Personal narratives

Critical incidents: Sources of analysis and learning

According to Fernández González, Escartín and Medina Pérez (2003), it is necessary that educators not only be experts in their subjects, but also able to reflect upon their teaching practices, and take suitable decisions when classroom problems appear. Thus, reflection on teaching practices appears as an important source for teachers’ development as professionals.

Critical incidents may be defined as events which are either unpleasant or unusual. However, these uncomfortable situations can be used in a positive manner: As sources of analysis and learning since they help teachers reflect upon their current practices (Pintos & Crimi, 2010). In other words, if a teacher or a community of teachers analyze and reflect upon a determined classroom problem and the different possibilities to solve it, they may take decisions based on deep analysis. Additionally, through this kind of reflection, teachers may become aware of successful or unsuccessful practices, which might determine future teaching strategies. Consequently, educators will be learning from experience and difficult classroom situations. 

As a teacher, I try to observe, reflect and analyze upon my practices and different classroom situations, and use critical incidents as a tool to improve my classroom performance. Since classroom problems vary according to the context and the students, I assume that reflection may help taking suitable decisions. 

All in all, it may be stated that critical incidents in education are a powerful tool for reflection, analysis and learning for pre-service and in-service teachers. Besides, if teachers consider difficult and unexpected situations as a source for professional development, they may face these events with a positive attitude.

References

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 September 2010, from

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

Pintos, V., & Crimi, Y.  (2010). Unit 2: Personal narratives in teaching. Lengua inglesa especializada 1.  Universidad CAECE, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Retrieved September 2010, from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=7214

A critical incident report: Learning from mistakes

In 2009, I started teaching in a full-time state-run secondary school from Mar de Ajó. I was the teacher of English of a 3^rd year, and the students’ ages ranged from fourteen to fifteen years old. There were 25 students from a lower class, and I had lessons on Mondays and Fridays from 12.30 to 2.30 in the afternoon. 

The core material I used in the course was a textbook by Longman, which I followed rigorously. In general, the group behaved well, had a positive attitude towards learning English, and participated in the lessons. However, there was a boy named Leandro who disliked the idea of learning a foreign language. He used to take the book to the lessons but he used it to make drawings, he did not participate and did hardly any activity.

After some weeks, I realized that Leandro was not motivated to learn English. I thought it was due to the fact that I had not taken into consideration the students’ interests in order to plan the units of work. The following lesson, I asked Leandro about his interests, and he expressed that he liked music very much. I also asked the rest of the students about their interests, and I wrote down the answers.

On the subsequent lessons, I introduced the topics chosen by the students to the course. Moreover, one English song per fortnight selected by the students was listened and analyzed. Through these modifications in my teaching practices, I noticed that Leandro improved his performance in the English lessons, started to participate in the activities and even worked with the textbook.

After this experience, I realized the importance of considering students’ feelings and interests in the teaching-learning process. As a consequence, I started to consider the learners’ emotional domain in order to plan lessons which result meaningful for specific groups of students.

Note: The name of the student has been changed in order to preserve his identity.

Defining a discourse community

 A discourse community is a knowledge community in which its members develop and use systems of speech and writing that are sometimes quite specific to a particular community’s needs and goals. It is composed of a minimum number of expert members and a frequently larger number of apprentice members who operate on the basis of implicit and explicit goals. Community members often use participatory mechanisms to transmit information and feedback, such as meetings and publications (Johns, 1990; Swales, 1990; cited in Pintos & Crimi, 2010). According to Swales (1990), a discourse community should meet the following requirements to be considered as such: It should have common goals, participatory mechanisms, information exchange, community-specific genres, specialized terminology and high general level of expertise.

Wenzlaff and Wieseman (2004) examine a specific discourse community: The discourse community of teachers. It may be argued that they support Swales’ (1990) theory when they state that teachers need teachers to grow. In this way, they imply that through participatory mechanisms and information exchange, teachers will be immersed in a collaborative culture that allows them to learn from one another as colleagues. They also state that “for teacher learning to occur, teachers need opportunities to participate in professional communities that discuss learning theories, and various teacher materials and pedagogy” (p. 2). In other words, it could be assumed that the community of teachers share common goals, use specialized terminology and have a certain level of expertise.

Hoffman-Kipp, Artiles and Lopez-Torres (2003) develop the issue of reflection on teaching practice, and state that refection should be viewed both as a meta-cognitive mechanism and a social practice. This is because interaction with colleagues in goal-directed activities is an important medium in which reflection occurs, as well as the exchange of ideas about different dimensions of their labor. Consequently, it can be claimed that Hoffman-Kipp et al. (2003) highlight the roles of common goals, participatory mechanisms and information exchange in teaching practice. The named authors also take into consideration that high general levels of expertise and specialized terminology should be achieved by the discourse community members in order to share ideas and points of view on different topics: “…teachers need to reflect on the political and historical dimensions of their labor” (p. 7).

Kelly-Kleese (2001, 2004) states that a community college can be understood as a discourse community. This is because its members have, over time, developed a common discourse that involves shared knowledge, common relationships, and similar attitudes and values. As a result, it may be concluded that Kelly-Kleese supports Swales’ (1990) description of a discourse community. She highlights the requirements of the community sharing a common discourse, which should include a specific genre, specialized terminology and a certain level of expertise. Moreover, the idea of the group having common relationships, similar values and attitudes may be related to the requirements of sharing a common goal and information exchange. 

In conclusion, it may be stated that there is evidence to support Swales’ (1990) theory of discourse community in Hoffman-Kipp et al., Kelly-Kleese, and Wenzlaff and Wieseman’s articles. This is due to the authors, throughout their papers, appear to show that the members of a discourse community should meet the requirements of having common goals, participatory mechanisms, information exchange, community specific genres, specialized terminology and a certain level of expertise.

References

Hoffman-Kipp, P., Artiles, A. J., & Lopez Torres, L. (2003). Beyond reflection: teacher learning as praxis. Theory into Practice. Retrieved October 2007, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NQM/is_3_42/ai_108442653

 Kelly-Kleese, C. (2001). Editor’s Choice: An Open Memo to Community College Faculty and Administrators. Community College Review. Retrieved October 2007, from

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HCZ/is_1_29/ai_77481463

Kelly-Kleese, C. (2004). UCLA community college review: community college scholarship and discourse. Community College Review. Retrieved October 2007, from

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HCZ/is_1_32/ai_n6361541

Pintos, V. & Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 1: Building up a community of teachers and prospective researchers. Universidad CAECE.

Wenzlaff, T. L., & Wieseman, K. C. (2004). Teachers Need Teachers To Grow. Teacher Education Quarterly. Retrieved October 2007, from

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3960/is_200404/ai_n9349405

introductory letter

This blog was created in order to share my writing assignments from the English for Academic Purposes class at Universidad CAECE. Here, you will find my productions and reflections on academic writing. I hope you enjoy it! Sabrina Vera.