Structure and Improvisation in Creative Teaching

✍ Scribed by R. Keith Sawyer

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 318
• Edition: Reissue
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

With an increasing emphasis on creativity and innovation in the twenty-first century, teachers need to be creative professionals just as students must learn to be creative. And yet, schools are institutions with many important structures and guidelines that teachers must follow. Effective creative teaching strikes a delicate balance between structure and improvisation. The authors draw on studies of jazz, theater improvisation, and dance improvisation to demonstrate that the most creative performers work within similar structures and guidelines. By looking to these creative genres, the book provides practical advice for teachers who wish to become more creative professionals.

✦ Table of Contents

CONTENTS......Page 6
TABLE AND FIGURES......Page 8
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS......Page 10
FOREWORD......Page 14
1 What Makes Good Teachers Great? The Artful Balance of Structure and Improvisation......Page 18
Teaching as Performance......Page 21
Teacher Expertise......Page 22
Creative Teaching and Learning......Page 26
IMPROVISATION AND CREATIVE TEACHING......Page 28
Differences between Teaching and Staged Improvisation......Page 30
The Teacher Paradox......Page 33
The Learning Paradox......Page 34
The Curriculum Paradox......Page 36
CONCLUSION......Page 37
REFERENCES......Page 38
PART 1 THE TEACHER PARADOX......Page 42
2 Professional Improvisation and Teacher Education: Opening the Conversation......Page 44
IMPROVISATIONAL TEACHING AND THE
KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY......Page 46
TEACHING IMPROVISATION AS PROFESSIONAL
IMPROVISATION......Page 50
IMPROVISATIONAL TEACHING IN TEACHER EDUCATION:
AN ASSESSMENT OF THE MESSAGE......Page 53
BRINGING IMPROVISATION INTO CONVERSATIONS
WITHIN TEACHER EDUCATION......Page 59
REFERENCES......Page 64
3 Creativity, Pedagogic Partnerships, and the Improvisatory Space of Teaching......Page 68
IMPROVISATION AND THE SPACE OF TEACHING......Page 70
PEDAGOGIC PARTNERSHIPS AND TEACHING FOR CREATIVITY......Page 72
PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS AND THE SPACES THAT
ENABLE TEACHING FOR CREATIVITY......Page 74
IMPROVISATORY DIMENSIONS OF TEACHING FOR CREATIVITY......Page 75
WHEN MIGHT “IMPROVISATION” IN TEACHING HAPPEN?......Page 76
ILLUSTRATIONS OF STUDIES BRIDGING THE (PEDAGOGIC
AND ARTISTIC) PRACTICES DIVIDE......Page 78
BEING IMPROVISATORY WITH THE OTHER
IN EDUCATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS......Page 83
REFERENCES......Page 86
4
Improvising within the System: Creating New Teacher Performances in Inner-City Schools......Page 90
A PERFORMATORY VYGOTSKIAN METHODOLOGY......Page 93
Performance......Page 94
Improvisation......Page 95
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION......Page 96
Saturday Workshops......Page 97
Philosophical Conversations......Page 98
Is Teaching a Performance?......Page 99
Seeing Students as Performers......Page 100
Classroom Creator versus Classroom Manager......Page 102
Improvising with the Traditional Curriculum......Page 104
CONCLUSION......Page 106
REFERENCES......Page 107
CURRICULUM-AS-PLANNED VERSUS CURRICULUM-AS-LIVED......Page 111
DISCIPLINED IMPROVISATION......Page 112
CREATIVITY AND DISCIPLINED IMPROVISATION......Page 114
LESSON PLANNING WITH DISCIPLINED IMPROVISATION......Page 115
FROM PLANNED TO UNPLANNED......Page 117
TOWARD TEACHING WITH DISCIPLINED IMPROVISATION......Page 121
CONCLUSION......Page 124
REFERENCES......Page 125
PART 2 THE LEARNING PARADOX......Page 128
6 Taking Advantage of Structure to Improvise in Instruction: Examples from Elementary School Classrooms......Page 130
USING STRUCTURE TO GUIDE AN IMPROVISATION......Page 134
GUIDING IMPROVISATION FOR TEACHABLE MOMENTS......Page 138
STUDENT IMPROVISATION USING STRUCTURES......Page 139
STRUCTURES AS SCAFFOLDS FOR STUDENT IMPROVISATION......Page 140
CONCLUSION......Page 147
REFERENCES......Page 148
7 Breaking through the Communicative Cocoon:
Improvisation in Secondary School Foreign
Language Classrooms......Page 150
TRADITIONAL LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION IN EFL CLASSROOMS: TEACHER-DRIVEN DISCOURSE......Page 153
The Problem with Traditional Instruction......Page 154
Moving Beyond IRF: Improvisation in Foreign Language Classrooms......Page 155
EXAMPLES OF IMPROVISATIONAL CLASSROOM TASKS AND ACTIVITIES......Page 157
The Improvisation Bus Stop......Page 158
Documentation and Brief Analysis of an Exemplary Exchange......Page 159
The Improvisation Surprise Encounter......Page 160
Documentation and Brief Analysis of an Exemplary Exchange......Page 162
Documentation and Brief Analysis of a Whole-Class Follow-Up Discussion......Page 164
PLACING IMPROVISED SPEAKING IN A WIDER THEORETICAL CONTEXT......Page 166
POTENTIAL BARRIERS TO IMPROVISATION IN SECONDARY EFL CLASSROOMS......Page 169
REFERENCES......Page 173
INTRODUCTION......Page 179
“Yes, and”......Page 180
Essential Warnings: Do Not Negate or Play Write......Page 181
CONFLICT 1: A PRIORI SCRIPTS VERSUS EMERGENT SCRIPTS......Page 182
CONFLICT 2: EXPERTS/NOVICES AND CONFIDENCE/EMBARRASSMENT......Page 185
CONFLICT 3: THE INDIVIDUAL VERSUS THE GROUP......Page 186
THE ADULT LANGUAGE LEARNERS AND OUR LEARNING ENVIRONMENT......Page 187
Names and Motions/Names and Sounds......Page 188
Zip, Zap, Zop and The Ball......Page 190
Word Cards and Soup......Page 192
Gibberish......Page 194

