Powerful Techniques for Teaching Adults

295 Pages·2013·1.09 MB·English

by  Stephen D. Brookfield

Powerful Techniques for
Teaching Adults
Stephen D. Brookfield
Powerful
Techniques for
Teaching Adults
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Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xvii
About the Author xix
1. The Essence of Powerful Teaching 1
2. Teaching for Critical Thinking 35
3. Using Discussion Methods 63
4. Fostering Self-Directed Learning 89
5. Democratizing the Classroom 119
6. Teaching About Power 149
7. Teaching Using the Creative Arts 185
8. Negotiating the Emotions of Powerful Teaching 217
References 245
Index 265
vii

Preface
As a teacher of adults I live simultaneously in two educational
worlds. In one, you might call it Powertopia, power is expe-
rienced as an enabling and equalizing force. Here people exercise
power to make space for each other to speak, as they strive to un-
derstand another’s point of view. Compassion is the quality valued
above all other virtues, so Powertopia’s citizens ensure no one is
marginalized, diminished, or demeaned. Put colloquially, nobody
getsscrewedinthisworld.IntheclassroomsofPowertopia,poweris
exercised judiciously to support everyone’s growth; egomaniacs are
not rewarded for steamrollering and shutting down other learners;
racial, class, and gender microaggressions are unknown; and peo-
ple’smindsareopentoconsideringideasandpracticesthatthreaten
their own comfortable sense of identity.
This dreamlike version of Habermas’s (1979) ideal speech situ-
ation where everyonestrives forintersubjective understanding and
is open to critical thinking doesn’t, of course, exist. But it’s what
I’d like to see in place in my own classrooms even as I live in the
second of my educational worlds, the real world. One set of toes, if
notoneofmyfeet,isalwaysinPowertopia.MuchofhowIexercise
powerintherealworldisgovernedbyadesiretocreatePowertopia.
I suspect that many teachers of adults have their own version of
Powertopia lurking at the fringes of their consciousness, and mea-
suretheireffectivenessasadulteducatorsandtrainersatleastpartly
ix