Teaching in a classroom is a kind of performance. All teachers know this, but some are uncomfortable with the word "performance." For me to invoke stagecraft as a pillar of my framework thus requires some explaining.
The anxiety around the word "performance" stems from a misunderstanding; performance means entertainment, and entertaining is the opposite of boring. Students hate boredom and like entertainment, so if you're not entertaining enough as a teacher, the students will hate you. But if you are nothing but entertaining, you are not doing your job. So . . . you can't win.
First, performance does not mean entertainment. Nor does it mean "sage on the stage." Performance means taking physical charge of a roomful of people in a way that is planned, practiced, aware, and proactive. This is sometimes referred to as "running the room." To perform well is to do it gracefully, with poise and presence, humor and seriousness, using both training and improvisation. The performer is acutely aware of the audience, and knows how to read and work with the audience's emotional energy.
Second, all teachers perform in the classroom - it's just a matter of whether the performance is deliberate or haphazard, the teacher conscious or unconscious. Wouldn't you prefer to understand and develop the physical and emotional impact you have on your class, and put that impact to work in your teaching?
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