Reading Brookfield's The Skillful Teacher

Having read many chapters that Brookfield has authored I was looking forward to reading a book by him. I was not as impressed as I had hoped I might be. I selected two chapters to compare their similarities and differences, and identify their strengths and weaknesses. 

I had a very hard time with one aspect of Brookfield's book, The Skillful Teacher, regarding the ordering of chapters and the presentation of the material. There seemed to be two types of chapters, the first on general, universal, theoretical advice and thoughts. The other chapters were far more specific and offered detailed, concrete tools and techniques. The Chapter on Understanding and Responding to Classroom Emotions would be one I would put into the first, more general category, while the chapter about Teaching Online I would place in the second. Regardless of this critique there were two chapters I would compare and contrast and those would be Chapter 9, Teaching about Racism and Chapter 6, Lecturing Creatively.

I found the chapter Teaching about Racism to be especially difficult to read as it relies so heavily on Critical Race Theory as the foundational element of how he addresses race. Although I don't necessarily agree with the tenets and the beliefs behind critical race theory, the fact that Brookfield, most of his tools and techniques all work toward creating and supporting a reflective learning style, the fact that he is an advocate in Critical Race Theory seems to naturally fit. I liked the fact that Brookfield didn't shy away from it, I just don't necessarily agree with the process, procedure, or foundational understanding that he employs.

The chapter on Lecturing Creatively I found to be the most useful. This would be a chapter I would call a more direct, or less theoretical chapter. Although it offered many tools and tips on how to make lectures more engaging, the reflective learning style that Brookfield promotes can be seen in these tips as well. A clicker response tool for the learners to provide feedback, social media responses, peer critique, these are all in line with that reflective learning style and getting a feedback loop engaged.

Brookfield, S. D. (2015). The skillful teacher: On technique, trust, and responsiveness in the classroom. John Wiley & Sons.