guide the design of my lessons and units? What is the impact of my actions and decisions on those who may be most marginalized? How might I prepare learners to use their voices and to listen deeply? Who might I work with towards these goals?
**
Here's how actions described in each paragraph (A-C) map to the core competencies in teaching and learning (1-5). A: 2, 5; B: 2, 3; 4; C: 1, 2, 3, 4. Do you agree?
See how these core competencies have been designed into the features of a pilot of the teacher professional development program and their impact.
**
Connie Chow, PhD is a senior associate researcher in C3BE. She has over 20 years of experience in K-20 education, in science, teacher education and interdisciplinary programs, in formal and informal learning spaces.
References
Darling-Hammond, L., Flook, L., Cook-Harvey, C., Barron, B., & Osher, D. (2019). Implications for educational practice of the science of learning and development. Applied Developmental Science, 24(2), 97–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2018.1537791
Deshpande, A. and Moore M. (2021). Teaching for Justice as Competency: A Conceptual Analysis for Teacher Preparation. Proceedings of the 2021 AERA Annual Meeting. https://doi.org/10.3102/1686869. Poster with audio narration here.
Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally responsive teaching and the brain: Promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students. Corwin.
Holdhus, K., Høisæter, S., Mæland, K., Vangsnes, V., Engelsen, K. S., Espeland, M., Espeland, A. (2016). Improvisation in teaching and education—roots and applications. Cogent Education, 3 (1). https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2016.1204142
Laipson, P. (2022). Building a Competency-Based Teacher Education Program: The High Meadows Experience, Part 1. CompetencyWorks Blog; Aurora Institute. https://aurora-institute.org/cw_post/building-a-competency-based-teacher-education-program-the-high-meadows-experience-part-1/