I have voices in my head.
That could be a lead-in to an article about mental health issues, but I mean something quite different than harmful voices. I’ve been a teacher for almost three decades now, and any time I engage in my role as an educator, there are voices in my head that inform the decisions I make in planning and delivering instruction.
My high school English teacher Dorci Leara is in my ear, reminding me that keeping rigorous standards can be done with care and joy. Laughing with students goes hand in hand with providing truthful feedback to help make their work better. My college professor, Jim French, is telling me that content and topics are interconnected, and interdisciplinary learning has great value.
I can hear my student Darvaris Peterson telling me he appreciates that when he leaves my class, he feels smart, not put-down and dismissed. My colleague Ben Mathew is helping me think critically about what it means to teach from a Biblical worldview, not teach what I want and slap a little Bible on the end. Cris Tovani, author and leader in Content Literacy, even though I don’t know the sound of her voice, causes me to pause and ask myself if I am integrating literacy skills into every single lesson and making students work just as hard as I am.
All these voices in my head, and so many more, shape and form my teaching. And really, they did this before I had a name or framework for this type of teaching. It was much later in my career that I discovered Stephen D. Brookfield’s (2002) reflective teaching framework in his article, “Using the Lenses of Critically Reflective Teaching in the Community College Classroom.”1 Brookfield’s four reflective lenses of autobiographical experiences of learning, learners’ eyes, colleagues’ experiences, and theoretical literature, described further below, give us four ways to examine and possibly (hopefully) improve our teaching.
Brookfield begins with autobiographical experiences of learning, a lens that has us consider that we teach as we were taught. More specifically, we often seek to replicate what worked well for us as learners and seek to avoid those practices that didn’t appeal to us or work for us. Without being conscious or thoughtful about this, we risk making uninformed or unexamined decisions about our teaching.
From there, he moves to learners’ eyes, a reflective lens that prompts teachers to understand how their students are experiencing learning in their classes. This is not a direct assessment of student learning, but an opportunity to understand if student perceptions of the course align with our intentions. When I think I’m being funny, do my students think it’s funny? Do my students and I agree on the main point of lessons or assignments? When I challenge or push students do they feel supported or attacked?
A third lens, colleagues’ experiences teach us to rely on a professional community to both help us analyze and reflect on our teaching practice and to help us solve challenges we encounter in the classroom.
And finally, the lens of theoretical literature encourages us to engage in the body of research available on effective teaching and learning. Often, newer faculty don’t know about the broad and deep published work available to solve whatever problem in the classroom ails them.
Between 2016 and 2020, in collaboration with my colleague Ben Brown, I developed and taught a New Faculty Orientation Course at Emmaus Bible College in Dubuque, Iowa. Initially, the course was a grassroots effort from teachers in our educator preparation programs to provide support for those entering college teaching with no formal pedagogical training. Eventually, the program became the focus of my doctoral research, as we attempted to understand the impact of the program on its participants.2
While the course was built on several undergirding theories, one of the main goals I had was to inspire new educators to adopt a reflective stance early in their careers. Knowing the challenges that often beset first and second-year teachers, I hoped this mindset would help them build resilience and persistence, as well as give them tools to employ and a community to lean on when they faced their ‘crucible moment of failure.’3
Perhaps surprisingly, especially considering I was both trained and taught at a Bible college, I never stopped to examine reflective teaching through a Biblical lens. Over the past year, I’ve engaged in some conversation and work through the Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE) that caused me to pause and consider if reflective teaching is not only aligned with, but derived from, a Biblical worldview. I believe the answer is “yes,” which strengthens my resolve that those entering the teaching profession, particularly at faith-related institutions, need to adopt this humble, adaptable mindset.
A few places in scripture, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, give some insight to the practice of reflection which, while not always directly applied to teaching, still may influence the Christian teacher to recognize we are called to examine ourselves and apply what we have learned as we teach and train others. First, we see in Psalms where David and other authors frequently talk about their struggles and then recall how God has made provision for them. Those remembrances are intended to change their current outlook and behavior, and not just for their own benefit but for the benefit of those around them. Psalm 71:17-18 says “O God, you have taught me since I was young, and I’m still declaring your amazing deeds. Even when I am old and gray, O God, do not abandon me, until I tell the next generation about your strength and those coming after me about your power.” (NET Bible)
In another example, the Psalmist says, “Pay attention, my people, to my instruction! Listen to the words I speak! I will sing a song that imparts wisdom; I will make insightful observations about the past. What we have heard and learned – that which our ancestors have told us – we will not hide from their descendants. We will tell the next generation about the Lord’s praiseworthy acts, about his strength and the amazing things he has done.” (Psalm 78: 1-4, NET Bible)
The authors of these Psalms recognize their role as leaders and teachers who need to reflect on the past, both their own experiences and those of their ancestors, both oral traditions and the written records from the past, and they use that information to inform how they talk to and interact with the people in their circle of care. It doesn’t suffice to simply write a Psalm (or speak or teach) without giving thought to all of the personal and collective influences that help shape the choice of themes and words that would give glory to God while instructing “the next generation.” The Psalmist uses autobiographical experiences, colleagues’ (ancestors) experiences, and literature to frame how he speaks to and teaches his students.
The New Testament also instructs us regarding the role reflection plays in spiritual growth, both for ourselves and those we are called to teach and train. Scattered throughout the New Testament, in the introduction to his epistles, Paul uses reflection to encourage and challenge the growing church. In Philemon 1:4 he says, “I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints.” (NET). He then calls on Philemon to extend forgiveness to Onesimus and cites many reasons this is the right thing to do. Paul says he could have compelled Philemon, but instead he asks him to reflect on all he has learned and then act accordingly.
I sense a similarity between Paul’s method of encouraging growth in the early church and Brookfield’s lens of learners’ eyes. Brookfield asks the teacher to consider how instruction is going to be experienced and received even to the extent of asking students about their perceptions. The reflective teacher will consider the student’s frame of mind and adapt instruction to create better learning opportunities. Paul didn’t approach the young church with only condemnation. He didn’t try to force compliance with a set of rules. He considered that in order to learn well, his students needed to experience his teaching as a brother, friend, encourager, and exhorter and crafted his letters with that aim in mind.
I’ve concluded that the voices in my head are a good thing. They prompt me to critically examine my instructional practices through my past experiences, through the wisdom of trusted colleagues, through the eyes of my students, and through the lens of published literature. But simply reflecting on those experiences will not make me a better teacher nor would it align with my intention to teach from a Biblical mindset. As the Psalmist or New Testament authors model, what I teach and say to the next generation should be a product of that reflection. A fully reflective and Biblical mindset should compel us to approach the craft of teaching with humility and the willingness and courage to change our practices for the benefit of our students.
Footnotes
- Brookfield, S. D. (2002). Using the lenses of critically reflective teaching in the community college classroom. New Directions for Community Colleges. 118, (31-38).
- Popp, S. (2021). Impact of faculty development program on teacher attitude and approaches to teaching. Available from ProQuest Dissertation and Theses.
- Lane, J.O. (2018). Lived experiences of new faculty: Nine stages of development toward learner-centered practice. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, (18) 3, 1-25.
