Teaching as a Performing Art

This remarkable book explains that teachers need to be just as accomplished performers as are successful artists - actors, orchestra conductors, dancers, or singers. It discusses how this need could be dealt with in teacher preparation programs. It will be heartwarming for teachers who already know this; it will be an eyeopener for anyone who believes that teachers require only knowledge of the subject to be taught. I believe that the problems of teacher quality will not be resolved until the observations in this book are widely understood and acted upon. Moreover, this book is very timely. The issue of teacher preparation and teacher quality has now become central to education reform nationally, thanks to pressures from teachers themselves, from their unions, from the existence of the National Board on Professional Teaching Standards, and from a growing political focus on teacher quality. Another eyeopener is "The Teaching Gap" by James Stigler and Jmaes Hiebert, which explains how and why teaching is different in Japan from what it is here. (The differences are partly due to a visit to Japan by John Dewey early in this century.)