Practical lesson 15. Questions What is critical incident?

Practical lesson 15.

Questions

1. What is critical incident?

2. What is the difference between classroom incident and critical incident?

3. What kind of approaches do you know to avoid classroom incident?

4. Is it possible totally avoid classroom incident? Why?

Answers

1. The term ‘critical incident’ comes from history where it refers to some event or situation which is marked a significant turning-point or change in the life of a person or an institution... The vast majority of critical incidents, however, are not at all dramatic or obvious: they are mostly straight forward accounts of very common place events that occur in professional practice which are critical in the rather different sense that they are indicative of underlying trends, motives and structures. These incidents appear to be ‘typical’ rather that ‘critical’ at first sight, but are rendered critical through analysis.

Similarly, Richards and Farrell (2010) mention that “a critical incident is an unplanned and unanticipated event that occurs during a lesson and that serves to trigger insights about some aspect of teaching and learning” (p. 13). They say that critical incident analysis refers to the documentation and analysis of teaching incidents in order to learn from them and improve practice. Such incidents compel teachers to ruminate the long-term implications they may have. This process of documentation and reflection provides opportunity for teachers “to learn more about their teaching, their learners and themselves” (ibid, p. 114). These above mentioned definitions and ideas about critical incidents exhibit that a critical incident in teaching refers to a particular occurrence that has taken place during a lesson. Teachers make it critical because they think it important and want to utilize it for future reference. In other words, teachers sometimes face some unexpected situations which make them surprised. They take such situations to be critical because they learn something from them.

2. Most of the critical incidents occur in the classrooms but some critical events influence the teachers’ personal and professional life. For example, a teacher may attend a workshop or a conference where s/he is exposed to several different new practices. S/he may interpret any of them as a valuable, critical incident which influences his/her attitude towards the existing practices. Then, s/he may decide to adopt this new practice in his/her classes. It is said that teachers need to develop their understanding of teaching and of themselves. According to Freeman (1996), it is necessary for teachers to put themselves at the center of telling their life stories. He says that it follows a jazz maxim: “you have to know the story in order to tell the story” Brookfield (1990) emphasizes the use of critical incident questionnaire (CIQ) in order to identify the feelings of the students regarding teaching out of which teachers can identity which incident is critical and which is not from the words of students. This sort of activity can help teachers deal with similar incidents in the future. Brookfield (ibid) stated that CIQ is a quick and revealing way to discover the effects your actions are having on students and to find out the emotional highs and lows of their learning. Administering CIQ, according to him, just takes a short time.

The students are asked to write answers to a few questions without putting their name of the form. For the successful implementation of a critical incident analysis, different aspects should be considered, for example, who the audience for the analysis is, whether we need to write about all the incidents, etc. All incidents are not critical. We interpret a certain incident to be critical depending on the situation and purpose.

Another equally important thing to be considered is whether teachers decide any incident to be critical for analyzing it or they collect their students’ relevant feeling to choose from and so on. Thus, a critical incident is an unplanned and an unexpected event that occurs during the lesson. The report of a critical incident can be added in a teacher’s portfolio to show the evidence of how s/he changes some practices of teaching being used. Teachers learn from their analysis of critical incidents and improve their ways of teaching.

3. Students holding side conversations, using mobile phones or MP3 players can be quite off-putting for you and for other students. A direct approach of "Please don't use your mobile phone" can often be the most effective. Consider starting the class with something like "Please switch all phones off, we're about to start." This not only sets the ground rules but also clearly indicates that the session has begun. It's not a good idea to embarrass students who are talking or assume that their conversation isn't related to what is being discussed in class. You may therefore wish to avoid direct confrontation, in which case the following are often successful.

* Stop talking in mid-sentence and look in a non-aggressive way at the student making the noise. Peer pressure may quieten them.

* Try speaking more quietly. This causes the noisy students to become more obvious in contrast and other students may ask them to quieten down.

* Make direct eye contact with the student/s so that they know you can see them.

* Direct a question to the area in which the noisy students are sitting. This focuses attention on that area of the class.

* Try physically moving to the part of the room where the students are and continue to lead the class whilst standing next to them.

* If you hear a student make an interesting comment you could respond to it, thereby encouraging comments from other students.

* Consider legitimizing the chatting by breaking the class into mini-discussion groups.

Dealing with inattentive students

Students who don't pay attention are not necessarily disruptive and you should weigh up the benefits of interceding before acting. If you decide you would like to increase a student's attentiveness it is a good idea to try to make eye contact with them. You may also find that students are suddenly more attentive if you ask them a question, if you explicitly relate the topic to assessment or keep them active.

Dealing with late arrivers

This is one of those matters which is high on most lecturer's list of problems. How you handle late-comers will be one of the things that sets the whole tone of your classes. The following suggestions may help you to weigh up the pros and cons of a variety of tactics, and to choose what will work best for you.

