Assuming the Wheel - Brookfield Chapter 2
The Skillful Teacher - Core Assumptions of Skillful Teaching
Brookfield starts off saying skillful teaching is whatever helps students actually learn. Nothing fancy, which makes sense to me. I’ve been in enough labs at BCIT where I can tell the guys aren’t getting it from how I’m explaining things. When that happens, we pull the car in and start working on it together. Theory’s fine but most students learn by doing.
The part about being critically reflective resonated with me. I catch myself thinking back to how we did things in F-1 or in the shop and assuming it’ll translate. But these students aren’t race mechanics. They’re regular people who’ve never dealt with half the stuff I throw at them. I’ve been trying to ask myself after labs what actually worked and what was just me talking.
He also talks about really understanding how students experience learning. That’s a big one. Some of them look completely lost when we get into electrical troubleshooting. Others are fine. I’ve started just asking them outright what’s not clicking instead of powering through. A lot of times they’re just nervous about breaking something expensive.
Then there’s the power dynamic within a class. With 35 years in the trade, it’s easy to sound like I’m talking down to them. In my shop I can be pretty direct, but in class I’ve had to take it easy, so they don’t feel like idiots when they screw up a brake job or misread a code.
Overall, this chapter reminded me teaching isn’t clean and perfect. It’s messy and you’re always having to adjust. I’ve picked up some of this stuff just from training young techs over the years, but it’s good to see it written out, and forced me to be more deliberate in my actions and teachings in the class.