By Dr. Joseph ‘Rocky’ Wallace

Dr. Mike Rutherford’s book, The Artisan Teacher: A Field Guide to Skillful Teaching (2013), illustrates 23 common themes regularly modeled in the classroom by effective educators. Utilized as a clinical resource in schools throughout the U.S. and internationally (Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea), this text breaks down in practical narrative why proven pedagogy makes all the difference.

Rutherford, a former high school chemistry teacher and middle and high school administrator in Fayetteville, North Carolina, has for the last 28 years served as a school instructional leadership consultant, drawing on a career’s worth of action research through direct observation of classroom practices and habits. The result is a body of work that has had a significant positive impact on teaching and learning. Currently, The Artisan Teacher: A Field Guide to Skillful Teaching is over 100,000 copies sold. Additionally, the 23 themes illustrated in this text are often utilized as a classroom walkthrough instrument.

And, those who have used Rutherford’s work compliment how practical The Artisan Teacher resource is—easily adopted school-wide as common language in aligning daily teaching/learning communication. From “stagecraft” to “mid-course correction” and “locale memory”, from “engaging students” and “personal attention” to “chunking”, the author provides educators on all levels the opportunity to easily self-assess and tweak their daily teaching “habits” and classroom instructional time protocols.

Rutherford explains further: “An artisan is skilled in the applied arts, combining artistic expression, scientific knowledge, and practiced labor to create uniquely valuable works. The most successful gap-closing, achievement-producing teachers view teaching as a craft. Like traditional artisans, Artisan teachers combine art, knowledge, and skill in a labor of love.”

Before launching his own consulting business, Rutherford was the Executive Director of the Mayerson Academy for Human Resource Development in Cincinnati, Ohio for five years. Rutherford Learning Group, Inc. is a research and professional development consultancy focused on high-performance teaching and effective school leadership.

The Artisan Teacher: A Field Guide to Skillful Teaching can be purchased online at Amazon, or in English and French versions at www.rutherfordlg.com.

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Dr. Rocky Wallace is Professor of Education at Campbellsville University, and has helped develop the graduate education leadership program for CU. He has served in a similar capacity for Morehead State University and Asbury University. He is a former principal of a U.S. Blue Ribbon School, and has published 12 books on servant leadership and school improvement with Rowman & Littlefield.