In his book, The Skillful Teacher, Stephen Brookfield dedicates an entire chapter to the inherent power held by teachers (2015). He argues that one part of wielding that power responsibly is to acknowledge that it exists and incorporate an element of transparency so as to build trust with the students. This transparency includes "the criteria we are using to assess their work, and the agendas we are pursuing" (p. 244). He later addresses "ethical coercion" (p. 247), questioning "whether it is ever authentic to conceal one's intentions from students" (p. 248).
This made me think because there are definitely times where I deliberately withhold information from my students. Typically, I'm doing so in a completely transparent way. I might introduce a new skill without telling them the final product - instead I tell them a small piece of it. Most of my students have taken my classes long enough by now that they know we're building toward something, but they know that I know that if I introduce the whole thing at once, it will scare them. Instead, I give them all the small pieces so that by the time I show them how to put everything together, it seems very attainable.
However, this system only works because they know that there is a method to my madness and we have built up trust over time. I always have a specific reason for assigning certain drills and that reason becomes clear after a while.
Brookfield, S. (2015). The Skillful Teacher. (3rd Ed.) Jossey-Bass.
This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Comments