Is Teaching an Art or Science?

My creative nature impels me to see teaching as an art.  Though some might disagree and take a more scientific approach to teaching.  Have you tried analyzing test scores lately?  That is a fairly mathematical exercise.  Of course like anything else in life, there is certainly a blend of both schools of thought in education.  Even an artist will readily share, I'm sure, all of the technical aspects of their craft including perspective, dimension, and on goes the list.

Have you read, "Mosaic of Thought," by: Ellin Oliver Keene and Susan Zimmermann?

In the book's epilogue, a teacher is compared to a sculptor.  The following statement is made in regards to "Teachers we admire."

"They are not carpenters but sculptors.  They are after the mystery implicit in the stone.  They guide their students on a search for the mystery and ponder with them as 'troubling human confusions' are revealed.

These teachers create the environment and provide the tools students need to read deeply and thoughtfully, so they can contemplate ideas alone and with others, and write persuasively about what they read.  They are teachers who embrace the wide range of responses their students give to the same text, and challenge the students to read books they believe they cannot.  They relish every day with children and recall why they went into teaching in the first place.  They are teachers who know that what matters most is the joy of learning."

Something to think about?

Must go plan for Monday now...See ya.