The Way of the Artist

Yesterday I wrote about being at the crossroads between The Way of the Artist and The Way of the Google Drive. The two paths form the big idea backdrop for my session for the miGoogle conference next month and I wanted to present both them in a broad, relatively short form in this series.

I'll start with The Way of the Artist. 

The main ideas began swirling in my mind almost four years ago. I had been reading some books by Seth Godin and I was following the work of Kevin Honeycutt. I also started using more project-based learning in my teaching. I discovered it was recharging me and I liked the impact it was having on the students.

At the end of the summer, in 2013, I first tried to put thoughts to words in my post 6 Ways to Teach Like an Artist. It got some good comments and I'm forever thankful to those who encouraged me to keep exploring the ideas. It took me almost another two years before I could state it concisely.

The first principle in The Way of the Artist is to realize art is how you do something, not something you do. We think of songs, poetry and paintings as art, and they are. But anything can be done as an artist if you approach it as an artist. 

And here's how to do just that: (I call these the three "not so simple" steps.)

• Dream big
• Do the work to make it real
• Share it

That's it. Simply stated, but pure hell to accomplish sometimes. 

So why would anyone try to approach something as art if it wasn't necessary? If "the work to make it real" is so hard, why bother? 

Because art is inspiring. I define art as anything that lets "life shine through". 

When life shines through, others come alive. Dreams are contagious and they spread. Doors of opportunity open.

I talk this way around students and teachers and they thank me for the ideas they get. And some will jokingly say they blame me for the work it gets them into!

Teaching like an artist is my way of staying inspired so I can inspire others. There's more than that, but we'll stop here for now.

Tomorrow we'll look at what technology can add to the mix, with The Way of the Google Drive.

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I'm doing a challenge this month to post on one of my blogs every day. It's in preparation for my conference session, The Way of the Google Drive. Be sure to follow me on Twitter or on either blog to keep up with the "thoughts and tools to inspire". 

Click here to see all the posts from this blog with the tag The Way of the Google Drive.

photo credit: 325/365 - Guest Room via photopin (license)