Don't forget that sometimes students have good reasons for being late. There may have been a transport problem. They may have just come from a previous lecture on a distant part of the campus - or another campus altogether. Their previous lecture may have over-run - this isn't their fault. Avoid saying anything irretrievable. It could be that this was the first time ever that the late-comer had been late and/or it might have been unavoidable, but they still plucked up the courage to come in. Remember that the late-comer has at least got to you.

If you are too hard on late-comers, they may well decide simply not to come at all next time they're late for your sessions. This may well cause you more problems, not least that regular late-comers who become regular absentees are much more likely to fail your course or module, and this reflects on you even when it's not your fault. Recognize that at least some disruption is inevitable. It's usually best not to simply carry on as though no one was making their late way into the class. At the very least some of the other students may well miss something you said, distracted by the late-comer's entrance. Sometimes it's best simply to pause till the late-comer is settled in. In any case, a few extra moments to gather your own thoughts can often be useful. When there are repeated disturbances through the arrival of successive late-comers, the majority of the students often have their own ways of showing their disapproval concerning the disruption, sparing you from having to do anything.

If students are habitually arriving late for your class and distracting students who arrive on time, then let students know that the first five minutes of each class will cover material relating directly to the assignment. You don't then need to make special efforts to brief late-comers about what they may have missed - and indeed if those without good reasons for being late begin to realize that they are missing useful things, they will tend to try to be more punctual in future.

Dealing with early leavers

This same approach of including something relevant to assessment can be applied to the last five minutes of class to encourage students not to leave early. If students see the value in being there they are more likely to make the effort. If this doesn't have any effect on persistent early leavers (or late attenders) then you need to tread carefully. You may wish to state clearly your expectations for attendance, but equally you may wish not to risk alienating the students. Whatever you do, don't waste time at the beginning or end of the session discussing excuses as this is unfair to the rest of the class and is unproductive.

Dealing with domineering students

Some students can overpower the group and inhibit the contributions and learning of others. It's your responsibility to manage the group, without alienating these students or disrupting learning. In a small group, make eye contact with the domineering student and then thank them for their contribution. Then try asking someone in another part of the room to speak. If the student persists in dominating the discussion summarize their point and ask others to speak, or indicate that you are ready to move on by starting to prepare for the next activity.

Dealing with rambling students

Some students can regularly wander around and off the subject. Clearly this can detract from the learning experience of other students. It is important to try to refocus the student's attention by restating relevant points and asking the student to summarize their main point. Try directing questions to the group, perhaps using visual aids to bring the discussion back on track.

Dealing with distressed students

Whilst it is good to be empathetic, it is not appropriate for you to become a student's counsellor. It is not your responsibility to offer therapy but to manage the situation to enable the rest of the class to get on with their learning. Refer students with emotional, psychological or financial trouble to the appropriate counsellors.

Dealing with challenges to your authority

Some students may make a habit of disagreeing with everything you say. You should consider recognizing their opinions, pulling out any valid points and restating them before moving on, perhaps drawing the rest of the group into the discussion. It is important not to be sidetracked or to enter into an argument. It may be best to arrange to discuss the issues with the student out of class time. Be willing to explain, but not necessarily to defend, your position.

Dealing with disruptive students online

Possibly because of the difficulty in interpreting emotions, disruptions to online classes can be challenging to manage. Disruption can be direct such as abusive emails, or less direct such as a student posting material which offends some others. Following are some methods for dealing with disruptive students online:

* Delete any inappropriate postings on the discussion board.

* Phone or email the disruptive student and objectively inform the student of the problem and how they were disruptive.

* Explain what the possible consequences will be if they continue to be disruptive.

* For a persistent offender consider blocking the student from posting in a forum or removing that student from the group.

* Save any postings for future reference.

4. It is not possible to avoid totally classroom incidents but we have to put into practice some strategies to help us prevent them. Keeping a school full of children and staff members safe and accident free is no easy task. A small water spill in the hallway or a pothole on the playground can cause major injury and possibly open the school to legal repercussions if not addressed immediately. To avoid accidents at school, generate a clear set of safety guidelines and keep an eagle eye on facilities. Train staff and students on ways to prevent accidents from happening and what to do if someone does get hurt.

Create a safety committee of teachers, administrators and students. Get students involved, even in elementary school, so students feel part of keeping the school safe. Ask each committee member to submit one or two accidents he has witnessed at school or identify areas of the facility that may pose a safety threat.

Compile the submissions into a list and cross-check the list to look for similarities. You may find that members have witnessed the same accident or unsafe situation. Present your list to the committee and solicit ways that each situation could be remedied. Ask committee members to think of other ways the school may be unsafe. Add those ideas to your list and ask for suggestions on how to fix those areas.

Repair all unsafe areas within the facility. Refer to your list of hazardous areas and make repairs an immediate priority. For example, if there are potholes on the playground or a classroom door that slams closed, ask the school custodian or groundskeeper to place those repairs at the top of her list.

Design a set of safety rules that all students and staff must follow. Using your list from the safety committee, create a set of school-wide safety rules. Rules could include telling the custodian about all spills on the floor immediately (or wiping up any spills you see) to no running in the hall.