Category Archives: Teacher Development
Can Presence Be Taught?
Towards a Performative Framework for ELT If we can assess rapport, presence and engagement, we should also be able to help teachers develop them. This may sound obvious. But in teacher education, these qualities are often easier to recognise than … Continue reading
What Are Performative Skills — and Why Do Teachers Need Them?
Performative skills are essential in teaching, enabling educators to influence how learning is experienced in real time. These skills encompass voice, gesture, timing, and response, significantly affecting students’ feelings of safety and engagement. Teachers need meta-performative awareness to understand the implications of their actions, fostering a supportive learning environment. Continue reading
Presence Is Not Personality: The Missing Language in Teacher Education
When we mystify presence, we make teacher development less accessible A lesson can be well planned, well staged and well resourced — and still fall apart. Every teacher educator will recognise the moment when… The trainee teacher stands in front … Continue reading
The Missing Dimension in ELT Teacher Education
Why teaching is not only about what teachers do, but what learners carry forward As a teacher educator, I have spent many waking hours circling back to the same question: What difference does a teacher really make? In contemporary teacher … Continue reading
Posted in Teacher Development
Tagged #PerformativePedagogy #TeachingIdentity #ReflectiveTeaching #DramaInEducation #TeacherDevelopment #CulturalIdentity #TeachingArtistry, ELT, ITI, performative pedagogy, Performative skills, Teacher Development, Teacher education, Teacher Training, Tom Godfrey
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Why Teacher Education Needs a Performative Framework
How can we train teachers to respond to learners in real time? In teacher education, some of the most important aspects of teaching are often the least clearly understood. As a teacher educator, a large part of my work involves … Continue reading
Posted in Teacher Development
Tagged drama, education, ELT, ITI, learning, pedagogy, Performative, Teacher Development, Teacher education, teachers, teaching, technology, Tom Godfrey
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From Performative Skills to Meta-Performative Awareness
A New Way of Thinking About Teacher Development In teacher education, we often focus on what teachers know and what teachers do. We help teachers develop knowledge of language, pedagogy, planning, assessment, and classroom management. We also help them build … Continue reading
Map of the Floor: When Teachers Step Into Their Story
An embodied reflection on identity, presence, and the journeys that shape how we teach. The Simple Workshop Exercise That Reveals a Teacher’s Journey In my Teaching Artistry workshops, I sometimes ask teachers to do something unusual. I tell them to … Continue reading
What Are You Chasing?
The Game of Tag That Becomes a Mirror for Teachers How a simple running game exposes burnout, ambition, and the hidden pressures shaping your teaching. In my Teaching Artistry workshops, I sometimes begin with a game. A running game. Arms … Continue reading
Hypnosis And The Exercise That Reveals How You Handle Control
Columbian Hypnosis (And Why Every Teacher Should Try It) In my Teaching Artistry workshops, I sometimes tell teachers: “You’re about to hypnotise each other.” There’s always a pause. Then laughter. Then curiosity. The activity is called Colombian Hypnosis, developed by … Continue reading
Teaching Artistry 