Art and Science of Teaching Activity

Art and Science of Teaching Activity

Art and Science of Teaching Activity

Without question, Robert Marzano is a guru. He is the author or a seminal book titled, The Art and Science of Teaching (2007). His name is consistently the one that is directly associated with the comprehensive model of instruction, know as The Art and Science of Teaching. His writings let us know that the really important part of the Art and Science of Teaching is that given the many types of strategies that we know, to allow our understanding of the "arts" and "science" of teaching to identify the specific content or situation in which the strategies are best used (Marzano, 2007)

Now, given Marzano's comments, we can now use our individual knowledge base as a tool to enhance our teacher skills in the classroom. And by Marzano's definition, that requires feedback to teachers. When he says feedback, Marzano don't mean teacher evaluation, that's not the case, nor should it be the case. Feedback should be a natural part of the teaching process and what Marzano refers to is the natural feedback process in the classroom.

Unfortunately, some educators look at teaching as an art. Others take an opposite point of view and consider teaching to be a science. Many teachers and educators believe that to be an effective teacher one needs to understand that teaching is a subtle combination of both art and a science. (Ivie, S.D., Roebuck, F., & Short, R. 2001). The process as Marzano explains it is very simple: A teacher gains knowledge from both, teaching methods and subject matter. The art of teaching sits within the application of knowledge gained from daily research right in the classroom. One cannot truly become an effective teacher without integrating both the art and the science of teaching.

The beauty of Marzano and his writings is that he is able to put into words and clarifies what many of us simply think of as "good teaching styles". He states is clearly as follows:

Effective teaching is both an art and a science.

* Science: Teaching that follows research-based practices to promote student achievement.

* Art: Teaching is an act of interpretation and self expression on the part of the educator.

Where does the responsibility lie? Who decides whether to apply a little science or a little art, or maybe a combination of both? Marzano claims, "The single most influential component of an effective school is the individual teacher..." He also notes that a well articulated curriculum and a safe ORDERLY environment are other key elements. He doubts that we can arrive at a single model for all learning situations based on research.

So where do we start? That was the first question that our Learning Team ask ourselves. If we understand that teaching is both an art AND a science, how do we differentiate which elements to apply in our lesson plan? As noted above, Marzano made it fairly easy for us to decide. We wanted to present a comprehensive lesson plan, one that walked and talked like a real lesson plan.

Marzano says, "...teachers should facilitate students' actively processing the content." Our team was glad to see that he agrees with us. He has several suggestions on how to increase this engagement: 1) Tell the students to take notes later, but to only take them to clarify your thoughts; 2) Use the Cornell style to facilitate this; 3) Use inferential questions to take students