ID of Student: G00367269

Article/Reading: Stephen Brookfield (Brookfield, 2017)

1. CONCISE SUMMARY OF READING

In the other chapter, Brookfield highlighted that critical reflection is concerned with the pursuit of power and hegemonic
assumptions. The easiest method to uncover these power assumptions is to examine what we are doing from as many
different perspectives as possible. Throughout this chapter, Brookfield wants to look at how we might perceive our work in
new and interesting ways by taking a step back and looking at it through four different lenses. Each of these lenses provides
insights on a different aspect of our teaching. They bring the outlines of our presumptuous clusters into striking relief when
seen as a whole.
We are stopped by the fact that we are employing “our own interpretive filters to become aware of our own interpretive
filters” (Brookfield, 2017), the pedagogical equivalent of attempting to see the back of one's head in the bathroom mirror.
We are all, to some extent, captives of the perceptual frames that dictate how we see our experiences. We struggle to
recognize how some of our most firmly held values and ideas lead us to distorted and limited ways of being from a distance.
We need to discover some lenses that reflect back to us a harsh and differently accentuated image of who we are and what
we do in order to become critically introspective. Our most powerful beliefs are too close to us to be observed clearly by a
wilful deed. However, something happens sooner or later that pushes instructors to address the possibility that they are
working with assumptions that aren't appropriate for their settings. Recognizing the difference between what is and what
should be is frequently the first step on the important path.

We have four perspectives through which we might view our teaching when we begin this journey. They are our
autobiographies as educators and learners, the perspectives of our students, the experiences of our colleagues, and theoretical
literature. When we look at what we do through these multiple lenses, we see skewed or incomplete portions of our
assumptions that need to be investigated further.
Autobiographies as learners and teachers
Consulting our autobiographies as learners and teachers puts us in the role of the "other." From the other side of the mirror,
we witness our own practice and become viscerally linked to what our pupils are going through. As instructors, examining
our autobiographies is frequently the first step on the critical journey. We become conscious of the paradigmatic assumptions
and instinctual reasonings that shape how we function through personal self-reflection. When we understand what they are,
we may begin to evaluate their accuracy and validity with students, co-workers, and books. constitute one of the most
valuable sources of educational insight to something we have privy. Personal experience is discarded and regarded as
"merely anecdotal" in other words, as hopelessly subjective and impressionistic in everything and writing about teaching.
One explanation for the popularity of peer support groups for individuals in crisis or transition is that people recognize
components of their own personal experiences in the stories told by others. In teacher reflection groups, the similar dynamic
exists. We begin to recognize that individual problems are collectively experienced challenges when we chat to one other
about crucial occurrences in our practice. Although the specifics and qualities may vary, the tensions remain fundamentally
the same. We may believe we were following a widely established curricular or pedagogic paradigm when, upon reflection,
we discover that the foundations of our practice were formed in our autobiographies as learners.
Our students eyes
We become aware of those acts and assumptions that either affirm or challenge existing power arrangements in the
classroom when we see ourselves through the eyes of our pupils. They also assist us in determining if pupils derive the
intended meanings from our practice. We realize that pupils understand our behaviours in the way we desire them to be
understood. They are hearing and seeing what we want them to hear and see. However, we are frequently astounded by the
wide range of interpretations pupils place on our words and actions. Brookfield points out how answers we give off the cuff
to seemingly insignificant questions come back to haunt us. Students cite them back to us long after we've forgotten them to
illustrate that we're now contradicting ourselves.
The primary challenge in seeing ourselves through the perspective of students is that students are naturally hesitant to be
open with us. They've presumably learnt that criticizing a teacher's conduct honestly might rebound disastrously. Students

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 may opt to speak out openly about bad elements of your activities if they believe you have gained their trust. However, you
will only receive honest criticism early in the history of your connection with a class if anonymity is guaranteed. You must
create a sense of security in your students.
Our colleagues experience
We can detect features of our activity that are generally concealed from us by allowing colleagues to observe what we do or
engaging in critical dialogues with them. We see our practice in a new light as they discuss their readings of and responses to
events that we confront. Our co-workers behave as critical mirrors, reflecting to us pictures of our behaviours, which
frequently catch us off guard. We may verify, rethink, and widen our personal theories of practice as they recount their own
experiences coping with the same crises and challenges, we confront. If we are to carve a road to critical clarity, we must
verify our readings of issues, reactions, assumptions, and reasons against the readings supplied by peers. This also gives us
with a significant amount of emotional nourishment. We begin to notice that what we believed were unique issues and flaws
are shared by many people who work in similar conditions. It's quite reassuring to know that we're not alone in our
challenges.
Theoretical Literature.
Multiple interpretations of familiar but incomprehensible situations can be found in theoretical literature. It can assist us in
comprehending our experiences by labelling them in various ways and illuminating general characteristics of what we
previously thought were unique occurrences and processes.
For example, critical theory could help us see that students' apathy is a predicted result of a system that requires individuals
to study fragmented bits of knowledge at a pace dictated by curriculum councils and licensing boards. Educators tell students
that education may help them overcome oppression, but these pupils witness peers graduating to the welfare rolls, the streets,
burger flipping, and drug trafficking just a year or two ahead of them. Teachers talk about how education may help
marginalized people and organizations gain power, while minority students see that the tenured faculty is primarily made up
of white men.

