Synopses & Reviews
The creation of art is deeply personal yet remains strongly rooted within the collaborative meeting of teacher and student. Over centuries, techniques and encouragement have been passed along from experienced mentors to budding novices. Those who can take on this educator role have the power to inspire new artists and have a lasting impact. The Teaching Artist Handbook series is designed to help working artists develop the skills needed to be effective educators.
Practical and experience-based, this debut volume in the series is designed so that any artist, no matter the medium, will be able to fully conceptualize, create, and implement an effective teaching methodology that reflects his or her own expertise and interests. This collection of essays is written by authors who are all active teaching artists and have inside knowledge and experience. They provide extensive lists of techniques, tools, and ideas drawn from classroom practice. The authors also tackle the questions of what and how to teach and how to assess one’s own teaching, encouraging readers to respond critically and ultimately develop their own style.
Review
"The growing field of teaching artistry has needed the Teaching Artist Handbook for a long time. Needed it badly. And here it is, even better than I hoped. Thanks to the authors whose work will help us all get better; congratulations to the field that, because of the book, takes another step into fuller recognition and more powerful practice. This book belongs on every teaching artist's bookshelf—no, on their bedside table." Eric Booth, author of The Music Teaching Artist's Bible and The Everyday Work of
Review
"I literally cannot put it down. I know that probably sounds corny, but I am usually super-uber-critical and bored to death by books like this. I am impressed [. . . ] there seems to be not even one iota of b.s. in the entire volume. This book is a wonderful, needed, essential contribution to the field." Malke Rosenfeld, editor of the Teaching Artist Journal and editor/curator of TAJ
Review
"The Teaching Artist Handbook is the best book I have ever read on the subject of how to go about teaching in an art form. It is the book I wished existed when I was muddling through the first few years of my teaching artist career and it is also the book I am returning to again and again, so many years later. The best thing about the Teaching Artist Handbook is that it provides a broad-minded, detailed, and specific look at everything related to teaching in, around and through an art form. This book is a wonderful, needed, essential contribution to the field." Malke Rosenfeld, associate editor of the Teaching Artist Journal and editor/cura
Review
"I love that they affirm that there is no one right way to be a teaching artist, to teach your art form(s). . . . I recommend the Handbook to any artist who ever wanted to teach anything." Kali Ferguson, Founder, CommuniCulture
About the Author
Nick Jaffe is a musician, teaching artist, and the editor of Teaching Artist Journal. Becca Barniskis is a poet, teaching artist, and the associate editor of Teaching Artist Journal.Barbara Hackett Cox is the arts educator partnership coordinator for the Perpich Center for Arts Education in Minnesota and a member of the Teaching Artist Journal editorial board.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Teaching Artist Handbook Series Introduction
About This Volume
Part I: Tools, Techniques and Ideas
1. What Will I Teach?
What to Teach: Ideas and Contexts
What to Teach: Concrete Steps
2. How Will I Teach?
How to Teach: Ideas and Contexts How to Teach: Creative Tensions in Teaching Artist Work
How to Teach: Concrete Steps
3. Is My Teaching Working?
Part II: Context
4. Who, What, How, Why and Where (Do We Go from Here?): The Teaching Artist in Context
5. A Brief, Broad History of the Teaching Artist
References
Index