Using critical incidents for professional development with novice teachers

This study explored the effects of teachers’ individual reflection (IR) and group reflection (GR) on critical incidents (CIs). A group of preservice teachers (N = 7) were presented with real instances of CIs to consider during 12 teacher training sessions. In each session, the trainees read the first part of a CI, describing what happened, when it happened, and who was involved in the incident. Then they described how they would respond to a similar CI in their future classes. Next, they read and discussed the second part of the CI, which contained the reaction of the original teacher to that CI. After that, the trainees shared and discussed their own and the original teacher’s response to the CI through GR. Finally, they were asked to write a second response to the original CI. The trainees’ IR and GR were tabulated and compared to see how GR impacted their reactions. After completing the program, they were asked to write reflection journals describing their evaluation of the activities they had taken part in. Thematic analysis of reflection journals led to the emergence of themes revealing teachers’ positive evaluation of the reflection on CIs.