Workshop Highlights Essentials of Critical Reflection

Laura Powell Presents

Laura Powell, Danville Community College Associate Professor of Developmental Reading, presented the essentials of Brookfield's 1995 Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher at a lunchtime workshop hosted by Janet Laughlin, Co-Chair of the Central Region Center for Teaching Excellence.  The highlights and observations below are a sample of the thinking that surfaced during this brief workshop.

"Critical reflection" considers how power works on educational processes.  For instance, does circling the desks in a classroom share power equally among all--or does it embarrass some or all with an "in your face" (or at least face-to-face) situation.  Similarly, is a teacher's withholding his or her own views on a discussion topic foregrounding student views--or is it depriving students of expertise and guidance for which they paid their tuition?

Reflection, then, is critical when it causes us to find and question our assumptions and those of others, especially those that might actually be counter-productive.  For instance, is teaching a vocation such that teachers can be reasonably expected to take on more students per class and more classes or committee work for free?  As another example, is perfection always a goal, so that a student who earns a 95 on a test or a teacher who gets a low rating on student evaluations wants to know what went wrong?

Brookfield spends some space examining different kinds of assumptions, which Laura outlined with examples--paradigmatic, prescriptive, and causal assumptions.  Paradigmatic assumptions are sort of rules we live by or ways to sort our perceptions.  For instance, we might assume that adults are self-directed learners or that anyone can learn given time.  When we make such assumptions, they translate into prescriptive assumptions when we design courses and lessons.  For instance, if you assume that adults are self-directed, you will include many decision-making opportunities, perhaps, in your course, such as a menu of assignments, extra-credit options, or even get students to help you design parts of the course.  [For instance, when I first use a new textbook, especially in English 112, which includes an introduction to literature study, I divide up the copied table of contents and auction off sections for students to analyze for recommending one or more of the readings to fill blanks I have left in the calendar of readings for the course.]  Causal assumptions derive from our sense of cause and effect or ways to effect change.  For example, using learning contracts may help increase students'  self-directedness.

Critical reflection is important, then, because it

Brookfield's book is structured, in large part, around four "lenses" that help focus our critical reflection:

1. Our autobiographical experiences as learners can initiate wise changes in our teaching, especially in graduate school, during professional development workshops, and at professional conventions, though this process can also be assisted by being observed by colleagues or videotaping our teaching.

2. Our students' views can surprise (and reassure) us.  That's why there's a strong emphasis on formative assessment in Brookfield's book, e.g. the "Critical Incident Questionnaire" that he uses weekly and the notion of having colleagues observe our work and we theirs.

3. Our colleagues' experiences can offer contrasting views on experiences common to teaching.  For this reason, Brookfield conducts a "Teacher Talk" group that meets regularly to discuss issues, commiserate and advise about problems a colleague is having, and swap ideas on handling diverse students.

4. Literature on teaching can help us gain perspective on our experiences, name our practices and procedures, and provide theoretical backdrops for our classroom practices.  

The "Critical Incident Questionnaire"

Each week, Brookfield asks his students use carbonized, 2-copy forms to give him and themselves anonymous feedback on their learning processes.  The students distill theirs into summaries and analyses  of their own learning, which Brookfield collects 2-3 times per semester.  Over each weekend, he makes aggregate data from his versions of students' answers, making appropriate changes in course practice if needed.  Specifically, he wants to know the exact moment when students felt "most engaged" with the course, "most distanced" from the course, what particular person's actions students found "affirming and helpful," or "most puzzling or confusing," and what students found "surprised" them most from their own reactions or someone else's.

Such "Critical Incident Questionnaires" can

Reading About Teaching

Studying the research on adult learning and related fields can

Summative Evaluation

Brookfield's book ends with a 16-item "Course Evaluation Form" that focuses on teaching and learning more than course logistics, text, room, assignments, etc.  Questions often focus on diversity of teaching approaches and perspectives, effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the teacher's or the learners' strategies.  Item 15 is "What piece of advice would you most like to give the instructor on how to teach the course in the future?"

Laura Powell's workshop ended with a handout and activity called "Holding Critical Conversations About Teaching," which offered a 6-item "reflective inventory," a 6-item "personal assumptions inventory," and two "critical incident" questions--a high point and a low point in the recent past of our teaching.  For instance, the "Critical Incident: High Points of Practice" task was to "Choose an incident [from the past week, month, or semester] that made you say to yourself, 'This is what teaching is really all about.'"

[During the discussion of our results I came to realize two questions that I and other teachers ask themselves that lead to "customizing" courses to enable more students to meet the course standards:

1.  Do I want this student to pass this course?  If yes, what am I willing to do to get the student to meet the course standards?

2.  How can I challenge each student, not just the lower third of the course or the highest nor teach to the average student only?]

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