This type of a relationship is at the heart of deep teaching, requiring the teacher to be absolutely attentive and completely present to his or her students. Deep teaching is characterized more by mood than by method. A sense of freedom and a spirit of joyful inquiry are essential to this mood. While deep teaching is intense, it can also be playful. This freedom is evident in the types of questions entertained and the scope of ideas explored.
Freedom encourages risk-taking in inquiry and often leads to new ways of thinking and expression.
For teachers and students, there is probably nothing as exhilarating as the emergence of insights laced with creativity, imagination, and personal relevance. They can wipe their mental slates clean and take a fresh look at themselves and the world around them. Deep teaching suggests that we invite the emotional side of learning to be experienced and expressed in the classroom. It calls for the inclusion of such creative activities as art, music, dialogue, drama, and journal writing into the daily curriculum and suggests that these activities be incorporated into every area of inquiry. The celebrations in such classrooms honor the wonders of life that are being studied and interpreted.