Outcomes to Critical Incidents
Read the outcomes to the critical incidents below and discuss the following questions:· What would you have learned from this incident?
· How could using structured feedback in situations like this help you better serve students?
Marcelo:
After some angry accusations, Marcelo went on to say that he had been a teacher in his native country and asked me if I thought he liked living and working like a slave in the United States. Did I think he wanted to be in the United States? He didn’t even want to learn English! He was only learning it because he felt he had to, to make a better life and to be able to communicate with the very same people who thought of him as stupid just because he didn’t speak their language. There was a lot communicated during those twenty-five minutes in which the conversation occurred. I came away with a different understanding of Marcelo’s behavior and a greater awareness of his needs and perhaps he had a clearer understanding of what my role and motivations as his teacher were.
Nancy:
I met with Nancy almost immediately. I assured her she was doing well in class, as she was, but asked her why she needed to talk so much. Because she had often had an excuse for talking in class, I expected that she would offer me yet another excuse. Much to my surprise she quickly admitted to and apologized for her incessant chatting. She went on to tell me that she had been extremely nervous about her daughter’s impending operation. She had also been feeling frustrated about her inability to communicate in English with the doctors. I finally understood the reason behind Nancy’s behavior.
Ronny:
Ronny told the student coordinator that he was feeling frustrated by how some of the other students in the class behaved. The coordinator encouraged him to talk to me, and much to my surprise, he appeared in class the next day. I spoke to Ronny before class and asked him what had happened. He told me I needed to be stricter with students, which surprised me. When I asked him to elaborate, he explained that it was really that he wanted his classmates to be more responsible and not interrupt each other in class, turn off their cell phones in class, return on time from the class break, etc. I realized that, though I had become somewhat tolerant of this sometimes challenging group of students, he was not. His feedback prompted me to solicit written feedback from students.
Ellen Quish, Adult Learning Center
ACE Professional Development Day
May 20, 2010