The Teacher and the Poet

5. A new way of looking at teaching

So how can we teach in a way that bridges two impossible worlds, personal destiny and impersonal organization?

We know that people learn in proportion to how fully they use their senses. You learn through your senses-you learn by seeing things, you learn by hearing things, you learn by feeling things, you even learn by smelling and tasting; even though some of these senses are left out of traditional. In fact, traditional educational tends to emphasize primarily the visual and auditory parts of learning.

But, the rest of your senses, especially your feelings and body movements, are as important to learning as your eyes and ears. Even with what might be considered a very "cerebral" skill like learning a language your other senses are as important as what you see and hear or visualize. One of the most useful ways to engage the senses and teach learners how to think creatively is by teaching through the arts.

Taking art as an example

First of all, looking at art requires thinking. Art must be "thought through." Secondly, thoughtful looking at art has an instrumental value. It provides an excellent setting for the development of better thinking. We can learn to use our minds better by thoughtful looking at art.

Studies have shown that learners commonly do not think very well with what they have learned. "But," you may be asking, "What does art have to do with this?"

In routine situations, most people behave intuitively in remarkably intelligent ways.

National assessment of educational progress

They cope well because they have learned their way around these situations from past experiences. Unfortunately more novel and subtle circumstances often reveal the limits of our savvy. Everyday thinking in novel and subtle circumstances tends to be hasty and somewhat stereotyped, fuzzy in details and rather disorganized. To think better people need to develop general strategies toward giving thinking more time and thinking in broad and adventurous, clear and organized ways.