Critical Incidents: A powerful tool for teachers’ reflection
Critical incident technique (CTI) is a powerful tool for teachers to reflect not only on the teaching practices but also on the relationship among teachers and students. Tejada (2000) states that there is a need to form professionals capable of observing the classroom events and also able of reflecting upon their teaching practises to carry out assertive decisions about the problems in the classroom (cited in Fernandez Gonzalez, Elòrtegui Escartìn & Medina Pèrez, 2003).
Designed by the American psychologist Flanagan in 1954, the CTI is a powerful method for reflective teaching practices. According to Flanagan (1954) this technique is composed of “a set of procedures for collecting direct observations of human behaviour in such a way as to facilitate their potential usefulness in solving practical problems” (para.2)
Thus, the use of the CTI in the classroom helps teachers to face and solve problems in their current practises appealing to reflection and analysis. The following is a critical incident analysis to show how this technique helped my teaching practises.
At a school meeting, all teachers complained to the headmistress about the serious problems of discipline that we had had with two students in particular. She informed us that they had all sorts of problems, particularly family problems. They did not have sufficient support of their family. She suggested that we could work with them appealing to emotions, making them feel that they were important.
When I had lessons with this group again I gave them especial roles within the classroom and I always praised them for their behaviour or work in the lesson. Since then, they have changed their mind; they participate in the lessons, bring homework and material. They have also changed the way of socializing with their classmates and behaving.
To conclude, the CTI is a powerful tool for teachers’ reflection that should be used for teachers more frequently to analyse and reflect on their teaching practises. Many of the problems that teachers have to face in the classroom could be tackled through analysis and reflection.
References
Fernández González J., Elortegui Escartin, N., & Medina Perez, 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(1). Zaragoza,
España. Universidad de Zaragoza. Retrieved from
Flanagan, J. C. (1954). The Critical Incident Technique. Psycological Bulletin, 51(4)
Retrieved September 2010 from
Tackling a critical incident in the classroom
Some months ago I started working with a project that I was carrying out together with the Spanish teachers in one of the school where I work. First, I explained students briefly about the project and asked two students to help me delivering the books chosen for this project.
While they were carrying on this activity, one student had an inexplicable reaction. She went where the students were delivering the books and she threw the book to them. She also stated that she refused to read it and wanted another title.
Her reaction shocked everybody in the classroom so I asked her to go the headmistress’ office to talk about this situation. When I arrived to the headmistress’ office, she was shouting and denying the incident. I realised that my presence worsened the situation. She started yelling at me and we could not calm her down. Thus, I decided to leave the office and talk with the headmistress and the student afterwards.
Some days later I had a meeting with the headmistress and our pedagogic assistant to find a solution. They suggested having a meeting with the student’s mother to inform her about the situation and took some measures. Besides these measures, I decided to work with the whole group the topic of values.
That critical incident has made me reflect on and analyse my teaching practises to find an assertive way of solving these kinds of events in the future. Besides it has helped me develop understanding of the incident and develop an ability to reflect on them. It has also made me find strategies and solutions for future incidents in the classroom.
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