Teachers as lifelong learners

The idea of developing critical incidents to improve teachers’performance is not new (Fernandez & Fernandez, 1994; Tejada, 2000). As Fernandez, Elortegui & Medina state, critical incidents are described as pre-service and in-service teacher education strategies to integrate theory and practice having diversity of teachers and different reflexive analysis as the main features (2003). Unfortunately, this type of methodology is not included in Teaching English as a Foreign Language Colleges or in In-service Education and Training days (INSET) when teachers are already working. This absence of reflection leads to disorganization and poor range of strategies at the time of solving problems at school.
Thinking about personal experiences, I remember being in TEFL College whereas working in state-run schools as a substitute teacher. I used to believe that students would learn the language in the same way I had done, so my interest was focused on imparting knowledge, no matter how. I was going to teach a 5th grade of fifteen children in a primary school. I introduced myself and asked what they had been doing in previous classes. As soon as I started explaining some grammar items, I found in students’folders, two of them began fighting in the middle of the class. They accused one another of not being their father’s child, but somebody else’s. I tried to stop the quarrel, but I could not. A teacher who heard the shouting, came and helped me to stop the scrap. I was really shocked. Not only did I realize that I was not ready to deal with conflicts in groups but also I woke up to the fact that one’s reality was not everyone’s.
Examples such as these are abundant in our contexts. Teachers- to-be without enough tools already teaching at schools because there are vacant posts that nobody covers, among other facts that are connected to absence of analysis, experience and reflection. As previously stated, the introduction of critical incidents in TEFL Colleges and in schools themselves is almost non-existant, leading to unsuccessful and unfruitful practices. The contribution of critical incidents is a key topic to encourage teachers to reflect upon their own perfomance, creating an atmosphere of working collectively within the teaching community.
All in all, the analysis of critical incidents should be included as part of a subject at TEFL Colleges and also as a teacher’s daily rehearsal. As well as the elaboration of new material and the introduction of latest ideas to the classrooms, this activity can be shared with all the colleagues at work, bettering our jobs and widening our perspectives. Learning from experience is part of our task as teachers; not only do we grow in our profession and vocation but also as individuals with the openness, candour and integrity enough to be called teachers proudly.







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