PIDP 3260 The Skillful Teacher Ch. 19 Review

For this blog post (Week 7's assignment), we are required to comment on any chapter in Stephen D Brookfield's The Skillful Teacher, or another source. I was blasting through the rest of the book just so I could finish it and got bogged down on Ch. 19 - Negotiating the Politics of Teaching. Oo boy, did I need to read this chapter, as there is so much politics that I don't want to go anywhere near with a 10 foot pole, but somehow I keep having to deal with politics. The quote that really caught my eye was right at the beginning of this chapter:

"...they have to make numerous daily calculations on when to hold their tongue, when to speak truth to power, how to express a threatening idea in a nonthreatening way, who to trust and who to steer clear of, and when requests made of them are diktats masquerading as innocent suggestions"

- Stephen D Brookfield

I think I miss the memo a lot in politics and I put my foot in it a lot, because I am honest but perhaps too honest? So, I'm writing about this one.

The author gives these main points in this chapter:

• Become a cultural anthropologist of your institution

Ok. In short, do archeology on the dirt of the organization, learn the power structures, observe the flow before changing everything. Gotcha. Already on it.

• Attend to the mission statement

Interesting that this comes up in this book, as I just previewed an online course "Making Teamwork Work" put on by the Canadian Council for Aviation and Aerospace (CCAA) https://avaerocouncil.ca/training that inquired about what the mission/vision/values of each organization attending as part of this course. It was illuminating reading the organization values and comparing them to my own.

• Building alliances

So true, you always need help. No man/woman is an island.

• Accumulate deviance credits

Interesting concept - we call this "trust bank" in our house, which is you have to put deposits in before making a withdrawal. I just thought this was straight up good social and trust strategy, not politics though. The book listed this concept as coming from Ira Shore, so I will hunt him down for more tidbits, as we are on the same wavelength here.

• Choose your battles

Well, duh. I don't think I need to say anything else here.

• Generate external recognition of your efforts

I did something like this the other day when I was feeling alone and unsupported and untethered - I put a list of all my helpers together. There are hundreds of them! It was so nice to see all their names/faces and remember how much support I truly have. I document all my "atta girl"s too for raise purposes. This part was good to hear - and I will definitely gather snapshots/comments/letters from alumni once we are up and running. Very smart idea.

• Create a paper and electronic trail of agreements

Well, duh, people lie and court happens. I don't throw any of this stuff away, digital space is cheap.

I think, surprisingly, I'm doing ok with the politics according to this book's directions. I don't know if I should be relieved or worried about that bahahaha.

References

Brookfield, S (2015) The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust and Responsiveness in the Classroom. Jossey-Bass. p. 254

Shore, I (1996) When Teachers Have Power: Negotiating Authority in a Critical Pedagogy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press