Month: May 2019

Regardless of how egalitarian an instructor tries to practice, the reality is that they have “power” over course curriculum, classroom activities and  evaluation criteria. It is important to acknowledge and utilize this position of authority in a responsible way rather than seemly ignore it and then later utilize it in a punitive way. In Chapter 18: Exercising Teacher Power Responsibly in The Skillful Teacher,  Brookfield (2015) addresses the responsible use of power in the classroom. Interestingly, he indicates that while the instructor power includes positional title, by virtue of training, subject competence and personality, learners also have and can exercise power.  Ironically, learners can leave teachers feeling powerless by simply refusing to ask or answer questions.

Some of the characteristics of justifiable power and authority which students have identified include: transparency, responsiveness and being consistently fair.  As a nurse who worked in hospital management prior to transitioning to nursing education, I was “taught” the importance of these characteristics by my more senior staff, who had no difficulty calling me out any time they perceived inconsistencies in transparency, responsiveness or fairness.  This has served me well as a guide as I transitioned from nursing management to nursing education.

One of the identified challenges that teachers can face is student disinterest in a particular topic that a teacher deems important. This can pose a challenge, however a key strategy is to be open and honest with students,  and provide them with rationale for your choices, while at the same time pressing forward.  Hopefully this honesty and transparency will help students be willing to engage with you.

From:  Brookfield (2015).  The skillful teacher: On technique, trust, and responsiveness in the classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

In Chapter 2 of his book The Skillful Teacher, Stephen Brookfield (2015)  identifies 4 core assumptions that he considers fundamental to skilled teaching.  These assumptions are that:

#1 – Skillful teaching is whatever helps students learn.   

Brookfield suggests that at times we need to step outside of what has worked in the past or what we feel is the “expected” way to teach, in order to face whatever challenges a particular class brings. He presents the example of a resistant class, where he brings in a panel of students from a previous class who were initially resistant but later found value in the course. He introduces the panel and then leaves, which allows the students to communicate openly.

#2 – Skillful teachers adopt a critically reflective stance toward their practice

Brookfield identifies four lenses to look through when critically reflecting on practice. These include: (1) the students’ eyes (using various classroom research techniques; (2) The perspective of colleagues (through team teaching/debriefing or through classroom observation; (3) educational literature (ranging from teaching narratives to theories); and (4) considering our personal experiences as learners.

#3 – Teachers need a constant awareness of how students are experiencing their learning and perceiving their teacher’s actions

Utilizing various means of obtaining anonymous feedback, in order to know where students are at. Brookfield has developed a tool called the Critical Incident Questionnaire (CIQ) for this purpose, which will be highlighted in a separate post.

#4 – College students of any age should be treated as adults

Regardless of whether students are at the beginning stages of adulthood, or well situated, it is important to treat students as adults. Teachers should be authoritative but not authoritarian.  Students want to be treated with respect, however they want to be able to respect and trust the knowledge and experience of the teacher.

Although these “assumptions” are broad, these can serve as a general guide for teaching practice.

From:

Brookfield, S. D. (2015). The skillful teacher: On technique, trust and responsiveness in the          classroom. San Francisco:Jossey-Bass.

I began the Provincial Instructor Diploma Progam in September 2018, not really knowing what to expect. Over the past 9 months, beyond meeting alot of great people,  I have been able to participate in a wide variety of experiences from the perspective of a student, many of which will impact my future teaching. For some of these experiences, I have been more of a “fly on the wall”, imagining things from the instructor perspective such as when students did not take note of due dates or contact the instructor about late assignments. I have also appreciated being able to witness the delight of an instructor when a class activity went well or when the instructor indicated that they had learned something new as well.

I have also experienced things purely as a student…frustration at changes in assignment or inconsistencies between the course website and the material provided in class…or that feeling of disappointment at a mark or comment.  I recall students telling me that “this grade isn’t fair…I worked really hard on that assignment” and my reply being that the grade isn’t for effort, but for meeting the criteria. And yet, I found that I experienced that same sentiment of feeling that my grade didn’t match the investment of my time or effort.

However despite a disappointment or two, I have thoroughly enjoyed being able to experience things from the student perspective again. PIDP 3260: Professional Practice is my final PIDP course before the capstone.  I look forward to completing this leg of the journey and then starting out on the next one, although I’m not sure what the next destination will be.