Stephen D. Brookfield

Focuses on the college classroom. Some of the chapters have specific suggestions about getting students to open up, focusing on creating productive tension and discomfort rather than meaningless “safety.” (So weird to revisit these notes in the context of the current conservative moral panic.) Journaling and other reflective writing exercises are popular. Most chapters emphasize the importance of the instructor’s own vulnerability/acknowledgement of internalized racism and error, while still setting expectations about learning and conversations. Many suggested that getting white students to think about ways in which they have a disfavored characteristic (including gender, sexuality, and disability) could transition them into acknowledging racism and intersectionality.… (more)

I'm generally pretty liberal about race-related stuff, so no, my beef with this book is not that it's "too liberal." My beef is that this is the kind of white liberal guilt/white savior complex, wrapped up in a hearty portion of "I need my students to like me!!," that makes me want to hit my head against a wall. I'm reading this with a group of other English Comp instructors, and while I appreciate the practical discussion suggestions, I'm additionally at a loss as to how I can practically incorporate Brookfield's exercises, since they seem to be geared mainly towards "let's talk about the patriarchy!"-type discussions and not "let's talk about writing topic sentences!"

I wanted this to be good... really, I did... but I think Friere is still the classic, and truthfully more useful, text on the subject.… (more)