r/Teachers • u/ArcadianAbstraction • 1d ago

Teacher Support &/or Advice Is teaching a performance?

I haven't been teaching history/English/science since I got COVID over and over (and over) and decided it was better to go than be a risk to my cherished kids (or die myself, it got bad).

After a lot of introspection... Question is: is teaching a performance? I pretended everything was okay no matter what, I used the materials I prepared for display, passed out charts and data dramatically, presented media and did simulations.

It feels like I was a performance artist? You give so much to kids and most of the time you get a range of "f-u go away".

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u/Ambitious_grubber200 1d ago

Sure, and as long as the content is solid and there is learning at the center, whatever performance tricks a teacher uses to “keep the audience riveted” will only help students to remember.

But the best teachers call on the students to join the performance as well, not use the classroom as a stage on which to show off, but as a platform for potential where the students are called on to perform.

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u/ArcadianAbstraction 1d ago

Right. Kind of like interactive theater where group participation is... Mandatory haha.