Chris Lehmann, principal of the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia:

Watching teachers who know how to listen, who know how to take a bunch of ideas and thoughts that are floating around a classroom and move an entire class somewhere deep and powerful and meaningful… that’s artistry. I still think of great teaching as a jazz piece… yes, the lesson plan are the notes on the page, but the coolest stuff happens in those moments that take us away from that, the unexpected moment, the flash of a new idea, of understanding, of shared meaning… of transformation.

It’s hippie-ish talk, yes, but count me as a hippie.  And then keep reading Chris’s blog, because a lot of what he writes puts into far better words than mind what my idea of the ideal school could/should be.