2. CRITICAL REFLECTION

Brookfield goes into great detail on critical reflection and shows us many various methodologies to do
it that it's not something you can accomplish on your own to a good standard. You can ask other
teachers what they would do in comparable situations, but you can also collect information directly
from the students. I think the information he provided in this article is really quite beneficial, since it
goes into areas I never would have considered for critical reflection, such as gaining students' trust
before asking them to freely reflect on your teaching to identify where you can improve. I feel the
cornerstone of any relationship is trust, and one of the most crucial things a teacher can create with
their pupils is trust (Cox, 2018).

I found that the strengths of this article would have to be the depth he goes into on the four lenses. For
Brookfield, the purpose of the critically reflective teacher is to get a greater knowledge of his or her
teaching from as many diverse perspectives as possible. To this purpose, Brookfield recommends four
lenses that instructors might use in a critical reflection process: (1) autobiographical, (2) students'
perspectives, (3) our colleagues' experiences, and (4) theoretical literature. These perspectives are
linked to self-reflection, student feedback, peer evaluation, and academic literature engagement. The
foundation for successful teaching and the method to become a great teacher is to think about these
processes. His basis of critical reflection is the autobiographical lens, or self-reflection. Teachers might
"become conscious of the phrases and instinctual reasonings that structure how we operate"
(Brookfield, 2017, p. 28) by focusing on their earlier experiences as learners or as teachers. Teachers
can uncover areas of their pedagogy that need to be adjusted or strengthened by looking at things like
teaching diaries, evaluations, student/peer feedback, personal goals/outcomes, and/or role model
profiles.

Yes, I felt this post had a good structure; there was a clear introduction at the start that gave you a good

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 idea of what the article was about and what you might expect to see in further depth later. Brookfield
gives a good description of the four lenses in the beginning, which are about the numerous ways we as
instructors need to look at how a lesson went. I thought it was a wonderful idea to include a visual for
the critical reflection process in the paper since it split the article and gave you a break from the text. If
I were to restructure or change anything within this document, it would be to add a few more
illustrations as I find them to make a lot more sense than all the text.

I feel all the information that Stephen Brookfield was talking about was highly relevant to us as
teachers. There was topics that Brookfield was talking about that you would notice yourself having
experienced such as the idea of the seeing yourself in the students’ eyes, I found this in that any
comment you made in the class weather answering a random question on the spot the students always
remembered it more so if it was something non relevant to the subject art hand. Brookfield mentioned
some of the things I had being incorporating through my teaching practice such as asking the
cooperating teachers in the staffroom how they would have handled certain situations. There were also
ideas he had about reflecting and the one that hit home form me was the autobiographies as teachers
and learners, “the best teachers are still learning” (Stern, 2021), was a quote that related to this topic as
we discuss different scenarios with each other as teachers we do discover there are a lot of scenarios
that are very similar and you could learn a different way to handle that situation. I feel the arguments
that Brookfield put forward in this article are very relevant.

I had read an article called ‘Reflective practice and critical reflection’, talking about the famous Greek
philosopher Socrates (Fook, 2012). He talked about how reflection is a method of attaining and
understanding one's own life and activities, as represented by Socrates' concept of reflection as "the
examined life" for ethical and compassionate involvement with the world. This article was similar to
Brookfield’s as it went through what is needed to become critically reflective within a classroom and in
yourself.

The most important thing I learned from reading this article was to have an open mind when critically
reflecting on a lesson and to go outside the box for methods to improve portions of a lesson that didn't
go as planned. The point he made about opening up to your colleagues about problems you've
encountered in the classroom was the most valuable takeaway I got from this article, and it's something
I'll use in the classroom once I'm certified. I believe that simply stating the difficulty you experienced is
helpful but seeing that there were another one or two individuals who had similar experiences makes
you feel much better, and you also gain insight into what they did to overcome the problem.

The content of this article is particularly relevant to our teaching practice, since some of these
strategies, such as asking a cooperating teacher questions about how to cope with a certain issue, would
have been employed in the classroom. This was a main heading because you could be sitting in the
staffroom casually with your cooperating teachers and start a full discussion by simply asking how they
would change this part of the lesson so that this didn't happen; this way, you're getting answers from
teachers with years of experience.

This article also applies to teaching practice in the sense that when a new teacher enters the classroom,
there is a significant degree of distrust. I remember when I was in secondary school and you had a new
teacher, you were always hesitant to speak out because you didn't know how the new teacher would
respond. However, once you acquire a greater understanding of their personality and they win your
trust, you may now speak out about what they can do to improve the learning experience. This is

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 something I attempt to encourage them to do in the first few weeks by gradually introducing it to them,
such as keeping the information anonymous for the first week or two until they feel comfortable
writing their names at the top of the pages.

This article, in my opinion, is really important for your professional development as a teacher since you
must critically reflect on your teaching on a daily basis to determine what is going well and what needs
to be modified to make things clearer for students to understand. I feel that reading this article has
broadened my horizons in terms of learning options for effectively reflecting on a lesson. Overall, I
believe that this article is a must-read for all future and current teachers because it goes into
considerable detail about the various techniques available for critically reflecting on your work. I also
found it reassuring when I mentioned different scenarios to my peers and discovered that they were the
same scenarios, and we were able to share our ideas on how we got around them.

3. LIST OF REFERENCES

References
Brookfield, S. (2017). Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher.

Cox, J. (2018). Classroom Inovation. How to Build Trust with Students.

Fook, J. (2012). Reflective Practice and Critical Reflection, 441-442.

Stern, J. (2021). British Journal of Religious Education. We’re still teaching, we’re still learning, 137-139.

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