My Reflections on the Core Assumptions of Skillful Teaching

There are 4 core assumptions of skillful teaching (Chapter 2; Brookfield, 2015). These are the following:

1. Skillful teaching is whatever helps students learn.
2. Skillful teachers adopt a critically reflective stance toward their practice.
3. The most important knowledge that skillful teachers need to do good work is a constant awareness of how students are experiencing their learning and perceiving teacher’s actions.
4. College students of any age should be treated as adults.

Dr. Brookfield delivered a wonderful keynote about these 4 assumptions. I hope you will enjoy it too!

In terms of assumptions #1 and #2, I believe that the diversity of students in different aspects needs to be acknowledged. This is where cultural sensitivity and scaffolding are emphasized. I am constantly honing my skill of being sensitive to the individual learner’s needs and the context of learning in the hopes of delivering the fit instructional strategy and guidance to address such a need.

There are instances that I easily get caught rushing to cover all the course contents as instructed by the institution to the point that I neglect what students think and feel. I may deliver to them all the course contents but this does not necessarily mean that they have a meaningful learning experience. In this case, feedback from my students is important in order for me to know my strengths and weaknesses, and hopefully adjust during the course (not after the course). This is where assumptions #3 and #4 are important. Students know what they want to learn and how they learn it – indicators that they are adults who can take responsibility for their own learning and can provide me valuable insights in improving my teaching.

Learning is a lifelong process (Dewey, 1991)  which involves a cycle of experimentation and reflection. I am optimistic that as I go along with this teaching-learning journey, I get to make use of my passion to help transform people’s lives in my own little way.

References

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

Dewey, J. (1991). Importance, significance, and meaning. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), John Dewey: The later works (Vol. 16, pp. 318–332). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. (Original work published 1950)