You are not alone: Critical incidents and the sharing of experience

I was one of those many people who thought that expertise or vast knowledge in a given subject was enough for teaching it. Soon after I got my degree as a translator, I accepted a post as a teacher at a language school. It was not long before I realized there was something else to teaching that mere knowledge; I had to deal with uneasy situations, insecure children who cried in the middle of a test or anxious adults who felt easily frustrated. I had to come up with spontaneous sensible decisions in order not to make the situation worse. I felt at a loss. Not sure whether my reactions were appropriate, I wished somebody had written a book on “How to react in the classroom.”

There is no doubt knowledge is a key starting point to be a good teacher. However, there is the necessity to nurture professionals who “apart from being experts in their field, have the ability to observe the class, reflect on what they teach, come to new sensible decisions when problems arise in the classroom” (Tejada, 2000; as cited in Fernández González, Elórtegui Escartín & Medina Pérez, 2003, p.3). Critical incidents, a strategy in which teachers analyze typical classroom problems and offer strategic solutions to them, provide future or in-service teachers with insight into possible or safe courses of action available, based on other teachers’ previous experience and reflection.

It may be argued that novel situations can always arise, for which there is no previous experience to draw upon. However, a critical incident may function as a reflection tool, “a questioning element in sight of similar situations” (Fernández, 2001; as cited in Fernández González, Elórtegui Escartín & Medina Pérez, 2003 p.6); especially for inexperienced teachers who cannot apply heuristic methods to their practice. I agree with Fernández Gonzales et al (2003)  on that “Critical incidents do not replace classroom experience, but they provide the future teacher with professional resources obtained by means of reflection to avoid, as far as it is possible, impulsive reactions under the pressure of the classroom here and now”(p.8).

Critical incidents, then, come as the closest version of the “How to react in the classroom” book I was pleading for. Of course, there are not unique or perfect solutions. As Fernández Gonzales et al affirm “it is hard to find a critical incident analysis widely accepted by all those involved in it” (p.12); nonetheless, looking into other people’s experience and thorough analysis, makes you feel you are not alone in the profession of teaching, and that anything that happens to you now might have been experienced in the past or will be experienced in the future. The important thing is sharing.

Reference

Fernández, 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 December 2007, from

http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/redalyc/src/inicio/ArtPdfRed.jsp?iCve=27417107