Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher

Book purchased for Adult Learning course. Found it very informative and easy to understand.

I would normally say that a book such as this should fail because of its faulty premises; however, Brookfield has managed to deliever an inspiring message in spite of the fact that his premises are, quite simply, wrong. First, the good: Brookfield offers 4 lenses for teachers to use as they become critically reflective about their own teaching practices: an autobiographical lens, the lens of colleagues, and of students, and of theory and research. Brookfield gives quite a bit of detail in both what these lenses mean and how to use them. Taken as a whole, the lenses offer a chance for true transformation, as teachers are exposed to the whole of themselves and how they can realize their goals (and dreams) by improving their practice. The book is no less than a handbook for excellence, offered in the form of 4 "tools" to achieve that excellence. Now, the bad: Brookfield never defines what "Critically Reflective" really means! He talks about it, and he describes what happens when one becomes critically reflective, but he never comes out and describes the central term that is the title of his book! Brookfield also appears to be wholely focused on the notion that critical reflection involves finding out how power relationships manifest in the classroom. This miopic viewpoint becomes pedantic in the first chapters and does a dis-service to Brookfield's aim. Finally, Brookfield totally misuses the terms "assumption" and "hegemony." According to Brookfield ssumptions are all about power, and hegemonies are ideas that are taken as true but are later found to be detrimental to learning efforts. These definitions are FAR from the definitions accepted in academe and even in real life; nevertheless Brookfield bases his argument for the need for critical reflection on these faulty premises. HOWEVER, as I stated at the outset, in peculiar fashion he has still crafted a book that is useful and even transformative, for those who take the message to heart. Just don't use the terms in the first couple of chapters as Brookfield would advise you to use them!

I bought this as a required text for a graduate course. It was exactly what I needed, and I got a great price.

Having been in one of Brookfield's workshops I must I think this book captures a lot of what he is about. There are lots of teacher educators out there who write about how important it is to be reflective, or to think critically, without it ever showing in their work. This is something I'm frankly OD'd in in staff developments I've had to go through. But Stephen truly walks his talk. Everything I like about this book I found in his workshop. One of this book's strengths is that it's very easy to follow. I found it very easy to read and several of the examples could have come from my own classes. The four lenses on practice are things I keep constantly in mind these days having read the book carefully and also seen how Stephen uses them in his workshop. I also found the book extremely helpful in terms of giving me specific techniques. I've always basically agreed that reflection is useful (even if I'm fed up with people telling me) and would improve my teaching but I had little concrete idea about how to go about it. Each of the lenses Stephen examines has lots of techniques and exercises attached to it. One of the most useful was the critical incident questionnaire he explains in the students' eyes lens. I started to use this to evaluate my classes and I've learned lots of surprising things were going on that I had no clue about. Finally, I appreciated the linking of critical reflection to something a little stronger than just being thoughtful. I'd never really thought about a focus for reflection before, certainly never thought about power dynamics being a focus. And the staff developments I've gone to never really deal with it. This book really got clear in my mind what my own power was as a teacher. I've always known I had it but never really been up front about it. I feel much more comfortable with this now and am ready to make sure my students think I'm using it properly.

Brookfield has done it again. An instant classic in adult education. In accessible language and with an uncanny ability to relate humorous and telling anecdotes, Brookfield provides the best available overview of reflective teaching, especially with adults. His notion that we learn to become reflective teachers through the four key lenses of self, students, colleagues, and theory is an important contribution. But what he does to explain how we learn through these four lenses is revealing and insightful. A good read. A lasting contribution.