Chapter 18: Exercising Teacher Power Responsibly

Photo from www.yorku.ca

In Chapter 18 of his book "The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom", Brookfield discusses how teachers will always hold the power. 

It does not matter how much a teacher may idealize the perfect egalitarian classroom, the students will always perceive that the teacher holds the power. The teacher plans the course, decides the pace and structure of the course, and does the grading.  

As a teacher, it would be a mistake to not recognize the power that I hold. By being conscious of the power I hold, I can then exercise this power responsibly. 

Brookfield emphasizes that transparency is a great way to shift some of the power back to the students. By using a rubric, the teacher is being transparent with expectations and how grades are assigned. Students have the power to check off all the expectations of an assignment to get the best grade possible, or just do the minimum for a passing grade.  

This is my second PIDP course and both times, rubrics have outlined clearly how my assignments will be graded, This is the first time I have experienced rubrics and I must say that it makes a huge difference compared to my educational experiences long ago. Without the rubric, I did not have a clear understanding of exactly what my teacher was looking for and what the grading was based on. As a student I really like the use of rubrics and now as a teacher I will be providing my students with rubrics so they know how I grade their assignments.

 © Roger Desmarais, 2022