A critical incident is an unexpected event which urges an individual to stop, reflect and re-examine his beliefs. As a consequence, that individual establishes new understandings and changes his perspective (Farrell, 2008). My critical incident caused me to critically analyze myself and take a reflective stance on my approach to teaching and learning. Furthermore, this incident was the driving force behind my growth as an educator and an individual.
During my second week at the SBE placement I was asked to conduct a class. I had less than ten minutes for preparation before the class started. I quickly went through the content to be covered and tried to write a lesson plan. I was struggling to devise a proper lesson plan as at that instant, I could not envision the teaching scenario which was to happen shortly. I was still pondering upon which teaching strategy would be more suitable when covering the different parts of the lesson when the bell rang indicating that I had to start the class. Because of the limited preparation time, I was consumed with uncertainty and anxiety. I started the lesson by introducing the topic and delved further while using the expository teaching strategy. Throughout the
…show more content…
I had always believed that teaching and learning are not simply the process of imparting and acquiring knowledge. I view teaching as the process of equipping the individuals with knowledge, moral values and skills for their own welfare. This process encourages thinking skills, creativity, moral values, ethics and autonomy. However during that lesson, I went against my own beliefs about teaching and learning. The students were passively absorbing the information as I did not provide any opportunity for creativity and critical thinking. The focus of attention was on me and not on the students. That day I started questioning my ability to be a good