Critical incident report: A risky but fruitful decision

Critical incident report: A risky but fruitful discussion

Not only teachers but also other professionals can reflect upon their own practices by means of effective techniques. Critical Incident Technique (CIT) is one of them since it is used for gathering empirical information by analyzing people’s actions and behavior in specific contexts. 

Three months ago, I began to work as a substitute teacher in a state-run school in La Matanza.  There, I met a group of twenty-eight students who had only taken two lessons of English up to that moment.  For this reason, I tried to design my lessons bearing in mind we had to work hard to make up the undelivered lessons.  As a result, I implemented games and interactive tasks to activate students’ schemata and lead them in a smooth progression to achieve the knowledge and skills they needed.

Despite my efforts, a group of five students did not work at all. As a consequence, I decided to talk to one of them, X, because he was the leader of the group.  After having a brief conversation, X exposed he was not interested in studying for he was a football player and he added English was not important for his future.  Disregarding his arrogant attitude, I insisted on persuading him but he reacted angrily stating he already was an official team member.  Being overwhelmed with his words, I answered I felt pity for people like him was representing our nation; and suddenly he left the classroom.

Next lesson, X began to work hard and this surprised me a lot.  In addition, he asked me for help to finish a task and I took advantage of this situation to rectify my statement since, at that moment, I was proud of him.  Definitely, I had provoked a change in him. First, I felt annoyed and then, scared of a possible aggressive reaction; but, at the end, I realized it had been a risky but a positive discussion. 

In conclusion, this incident made me reflect upon my role since Tejada (2000) stated that “los profesionales debemos ser capaces de observar el aula y de aplicar decisiones idóneas nuevas sobre el planteamiento de problemas del aula” (as cited in González, Escartín & Pérez, 2003, p. 102).  Furthermore, when rectifying my words, I showed him that “teachers must be real and genuine, discarding masks of superiority and omniscience” (Brown, 2000, p. 90). 

For this reason, CIT should be implemented in programs at teachers training colleges since this innovative tool provides professionals with an integrative overview of their profile.  Therefore, CIT could be used to depict clearly not only the cognitive skills but also the interpersonal skills required to solve problems in the educational field.  

                                                              

                                                   

References

Brown, H. (4th ed., 2000). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Fernandez González, J., Elórtegui Escartín, N. & Medina Pérez, M. (2003). Los incidentes críticos en la formación y perfeccionamiento del profesorado de secundaria de ciencias de la naturaleza.  Revista universitaria de Formación de Profesorado, 17-  001. Zaragoza, España: Universidad de Zaragoza. Retrieved October 2011, from http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/redalyc/src/inicio/ArtPdfRed.jsp?iCve=27417107