Art can be seen as the mirror that humanity holds up to itself. It allows us to see who we truly are. It stems from the depths of human passion and is the product of the soul's expression. Art differs from science in that it is not procedural, it asks for no explanation, it is affective and requires a truly relational and conceptual understanding of the content for it to truly be art.
The duality of the left and right brain presents the clear distinction between science and art, however, it is the intersection of both that forms a good teacher.
A good teacher must have the left brain procedural, logical sense which would encompass techniques, skills, formulae and content knowledge to a competent capacity, whilst having the right brain flexibility, versatility, and creativity to be able to communicate concepts and ideas to a diverse community of learners.
This macroscopic perspective has been made clear throughout the Practicum 2001 course.
In executing the lesson plan, it was easy to observe the demand on the whole brain when attempting to present a lesson to a diverse classroom.
For this lesson, we chose the topic of '3D shapes' out of the Primary school Math syllabus, specific to the standard 3 level. Efforts were made towards having differentiated instruction via the use of differentiated worksheets coupled with inquiry based instruction, cross curriculum development (literacy and numeracy) and thematic integration. Though thematic integration was considered, it was difficult to present its relevance in just one lesson.
Inquiry based learning seemed a very natural approach as it lowers the pedestal often worn by teachers, it brings the teachers to the level of the students where they all can discover the knowledge together as a community of learners, making the teacher a true guide on the side, where pretending to 'not know the answer' can prove to be more effective to the learner than the teacher 'spoon feeding' them with information. Instead, the use of guided questions increases interest in the learner, as well as intrinsic motivation, which increases the authenticity of the learning experience.
It was found that through inquiry based techniques, the execution of Marzano's ten questions was virtually effortless. Inquiry based approaches allow the student a deeper more conceptual understanding of the content, is more engaging, and allows the teacher to learn more about the students' individual thinking processes.
The presentation of the lesson itself went smoothly, with little critique only that the use of the phrase "I don't know" by the teacher should be uttered a lot less. However, the inquiry based technique worked well when used with interesting and engaging problem solving activities and differentiated assessments.
In reflection, the Practicum 2001 course did a lot to emphasize and focus on some of the finer points of teaching. From the administrative differences between syllabi and curriculum, to the more affective nuances of interpersonal development, it showed that teaching is truly a science, and an art.
Javed Juman
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