THE NEXT OFFER: IMPROV ACROSS LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS......Page 195
REFERENCES......Page 198
9 Productive Improvisation and Collective Creativity:Lessons from the Dance Studio......Page 201
IMPROVISATION, THE CREATIVE PROCESS, AND LEARNING......Page 203
PRODUCTIVE IMPROVISATION OVER AN ARC OF LEARNING......Page 205
Improvisation to Generate Ideas......Page 206
Improvisation to Generate Ideas in the Classroom......Page 208
Improvisation to Explore Material and Deepen Understanding......Page 209
Improvisation to Explore Material in the Classroom......Page 211
Performing Live: “Everyday Improvisation” and Dance......Page 215
“Live” Performance in the Classroom......Page 216
A SHARED CREATIVE ENDEAVOR......Page 218
CONCLUSION......Page 220
REFERENCES......Page 221
PART 3 THE CURRICULUM PARADOX......Page 224
10 How “Scripted” Materials Might Support Improvisational Teaching: Insights from the Implementation of a Reading Comprehension Curriculum......Page 226
DESIGNING CURRICULUM MATERIALS THAT CAN SUPPORT CLASSROOM IMPROVISATION......Page 228
What It Means to Improvise When Teaching......Page 231
MAKING MEANING – INTEGRATING A SCRIPTED CURRICULUM INTO A COLLABORATIVE LEARNING CONTEXT......Page 232
Background: Supplementing the Workshop Approach......Page 233
Developmental Structure......Page 234
Step-by-step Teaching Instructions and Discussion Questions......Page 235
Using Making Meaning in the Classroom......Page 236
Moving between Script and Open-Ended Dialogue......Page 240
Staying Focused on Core Ideas......Page 241
Limits to Improvising with Scripted Materials......Page 243
The Role of Professional Support in Effectively Using Scripted Materials......Page 244
CONCLUSION: LINKING STRUCTURE WITH IMPROVISATION......Page 249
REFERENCES......Page 250
11 Disciplined Improvisation to Extend Young Children’s Scientific Thinking......Page 253
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
......Page 254
APPROACH TO TEACHING SCIENCE
......Page 255
School......Page 256
Case 1: Offering Students Disciplinary Tools to Refine Their Thinking......Page 257
Background......Page 258
Activity......Page 259
Summary......Page 262
Background......Page 263
Activity......Page 264
Summary......Page 265
CONCLUSION
......Page 266
REFERENCES......Page 267
12 Improvisational Understanding in the Mathematics Classroom......Page 269
MATHEMATICAL UNDERSTANDING AS AN IMPROVISATIONAL PROCESS......Page 271
Potential Pathways......Page 273
Collective Structure and Striking a Groove......Page 274
Etiquette and the Group Mind......Page 275
Extract 1......Page 276
Extract 2......Page 279
ANALYZING MATHEMATICAL IMPROVISING......Page 284
The Potential for Many Pathways......Page 285
The Emergence of a Collective Structure......Page 286
The Etiquette of Emerging Understanding......Page 287
The Nature of the Task......Page 288
The Nature of the Group......Page 290
The Nature of Teacher Interventions......Page 291
CONCLUSION......Page 292
REFERENCES......Page 293
13 Conclusion: Presence and the Art of Improvisational Teaching
......Page 296
THE THREE PARADOXES AND SYSTEMS OF INSTRUCTION......Page 297
THE NECESSITY OF PRESENCE......Page 298
Shared Control......Page 301
Attention to Both the Individual and the Collective......Page 303
The Third Domain of Presence: The Role of Professional Knowledge......Page 304
Preparing for Discussion......Page 306
Facilitating Discussion......Page 307
IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHER LEARNING......Page 309
Stanford Teaching Studio......Page 311
CONCLUSION......Page 313
REFERENCES......Page 314
Index......Page 316