Critical Incident report: A naughty student

When I started to work at a state run school, two years ago, I was in charge of first form. This was my first experience in these kinds of schools since I had always worked in bilingual schools. The economic and social situation of this community was really different from the other schools where I had taught before and I felt it was a new challenge in my professional career.

Everything was developing as expected until I met Max[i]. This was a very special boy with many discipline problems.  He did whatever he wanted and he did not recognize any kind of authority. If teachers let him do what he wanted to do, he was a very nice boy, but as soon as we asked him to stop or to calm down, he shouted, ran away from the classroom or hid behind a desk so it was very difficult to deal with him. Although we had support from the school authorities, they could not do anything about this situation since the Equipo de Orientación Escolar (EOE) believed that nothing was wrong with the kid.

I remember the first lesson with him: We were working with a story called A Very Lazy Ladybug. It was story time, and a very nice atmosphere to read the story had been created. Students were sitting on the floor, I had dressed up as a storyteller and I had a magic wand to call students attention so that they got prepared to listen to the story. In the middle of the story, this kid started playing with a toy; I ignored him because I did not want to interrupt the reading. Then, he threw the toy at one of his classmates and hit her on the face. I had to stop the story and I tried to talk to him. He started to shout and ran away from the classroom.

It was a really difficult situation because I could not leave him alone outside the classroom and I could not leave the other kids alone while I went to look for him. I had to take a decision, so I made students line up and we went to look for the missing boy together. Unfortunately, the school was very big and I did not have the slightest idea where he could be.  Therefore, we walked towards the head’s office. I explained the whole episode to her and she went to look for the boy.

The boy was hiding under a table in the dining room which is on the third floor of the school.  The headmistress talked to the boy and she tried to make him calm down while I continued with the lesson in the classroom. During the break, I went to the head’s office and I also talked to the boy. He started to cry and told me that he loved me a lot. The head mistress told me to send a quiet kid to look for her next time something similar happens so that I did not leave the classroom with all the students.

Several weeks went by and the situation got worse. He started hitting his classmates; he escaped from the classroom many times, refused to enter the classroom after breaks or just hid somewhere. I avoided shouting at him or getting angry because I felt that he was used to being treated that way. Sometimes he stopped and listened to me and he frequently asked me how he was behaving.

Finally, the EOE went to school to watch a class and they realized that the boy needed treatment. They decided that a “jornada completa” was not suitable for him so the boy was sent to another school. I would have liked to help him but I did not have the necessary tools to do so.

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[i] The real name has been changed in order to preserve the child’s identity.

Focused journal: Growing professionally

As professionals, not only do teachers have the obligation to be fluent and proficient speakers of the target language but also they need to constantly seek their progress in the field. Reflection used as a tool in teaching may lead to professional growth. Teachers have the opportunity of analyzing their own practices through the use of many techniques. The Critical Incident Technique (CIT)  is one of techniques that can be used as a vehicle to promote reflective learning.

According to Rahilly and Saroyan (1997), “CIT shows people meaningful experiences (…) and allows collecting qualitative and quantitative data about classroom teaching” (as cited in Pintos and Crimi, 2010, p. 9).  But, what is a critical incident? CIT is a method designed by Flanagan (1954) which relies on a set of procedures to collect data, analyze it, and classify observations of human behaviour.  Gonzalez, Elórtegui and Medina Perez (2003) suggested that “CIT is described as a pre-service and in- service teacher education strategy. The idea [behind this technique] is to integrate theory and practice” (p. 101).

In order to trigger change, it is important to be opened to receive critique and feedback from partners or from more experienced professionals. Everybody has something to learn and there are many aspects of our practice that need improvement.  Gonzalez, Elórtegui and Medina Perez (2003) pointed out that educational innovations have introduced deep changes in the teaching- learning processes. What is more, these changes are reached through collaboration and formative feedback among professionals.

In conclusion, It could be stated that CIT is a very useful tool to promote reflection on our teaching practices.  Teachers should include classroom observation in order to understand the different critical events that take place in the classroom and to analyze how to deal with those events so as to be able to grow professionally.   

References

Fernández González, J., Elortegui Escartin, 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 October 2010, from http://redayc.uaemex.mx/redalyc/scr/inicio/ArtPdfRed.jsp?iCve=27417107

Pintos,V., & Crimi, Y. (2010). Unit 2: Personal narratives in teaching. Universidad CAECE: Buenos Aires, Argentina. Retrieved October 2010.

What is a discourse community?

