Critical Analysis of The Skillful Teacher in Higher Education Context

This essay presents a critical analysis of the book 'The Skillful Teacher,' focusing on the importance of understanding student experiences in the classroom. It explores key concepts such as critical reading, the use of Critical Incident Questionnaires (CIQ), and the significance of teacher authenticity and credibility. The essay outlines the book's descriptions of content, analysis, and implications, including teaching practices, emotional rhythms of learning, and the diversity of learners. It also examines the impact of political factors on teaching, online learning, and the development of critical thinking skills. The analysis highlights the book's value in helping teachers navigate classroom dilemmas and fostering student agency, ultimately providing insights into how educators can address student resistance and create effective learning environments. The essay concludes by summarizing the book's contributions to understanding college teaching and its implications for both teachers and students.

Critical analysis

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
Descriptions of the content, analysis and implications................................................................3
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Critical analysis refers to the subjective analysis of the writer as it describes the
evaluation or opinion of the text. Analysis can be described as dividing the whole matter then
study it in parts. It helps both teacher and students. There are two stages involved in writing a
critical paper such as critical writing and critical reading etc. For writing critical analysis firstly
there is need to identify important ideas, evaluating author's main thesis, determining various
appeals that are being used etc. The Essay will outline description of the content, analysis and its
implication in the future.
MAIN BODY
Descriptions of the content, analysis and implications.
The book that is The Skillful Teacher describes the experience of teaching that focuses
on the concept that teaching is unpredictable and teachers uses critically reflective examples
towards their practice. The most important task for teacher to perform is to gain knowledge of
how the students are experiencing the learning and teaching of the faculty. Further, teacher
should aim to treat their students as adults.
One of the major approach that helps teacher to gain insight into students head is through
more depth examination of research approaches which is known as Critical Incident
Questionnaire (CIQ). The book has explained that, there are two attributes of teachers that are
valued by most of the students these are authenticity and credibility. One of the major strength of
this book is that, it has provided specific examples that describes the characteristics of teacher
that students can recognize during their practice. Further, it has explained emotional rhythms of
learning of the student and how they can respond to it. In Chapter 5 of the book, author has
described the similarities in the way students as well as teachers gain experience of college
classrooms.
Other than this, it has also described most common practices adopted by teacher in
teaching students. Therefore, this book will help to adopt various teaching practices in the future.
Such as discussion, lecturing, teaching in diverse classrooms etc. The author has provided
various examples of classroom exercises that helps to provide advice regarding appropriateness
of these methods.
The book also helps to consider the ways that helps students to think in more critical
manner. It has also described the concept of teaching by the faculty in online settings. The book

will help to gain learning in online settings in the future. Further, it has been analysed that the
book is very helpful to encourage students for assuming various responsibilities for own learning
in classrooms. Moreover, it has provided an insight to the reasons behind resistance of students
for learning and how teacher can respond to these types of students. It has been analysed that, the
book is very helpful for faculties for understanding the ways to help students in overcoming
resistance to learning. The book has also explained the ways in which teachers may exercise their
power.
It has been analysed that one of the major strength of the book is that, it has outlined the
factors that can create an impact on the practice of teaching adopted by the teachers. Political
factors also affect the way of teaching. Moreover, the book has also described how students can
survive emotional challenges in the classroom.
Another strength of the book is that, it has described the diversity of learners studying in
classroom. The diversity among students also exist in culturally or radically homogenous
classrooms. It is also analysed that, the style of learning is fundamentally different on the basis of
this students can be classified into different categories such as tactile, auditory and visual
learners. The book has also described that, students have different types of personalities like
introverts, extroverts, logical, intuitive etc.
In another chapter of this book, author has evaluated the emotional response of the
learners to the experience of being studying in the college. It also described that inner emotional
lives of teacher is parallel to those of the students. The book has various implications in the
future. Firstly, it has defined that it is very essential for faculties to understand how emotional
rhythms are experienced by the learners. It will help teachers to understand different approaches
of teaching such as lecture method. By definition, lectures are not authoritarian. Like this,
discussion is also one of the important method of teaching and by definition it is not
spontaneous.
The book on The Skillful teacher has various implications for teacher as well as for
students. It helps readers to navigate inevitable and recurring dilemmas and contradictions that
face while performing different tasks. It has presented the view of teaching that is truthful and
recognizable to readers. Moreover, the book has described the meaning, importance of college
teaching. Students as well as teachers has power to change the world sometimes in big ways. It
has also explained that, higher education helps to open the perspectives and ideas of learners that

has never been happened to them. The book will help students to develop required skills and
abilities that allows them to perform various activities in the world. Further, this book is also
beneficial for teachers in developing the power of critical thinking in students and also assist
them to create a sense of agency in the learners. Moreover, it has explained major problems and
dilemmas that are faced by teachers during college teaching. Therefore, it will help faculties to
analyse these problems in more informative way.

CONCLUSION
The above Essay has outlined the term critical thinking as the analysis of matter in
different parts. Further, it has described the things that are covered in the book The skillful
teacher. One of the most important activity of a teacher is to develop understanding of how
learners are experiencing their learning. Critical Incident Questionnaire (CIQ) is one of the major
approach that helps to explain teacher to gain understanding of students. Moreover, it has
provided an analysis of understanding causes behind resistance in students. The Essay has also
described various forms of diversity in learners.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals -
Brookfield, S. D. (2015). The skillful teacher: On technique, trust, and responsiveness in the
classroom. John Wiley & Sons.
Honig, M. I., & Rainey, L. R. (2019). Supporting principal supervisors: what really
matters?. Journal of Educational Administration.
Ross-Gordon, J. M., Rose, A. D., & Kasworm, C. E. (2016). Foundations of adult and
continuing education. John Wiley & Sons.
Saphier, J. (2017). THE EQUITABLE CLASSROOM. The Learning Professional, 38(6), 28-31.