Tag Archives: education
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
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
Teaching Is Taking People on Journeys: A simple storytelling exercise that reminds teachers what learning really feels like.
The 10-Minute Exercise That Turns Strangers into Storytellers In my Teaching Artistry workshops, I sometimes say something unusual to the group: “Find a partner.You’re about to take them on a journey.” There are no slides.No handouts.No theory. Just imagination. Within … 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
Unlocking Teacher Potential: The Owl Transformation
The Owl Transformation The 10-Minute Activity That Reveals More About Teaching Than a Lecture Ever Could I often begin my Teaching Artistry workshops with a warning: “This activity is dangerous.” Teachers look concerned. Then I tell them they’re going to … Continue reading
Posted in Teacher Development
Tagged education, ELT, ITI, learning, Teacher Development, Teacher education, Teacher Training, teachers, teaching, Tom Godfrey, whole person learning, writing
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Every Time You Give Feedback, You Choose Control or Trust
Feedback Isn’t Neutral: What Every Facilitator Is Really Choosing Feedback feels like the responsible thing to do. Learners expect it.Institutions demand it.Teachers are trained to provide it. But feedback is never just feedback. Every time a facilitator responds to learner … Continue reading
Every Time a Learner Speaks, They Take a Risk
Participation isn’t about confidence or motivation.It’s about how much risk the learning space asks learners to carry. Participation Isn’t About Confidence.It’s About Risk. Facilitation isn’t just about getting more people to speak.It’s about how much risk speaking feels like. Every … Continue reading
Teaching Artistry 