Swales (1990) defines a discourse community as experts being members of a group which operates on the basis of explicit and implicit public goals. These specialists develop and use systems of speech and writing that are quite specific to a community’s needs and goals (Pintos & Crimi, 2010).  Swales (1990) created some basic criteria to verify whether a certain group of people belongs to an academic discourse community. The aim of this paper is to find evidence to account for Swales (1990)’ theory as regards the main characteristics of a discourse community. Common goals, participatory mechanisms, Information exchange, community- Specific genres, highly specialized terminology and high general level of expertise are the basic requirements that a discourse community should have according to Swales (1990).

The first requirement, Common goals, refers to specific objectives and interests that the discourse community has. According to Ovens (2002), different discourse communities whose main objectives are to make some research on reflection have emerged focusing on different aspects of the term: political, pedagogical or phenomenological (cited in Hoffman- Keep; 2003). As noted in Kelly- Kleese (2004), a discourse community is a social construction. Kutz (1997) claims that “its members have, over time, developed  a common discourse that involved shared knowledge, common purposes, similar attitudes and values, (…) (As cited in Kelly- Kleese, 2003, p. 200).

The second requirement refers to Participatory Mechanisms. Swales (1990) states that through these mechanisms the group receives information and feedback. Vigotsky (1978) suggests that socially guided participation is essential for reflection to take place. Through exchange and feedback the information handled within a Discourse community can circulate among its members so as to be analyzed.  According to Soltis (1981),  the sociocentric view of knowledge and learning holds that what we take as knowledge and how we think and express ideas are the products of interactions of groups of people over time (Wenzlaff & Wiseman; 2004).

The third requirement refers to Information exchange. Swales (1990) suggests that members of a discourse community will survive only if they are intercommunicated.  Hoffman- Kipp, Artiles and Lopez Torres (2003) pointed out that teachers function as resources for one another, providing each other with guidance and assistance to build new ideas. 

The fourth requirement is connected to Community- Specific genres.  This item refers to the fact that at least one genre should define the discourse community you belong to. As mentioned in Kelly- Kleese (2004), members of a discourse community develop shared knowledge as well as a particular structure and style. Blanton, Simmons and  Warner (2001) argue that journals or virtual systems of communication can be used (…) so they can recall, share and respond to one another’s experiences (as cited in Hoffman- Kipp, Artiles & Lopez- Torres, 2003).  Members of a given community should produce texts that correspond to their community respecting its structure and style.

Swales also (1990) mentions that a discourse community should have highly specialized terminology. Members of a discourse community develop a collective identity in which they acquire and continually transform social language. According to Holquist and Emerson (cited in Hoffman- Kipp, Artiles and Lopez- Torres, 2003) a social language is “a discourse peculiar to a specific societal group at a specific time.”  A discourse community is “bound together primary by its uses of language, although bound perhaps by other ties as well” (Bizell, p. 222 as cited in Kelly- Kleese, 2004).

Finally,  Swales (1990) affirms that the group should achieve a certain level of knowledge:  high general level of expertise. Zito (1984) states that

 an author is granted a certain binding authority to his intended meaning; this is legitimated by academic credentials, professional associations, and the division of knowledge within the academy  Furthermore, only those qualified by some socially institutionalized agency may engage in such discourse and be taken seriously.  The academic turf is a battleground for the right to speak with authority (cited in Kelly- Kleese; 2001).

In conclusion, a discourse community is analyzed as a social construction that should meet certain characteristics to be identified as such. Sufficient evidence has been found in order to support Swales (1990)’ theory as all the requirements stated by him were present in the articles analyzed.

Reference

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: Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Wenzlaff, T.L., & Wiseman, 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_9349405

Introductory Letter

Dear collegues,

                        My name is Romina M. Gitarelli Jaume and I am a teacher of English. I graduated last year from ISFD nº 88 “Paulo Freire” and now I am attending a post graduate programme in ELT at Universidad CAECE.

I am currently working at primary and Secondary schools: Escuela °14 D.E. 20 and  Instituto D. Dalmacio Vélez Sarsfield in the City of Buenos Aires and also I deliver classes at Universidad Nacional de La Matanza in the Province of Buenos Aires.

This Blog has been created as a project for my EAP class since I would like to share my productions and reflections on Academic Writing. I really enjoy being part of this learning community because I think that if we share we are on the right track towards professional growth.

Your're welcome to post your comments on my writings, they'll be very useful for me and my peers.

Thanks a lot!

Romina