BrookfieldNVCC1

Rosalyn King, Center Chair for the Northern Regional Center for Teaching Excellence, hosted Dr. Stephen Brookfield in Room 144 of the Loudoun Campus, which was packed with interested faculty and graduate students from as far away as Petersburg. Highlights of ideas from a provoking and delightful 3 hours of lecture-discussion follow.

What Is Good Teaching?

Skillful teaching is not a matter of simply revealing one's expertise with content. Of course we should be experts in our fields, but skillful teachers research their students and use the data gained to refine their approach to individual students and to deal with the interpersonal dynamics that vary from class to class.

Skillful teachers

	gather unequivocal data from students every week. For example, the "critical incident questionnaire," a copyrighted set of questions that was included with the 30-item handout provided at this session, can elicit anonymous and useful information for teachers and should be used often
	intervene to enhance the learning process
	structure learning experiences, including both formative checkpoints during a project or process and summative activities, e.g. a summary of the class written in the last few minutes of class to see if students got the gist of the experience (this example was offered by one of the audience members for whom it is common practice)
	are proactive, such as by structuring discussion (not by manipulating it to come to their preconceived answer, though)

Critically reflective teaching involves making assumptions explicit and researching their validity instead of relying on authority or the received view of teaching to undergird class practices. For example, Brookfield has developed a "sleep policy" for his once-a-week class of adult learners. Instead of asking students to spend a large amount of class fighting sleep, he stipulates that they should step out for about 10 minutes, relax, take a catnap, and return refreshed.

Good teaching involves whatever helps students learn. It does not get bogged down in false dichotomies, e.g. lecture vs. small group discussion, but will use both and much more to structure learning experiences.

1. How do you know when you've taught well? Brookfield asked the audience. We noted our own answers, shared them with one or two nearby attendees, and offered several ideas to look for a pattern in the responses. You should note your own answer before clicking to the summary of responses on the next page.

To see which way the audience answered this question on site, click here for the next page.

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