The Art of Teaching

Christopher Staley’s The Art of Teaching: An Artist’s Search for Meaning is a book on art pedagogy that explores the intersections of art and life, directed at professors and students alike. The book will include a wide range of topics, from insights on collegiality to why asking questions can be more important than providing answers. In The Art of Teaching, Prof. Staley will help students navigate the liminal space where art and life inform each other.

Anticipated publication date: Fall 2024

The Art of Teaching

Christopher Staley’s The Art of Teaching: An Artist’s Search for Meaning is a book on art pedagogy that explores the intersections of art and life, directed at professors and students alike. The book will include a wide range of topics, from insights on collegiality to why asking questions can be more important than providing answers. In The Art of Teaching, Prof. Staley will help students navigate the liminal space where art and life inform each other.

Anticipated publication date: Fall 2024

Table of Contents

1) First Day

Why is the first day of class so important?

2) Listening

Why is listening essential to teaching?

3) Autobiographies

How can autobiographies be so important?

4) Critiques

What makes a good critique?

5) Creativity

Can you teach creativity?

6) Caring

Why should caring matter to students?

7) Questions

Why are questions more important than answers?

8) Doubt

How can doubt be beneficial?

9) Personal

What is the value of making it personal?

10) Failure

How can failure be truly meaningful?

11) Competition

How can competition be so unhealthy?

12) Assignments

Why are some assignments so effective?

13) Reading

How can reading enhance teaching?

14) Community

What are simple ways to build community in the classroom?

15) Pottery

Why teach pottery?

16) Quality

What is quality?

17) Metaphors

Why is everything an artist makes a metaphor?

18) Timing

Why is timing everything?

19) Mentors

If advice can be so valuable, why do we often not ask for it?

20) Broke

What can we do to fix education?

21) Wisdom

What’s the difference between information, knowledge, and wisdom?

22) Art

Why is art the most important subject being taught in school?

23) Motivation

Where does motivation come from?

24) Risk

Why is learning both exciting and uncomfortable?

25) Drawing

How can drawing change how we think?

26) Humility

How does sincere humility manifest itself in the classroom?

27) Curiosity

Can you teach curiosity?

28) Vulnerability

Why does being vulnerable matter in the classroom?

29) Collegiality

Why is collegiality so difficult in academia?

30) Boundaries

Why are boundaries so important?

31) Touch

How does pottery challenge the hierarchy of our senses?

32) Round Robin

Why is it important to hear from every student?

33) Social Media

How is social media used?

34) Behavior

How does art relate to emotional intelligence?

35) Fire

What can fire teach the potter about life?

36) Ego

What role does ego play in teaching art?

37) Grades

How do grades influence learning?

38) Social Justice

How do we change inequities in academia?

39) Joys and Sorrows

Why are both important to acknowledge?

40) Last Day

Why are final thoughts important?

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author photo

Chris Staley

Chris Staley, Distinguished Professor of Art at Penn State University, was selected to be the Penn State Laureate for 2012-13 and was awarded Penn State’s Milton Eisenhower Distinguished Teaching Award in 2017. Prof. Staley’s work has been featured in many collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s permanent collection, the Smithsonian Institution’s Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of Art, and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

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