Responding to Students’ Resistance to Learning, Stephen D. Brookfield

Chapter Seventeen in Review:

            As I near the end of  reading Stephen D. Brookfield’s The Skillful Teacher I find myself thinking about the resistance to learning that students so often present when learning new concepts. Firstly, I’m a big believer in creating what I call “buy-in” in the classroom. If students do not see any relevance to what course content is being  presented in the classroom they tend to develop resistance to the material. Secondly, if multiple instructional methods are not used to present course material an instructor will fail to meet the needs of today’s diverse learners in the classroom.

            In order to avoid creating resistance in students’ educators must be careful not to favor one particular teaching style, but rather offer various approaches to the delivery of instruction. According to Stephen D. Brookfield (2015),

“Teachers who work in ways that support only a limited range of learning preferences can pretty much guarantee for themselves a degree of resistance from those whose learning habits differ. So one Clear principle of effective college teaching is to strive to use a variety of different instructional approaches.”(p-231).

In my time as an instructor I have found that multiple strategies were essential in the classroom. When I present course content in multiple modalities I see many more ‘light bulb” and “aha” moments from the students. This moments are the moments in which resistance goes down and the importance of learning is realized.

            Another key concept Brookfield focuses on in chapter seventeen is the importance of creating the motivation that students require to learn. Educators need to demonstrate to students why then need to learn course material and how it will be useful in the “real world”.  Brookfield (2015) maintain

            “As teachers we see clearly the value of learning and we all to easily assume

            students can see this too. The reason that certain understandings or skills 

            are important is so obvious to us that we may feel they need minimal

            justification. Nothing could be further from the truth.  You should never be

            too proud to say why in your view it’s important to learn something”.         (p-234).

I couldn’t agree with this statement more, I have spend a great deal of time during my lessons stressing the importance of learning specific key concepts.  It is integral that students  “buy into” the importance of material that instructors deem to be critical. As instructors we must not only relate the important material to real world application but also demonstrate or model the essential material/skill.  As I’ve said before Brookfield’s The Skillful Teacher is an essential read for all educators.

References

Brookfield, S. (2015). The skillful teacher: on technique, trust, and responsiveness in the classroom (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers

1099EDN Understanding Learner Diversity

Food for thought! #DiverseLearners

Changing Education Paradigms

Sir Ken Robinson is one of my all time favorite "educational gurus". This is an adaptation of a talk from a few years ago, however the issues and concerns is discusses are still relevant. Take a look.

How To Create Infographics (The Ultra-Simple & Easy Way)

A great little info graphic tutorial I thought I'd share. I know my fellow 3260 classmates may utilize this.

Strategies for Teaching Culturally Diverse Students

This is short but great. I really like the format. Perhaps I will do something like this for my digital project coming up in PID 3260

Where Am I at Proffesionally? PIDP 3260

I'm presently in my sixth year as an full-time adult educator. Prior to my full-time teaching career I taught part-time for hair product companies, as well I acted as an in house educator in my own salon.  Since joining the Faculty of Hair Design at VCC I have been actively working on my Provincial Instructors Diploma.

As I have nearly completed the PID Program I'm currently in the process of applying to do my Masters Of Education at Simon Fraser University. This graduate program will focus on current issues, practices, theories, and policies in curriculum and instruction. The graduate program is two years in length and part-time. This will enable me to continue teaching while I'm studying. This program was designed specifically for those who work in the realm of post-secondary education. Upon completing my M.Ed I will focus on upgrading my current hairdressing skills. I do fear that focusing my time on the academic side of things could lead to skill erosion. In order to be effective as an instructor of a trade I believe you must have excellent and relevant skills that reflect current practices in the industry.

In the future, I would like to take some workshops in the following areas: Conflict Resolution, Cultural Sensitivity, and Educational Leadership. Although, I thoroughly enjoy educating and sharing my experience in the hair design program I have further aspirations. I hope to one day try my hand at being a Department Head, and possibly the role of Dean. But for now I'm very content to teach hairdressing and work on my M.Ed.

Teaching in Diverse Classrooms, PID 3260

Anyone who reads my blog knows I have immensely enjoyed reading The Skillful Teacher by Stephen D. Brookfield. Chapter Eight centers on teaching and working within a diverse learning environment, something I can attest to as can most educators nowadays, I'm sure. I personally love the diversity at the VCC and especially in my program. The Hair Design Program at VCC has a large international student body in addition to many new immigrants from all around the world.  I enjoyed chapter eight as it focused on gauging the diversity in your classroom, team teaching, mixing modalities and student groups, and preferred forms of communication in the diverse classroom.

Team teaching is not really possible in my department; I do however rely on pairing and grouping my students so they can help each other in their learning. According to Stephen D. Brookfield (2015), "Teachers faced with students who exhibit wide variations in their academic readiness, racial and cultural identities, motivation for learning, learning preferences, and temperaments sooner or later face the choice of how to group such individuals to accomplish specific learning tasks."(p.103).  Personally, I couldn't agree with this statement more and I would be providing my learners a great disservice if I did not utilize pairings or groups that would aid in collaborative learning.

Due to a high percentage of my classroom being ESL it is most effective to find the commonalities of learners within a short period time when starting a new class.  If there are communication barriers that can be dealt with by pairing a classmate with the same languages it is then done.  Though it can be positive for students to be paired with a classmate when both languages are not common. I find when I pair/group people with commonality early in the program and when working on absolutely essential concepts the students learn with a lot less anxiety.

Stephen D. Brookfield (2015) maintains, "Grouping students together who share common curricular interest, or who are at the same ability level, allows them to learn without having to accommodate interests that are not their own or to be asked to work in ways that are too slow or fast for them".(p.103). Alternately, I love to use pairs/groups of students from different backgrounds and learning styles when I'm working on creative work and client relation/salon business material. When the students work on client relation material it is an excellent chance for them to learn from each other’s cultures and experiences. Business and Professional conduct is different around the world. During these interactions domestic students can gain insight to other cultures whilst helping international learners to understand North American “norms” in professional settings.

Naturally, the Hair Design Program centers on creativity and expression! The diverse classroom is the perfect environment for all to gain insight in to looks and influences from around the globe. I love seeing students come up with interesting looks and styles that relate back to the many cultures that are collaborating in my classroom. Chapter Eight provided me some assurance that I'm moving in the right direction with my diverse group of learners, and it also provided insight into areas I may need to address or develop further. Love this book! 

References

Brookfield, S. (2015). The skillful teacher: on technique, trust, and responsiveness in the classroom (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass