For this week's group discussion the following teaching scenario was presented:
Enrolled in your course are adult mothers who
must be enrolled in school to
receive their public assistance and young men who are
mandated by probation or parole to be in school working toward their
HS diplomas or GED’s.
With regard to the above scenario, the following discussion question was posed:
Of the T/S's and
SET's explained in Elizabeth Barkley's book
Student Engagement Techniques, which would you use to get these resistant adult
learners engaged?
In preparation for answering this question, I re-read
Stephen Brookfield’s Responding to
Resistance chapter in his book The
Skillful Teacher (I love this book).
Brookfield’s writings are helpful, practical, insightful, and they offer
a fresh approach to resistance; I highly recommend this book for anyone
associated with the field of education.
To begin, I will highlight some of Brookfield’s points regarding
resistance:
About Resistance
-
Resistance can sometimes be contained but it can never be completely overcome
- Understanding where resistance comes from helps determine an appropriate response
- In some situations, educators have no control over the resistance
- If learners are determined not to learn, there is little an educator can do to change their mind
Responding to
Resistance
-
Before responding to resistance, you must have a clear understanding of the origins of the resistance
- The more we know about our learners, the better we are at responding to their resistance
- Enlist the help of former resisters via an alumni panel where former resisters voice how they were able to appreciate and value this learning experience
- Give learners a say by involving them in educational planning
- Use a variety of teaching methods and approaches in order to appeal to a variety of learning styles
- Acknowledge that students have a right to resist; however, make sure the consequences of resistance are made very clear
- Admit that resistance exists and explain how it has been dealt with in the past
- Above all, make sure resistance interferes as little as possible with classroom activities and the learning experiences of others
As
far as which of Barkley’s SET’s I would use to counteract resistance, I would
first work towards understanding the resistance. Once I have a better understanding of the
resistance, I could try to modify my methods and practices to better support
the needs of the resistant learner. To
gain a better understanding of the resistance, I could utilize SET 1 Background
Knowledge Probe to see where the student is academically, SET 35
Autobiographical Reflections could be used to understand their perspective on
this course and its content, and SET 42 Critical Incident Questionnaire should
be employed frequently to better assess classroom environment and potential problems.
With regard to this particular scenario where learners are
forced to attend school, their resistance is probably connected to their lack
of control over the situation. To allow
learners to regain control over their learning experience, I would utilize SET
43 Go for the Goal to give learners an opportunity to set goals for what they
want to learn, and SET 49 Student Generated Rubrics could be used to allow the class
as a whole to develop rubrics for coursework.
Lastly, resistance can occur when learners believe the
material or the learning experience is irrelevant. To help learners see the value of the
material and/or learning experience, SET 5 Stations can be set up (possibly
with former learners presenting their material) where current learners could get
a feel for potential learning in this course, SET 24 Think Again could be used
to challenge common misconceptions about course material and to demonstrate
course relevance, SET 26 Proclamations and SET 29 Contemporary Issues Journal could
be used to connect course material to current issues and concerns (SET 26 –
Proclamations could also be used as an assignment where learners write
persuasive papers for or against required enrollment in this course). Finally, SET 34 Field Trips could potentially provide
a refreshing change to their learning experiences and help resistant learners
create meaning between course content and practical situations.
Bottom line, resistance is normal, natural, and should be
expected throughout education. As
educators, we must learn to understand origins of resistance, maintain a
toolbox of resources and methods for diluting resistance, and ensure that
resistance does not consume our classrooms.
References
Barkley, E. (2009). Student engagement techniques: A handbook for college faculty. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Brookfield, S. (2006). The skillful teacher. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
