A practical guide to the essential practice that builds better teachers. Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher is the landmark guide to critical reflection, providing expert insight and practical tools to facilitate a journey of constructive self-critique. Stephen Brookfield shows how you can uncover and assess your assumptions about practice by viewing them through the lens of your students' eyes, your colleagues' perceptions, relevant theory and research, and your own personal experience. Practicing critical reflection will help you… Align your teaching with desired student outcomes See your practice from new perspectives Engage learners via multiple teaching formats Understand and manage classroom power dynamics Model critical thinking for your students Manage the complex rhythms of diverse classrooms This fully revised second edition features a wealth of new material, including new chapters on critical reflection in the context of social media, teaching race and racism, leadership in a critically reflective key, and team teaching as critical reflection. In addition, all chapters have been thoroughly updated and expanded to align with today's classrooms, whether online or face-to-face, in large lecture formats or small groups. In his own personal voice Stephen Brookfield draws from over 45 years of experience to illustrate the clear benefits of critical reflection. Assumptions guide practice and only when we base our actions on accurate assumptions will we achieve the results we want. Educators with the courage to challenge their own assumptions in an effort to improve learning are the invaluable role models our students need. Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher provides the foundational information and practical tools that help teachers reach their true potential.
Energize your classrooms with these key techniques for college teaching Students say the best teachers get them excited about learning, stretch their thinking, and keep them actively involved in class. But with increasingly diverse classrooms and constantly changing technology, each semester throws up new challenges for engaging students. Discover how to keep your teaching, and your students, energized with The Skillful Teacher, a practical guide to effective techniques, approaches, and methods for today's college classrooms. Providing insights, reflections, and advice from his four decades of college teaching, Stephen Brookfield now adapts his successful methods to teaching online, working with diverse student populations, and making classrooms truly inclusive. As well as being completely revised, updated, and rewritten, this edition adds six brand new chapters on: Teaching critical thinking Using play and creativity in the classroom Teaching in teams Helping students take responsibility for learning Teaching about racism Exercising teacher power responsibly Readers will delve into what learning feels like from a student's perspective, as well as absorb the wisdom of veteran college faculty with whom the author has worked. Themes from the bestselling previous editions remain, but are revisited and expanded with the perspective of an additional decade in the classroom. This authoritative guide is now even more comprehensive to better serve teachers looking to improve. Whether you are new to the classroom or are looking to rise to new challenges, The Skillful Teacher will provide answers, expand your repertoire of techniques, and invigorate your teaching and your classrooms.
A real-world how-to manual for talking about race in the classroom Educators and activists frequently call for the need to address the lingering presence of racism in higher education. Yet few books offer specific suggestions and advice on how to introduce race to students who believe we live in a post-racial world where racism is no longer a real issue. In Teaching Race the authors offer practical tools and techniques for teaching and discussing racial issues at predominately White institutions of higher education. As current events highlight the dynamics surrounding race and racism on campus and the world beyond, this book provides teachers with essential training to facilitate productive discussion and raise racial awareness in the classroom. A variety of teaching and learning experts provide insights, tips, and guidance on running classroom discussions on race. They present effective approaches and activities to bring reluctant students into a consideration of race and explore how White teachers can model racial awareness, thereby inviting students into the process of examining their own white identity. Racism, whether evident in overt displays or subconscious bias, has repercussions that reverberate far beyond the campus grounds. As the cultural climate increasingly calls out for more research, education, and dialogue on race and racism, this book helps teachers spotlight issues related to race in a way that leads to effective classroom and campus conversation. The book provides guidance on how to: Create the conditions that facilitate respectful racial dialogue by building trust and effectively negotiating conflict Uncover each student’s own subconscious bias and the intersectionality that exists even in the most homogenous-appearing classrooms Help students embrace discomfort, and adapt discussion methods to accommodate issues of race and positionality Avoid common traps, mistakes, and misconceptions encountered in anti-racist teaching Predominantly White institutions face a number of challenges in dealing with race issues, including a lack of precedence, an absence of modeling by campus leaders, and little clear guidance on how teachers can identify and challenge racism on campus. Teaching Race is packed with activities, suggestions and exercises to provide practical real-world help for teachers trying to introduce race in class
Praise for Powerful Techniques for Teaching Adults «Stephen Brookfield has used his gifts for clear thinking and lucid writing to produce this theoretically informed, immensely practical book on how the dynamics of power and adult teaching intersect. It should be required reading for everyone who teaches adults.» ??—Ronald M. Cervero, professor and associate dean, College of Education, University of Georgia «In one of his most personal, emotionally candid, and accessible books yet, Stephen Brookfield shares his passionate and indispensable commitment to empowering the learner both inside and outside the formal classroom, offering a trove of exercises, stories, and practical teaching tips to confront the hidden curriculum of power head on. For any teacher, coach, supervisor, or mentor who cares deeply about adult learning, here's a true gem from one of our great contemporary adult educators.» —Laurent A. Parks Daloz, senior fellow, The Whidbey Institute "This book is not about increasing your power as a teacher – it is about the dynamics of power in the adult classroom, challenging power structures, and the techniques teachers can use to empower learners. Brookfield's uses the lens of 'power' to distill, for the practitioner, ??a lifetime's work of scholarly and practical engagement with adult teaching and learning.' —Mark Tennant, emeritus professor, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia «Brookfield writes in a nice easy-to-read autobiographical style. He explains and fully discusses many good techniques for teaching in an effective and humane manner. Everybody who teaches, whether they teach children or adults, will benefit from reading this interesting book and learning from his lifetime of experience as a teacher.» —Peter Jarvis, emeritus professor of continuing education, University of Surrey
praise for previous books by stephen d. brookfield «Award-winning author Stephen Brookfield offers insight, inspiration, and down-to-earth advice to all teachers in settings as diverse as college, adult education, and secondary schools—on how to thrive on the unpredictability of classroom life.»—Better Teaching «The author [relates] some of his own personal experiences as an educator in encouraging critical thinking. His insight and honesty in relating these experiences is valuable and interesting.»—CBE Report «Brookfield's book will serve as an effective focus that can facilitate faculty in thinking critically about their work, their community, their relationships, not only individually but collaboratively.»—Teaching Sociology «He offers clear, jargon-free, and unpretentious guidance.» —Reference & Research Book News «The author is so darned good at finding and highlighting the key research.» —Training «Brookfield illustrates practically his major scholarly interest in this readable, innovative, and perceptive book on college teaching.»—Choice