Teaching as a Craft

Occasionally I browse the books available on audio from the library through my app and listen to an almost random pick. This is how I came by Eric Gorges’ A Craftsman Legacy. It turns out that the book emerged from a TV show with the same name. Eric reads a string of interactions with craftsman  while telling his personal story in a reflective measured voice. The result is almost hypnotic. What I found magical in the way Eric read his book was that it provided space to think. Eric who is a craftsman himself visits exceptional craftsman interviews them while learning to create in their medium. This allows for a conversation and a juxtaposition of a master, a novice, and the learning process.

I remember grappling with the conflicting ideas of teaching as an art or as a science. Following Eric’s argument I believe it is a craft and that the metaphors and rumination that emerge from the book can be useful when thinking about teaching. For example, Teaching curiously enough relies quite heavily on an apprenticeship model that Gorges sees disappearing in the physical crafts.

One strand that Gorges pulls as the book evolves is the notion of play. His interviewees often describe a path that starts in childhood, constructing a bow, taking a clock apart. But for them play never stops and the hours they put in make them an expert while keeping the element of play. As we recognize the role of play in encouraging curiosity and discovery I believe that exposing kids to physical crafts can be magical.

I have had the chance to visit with Justin Olmanson discussing his efforts to include Making in our teacher education programs. It seems like our students initially resist the effort required to actually iterate and make. The demand forces them to slow down and make time. What Justin says has helped is describing the emotional journey that accompanies making. In the same vain I wonder if we used craft of teaching as a guiding metaphor it would make it easier for our students to understand the iterative nature of learning to teach.

Is Listening Reading?

In the last few years, I picked a habit. At the beginning it was innocent. I listened to a podcast or two. I picked up Duncan's History of Rome and binge listened. The habit developed slowly and now I have about 10+ podcasts that I listen to on a weekly basis.

It turned out this was just the entry drug. A few months ago I took the plunge and joined Audible while using Libby to consume library available audiobooks. I like Libby, but often the books I wanted were not available or my time to consume them ran out mid-book. I have since started consuming books on audible while still using paper and digital print.

I find audiobook especially powerful when the reading adds more than it takes away. For example, for MLK day I listened (consumed?) The Radical King by Cornell West (editor), the audio version used some of the leading African American voices adding depth and meaning to the text.

Turns out I am not the only picking up audio. In 2017 alone the growth in usage was over 20% (see here). the reports also show that listeners also continue reading on paper. This signifies a potential change of habits, use of libraries, and eventually education.

So why am I bringing this up? I wonder what consuming books in this way does to comprehension. Does it impede comprehension? does it make it easier? What strategies can we use to improve listening comprehension? A literature search on Google Scholar quickly showed that most of the research on listening has been done through the lens of second language acquisition. While this makes sense it also means that we truly do not know what impact will listening have on literacy. Time to roll up my sleeves and do some research. I promise to report back when I do.

Still Thinking

I have been away from the blog. It was an opportunity to explore other skills and ways of acting in the world. I am ready to integrate my new skills as a recruiter and administrator to the work of innovation.

This morning I listened to the Freakonomics podcast after weeks of Audible listening. In the interview with Andrew Yang. Mr. Yang shared his anxiety about the country (indeed the world) preparing for the social changes resulting from automation and AI. I think that whatever the next few transition years will yield in society, we as educators should be readying our students for this future. This next generation of citizens, workers, and thinkers will need flexible skills and be habituated into learning constantly.

This is not a simple task and we really do not fully understand what it should look like. What I do know is that we have to experiment and design new teacher education efforts that will give us and the next generation a fighting chance.

Designing new programs is not a guarantee that we will succeed. Not trying will guarantee failure.