Artistry in Teaching: A Choreographic Approach to Studying the Performative Dimensions of Teaching

• Published in: Arts-Based Methods in Education Around the World pp. 15 - 36
• Main Author: Andrews, Kimber
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Denmark Routledge 2018; River Publishers
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Observational Field Notes; Teacher's Movements; Sly; Pop Quizzes; Julie's Class; Persona; Public Relations; Power Point; Artistic Teachers; Isles; Pauses; Shrug; Power Point Slide; Pet Peeves; Cheating; Follow; Exterior Veneer; Ballerina; Stem Education; Smooth; Public Relations Case; Julie's Performance; Studying College Educators; Julie's Teaching
• ISBN: 9788793609389; 8793609388
• DOI: 10.1201/9781003337263-2

In this study, the role of the teacher as a choreographer of the educational experience is explored in relation to how they make the curriculum come alive in the performative space of the classroom. Using an arts-based approach, I applied concepts and tools from the study of dance to analyse the embodied dimension of teaching. I examine how two university professors vary the pacing, energy, and focus of the class to communicate concepts and ideas to the students, as well interweave multiple streams of information through their embodied communication and the narrative structure of the class. This chapter explores the embodied and performative approaches of two university teachers, and how they orchestrate the curriculum in the classroom. It takes an arts-based approach that applies tools and techniques used in the study of dance to analyse the movements and sequential structure of a lecture style classroom. The chapter focuses on what Eisner terms the 'curriculum in vivo,' or the actual activities employed in the classroom and the translation of the 'intended curriculum or the curriculum in vitro' into an embodied and sequential narrative that brings the curriculum to life. Expert teachers also use the tacit and performative in the classroom. One of the major critiques of focusing on the performance of teaching in education is that it runs the risk of becoming 'edutainment,' or information presented in an entertaining way that lacks true substance.