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Courage in Teaching

Marina Ferreira de Melo

University of Wisconsin—Stout

Educational Psychology of the Adult Learner

EDUC 403/603

Dr. Jerrilyn Brewer

February 16, 2019

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Prompt #1 – What does it mean to “muddle through” the complex contexts and
configurations in our classrooms?

A relevant and simple definition for the term “muddle through”, according to The Free
Dictionary is to push on  to  a favorable outcome in a disorganized way. Teachers are often
thought of as being extremely organized, even methodical in their ways, nevertheless that is a
rule. Although a teacher might come across as such, but if you teach, you know that
“organization/tidiness” is a little utopic.

Teaching requires courage because it is basically an interaction between humans and

accumulated knowledge. Teachers are, in a way, trying to “perpetuate” knowledge and this
whole scenario is quite complex.

Brookfield, (2015) wrote that “our lives as teachers often boil down to our best attempts to
muddle through the complex contexts in the classroom”. Considering both expressions of
muddle through, we can take away that it basically is your personal and probably, preferred way
to be able to take a sensible decision to solve a problem.

I find particularly interesting the analogy Brookfield has made by saying “teaching is equivalent
to (in education) white water rafting”. I believe most teachers, at a point in their careers will
question themselves, if teaching is the right career, if it has been worth professionally and
personally. There are so many aspects that play roles in how a teacher feels about his practice.
Classrooms can be a stressful place to be, emotions, feelings and behaviors can influence how
we feel as part of this mechanism.

I would visually represent a classroom with a jigsaw puzzle. There is a reason for every little
piece to be there, it fits somewhere, teachers are the ones trying to put it together. Sometimes it
seems like you found the exact piece you were missing, but as you try to fit it, you notice there is
a tiny corner that is larger than you thought at first. You will not stop there and give up; curiosity
and a sense of achievement will make you strategize again and restart.

Muddling through, in my view, is to always have a positive attitude towards the classroom. It is
related to our inner ability to solve problems as they come to be. For instance, if a teacher spots a
weakness in a student, he/she will mostly out of instinct, be more helpful, help more often, and
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try to “nip at the bud”, so this weakness does not evolve to become a relevant issue. In other
words, it is to scan, appraise and act.

Prompt #2 – Why is it important to “reflect on their own personal experiences” when

dealing with problems related to our own teaching?

In Brookfield and Palmer’s video, this reflection was proposed. Teachers are as
vulnerable as any other human involved in the learning process and a way to refrain from
vulnerability is by considering your own, everyday experiences are valid and relevant when it
comes to problem solving.

Moreover, another concept that comes to mind is that to better deal with teaching problems,
teachers’ own experiences may be the best way to start. Often, teachers feel like they should
always refer to an expert’s help to solve a problem, while they should be performing a self-
analysis of their practice and try to find out if any previous experience could give any hint on
how to solve a current issue. Imagine a teacher who has been out of the classroom for a while
and now is feeling a little insecure while talking to younger generations. Trying to remember
their first years of teaching might help brainstorming different ways to approach and tackle with
this inner fear of miscommunicating.

Teachers tend to be more pragmatic as their years of practice go by. It is like you know a formula
that works well, most of the time. However, intuition is also mentioned by Brookfield when he
proposes that insights and “gut” feelings might have validity as well and, as teachers, we should
not completely disregard them.

Prompt #3 – Why does good teaching require courage?

“In order to teach well we need to be able to see inside our students to see their fears and
hopes.” (Palmer 2012). Sometimes, teachers are just so busy that “seeing inside” their students
does not sound like a priority, especially if we take a sample teacher population who just has too
many students “under their wing” and have to be number wise productive. That is also why,
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courage will trigger the realization of a need for change, sometimes in the instruction level, at
times in the level of institution or even state.

In fact, in my view, according to Brookfield, teachers need to muster up all their courage to
refrain from vulnerability, first. Personally, I associate it with insecurity and a fear of having to
perform well. Some would say loneliness. A teaching career should, ideally, not be a lonely one,
but one of shared knowledge, experiences, victories and failures, obstacles overcome, new and
old techniques, insights and even intuition.

Courageous teachers do not distance themselves from the learning process or hide behind a
barrier to defend themselves from being questioned. Another interesting point is that authority
should always be used with sensibility, especially in an adult instruction setting.

Courageous teachers will have good and bad days, just like anyone else. The affective filter is a
relevant component whose analysis may help decision making. Being able to function as a tool,
we teachers can make a discipline that a student might hate into something they are able to
respect and appreciate.
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References

Brookfield, S. (2006). The skillful teacher: On technique, trust, and responsiveness in the

classroom (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Palmer, P. and Weimer, M. (2012). Considering the Courage and Practice of Teaching.[Video] 

https://uwsto.instructure.com/courses/141335/pages/considering-the-courage-and-
practice-of-teaching?module_item_id=996681

Muddle Through meaning. Retrieved from https://www.thefreedictionary.com/muddle+through