Critical Incidents in Teaching : developing professional judgement

What are the 'instincts' of a good teacher? Can they be taught? Good teachers use good techniques and routines, but techniques and routines alone do not produce good teaching. The real art of teaching lies in teachers' professional judgement because in teaching there is seldom one "right answer". This combination of experience, flexibility, informed opinion and constant self-monitoring is not easy to acquire, but in this re-released classic edition of Critical Incidents in Teaching - in print since 1993 and which includes a new introduction from the author - David Tripp shows how teachers can draw on their own classroom experience to develop it. In this practical and unique guide, the author offers a range of strategies for approaching critical incidents and gives advice on how to develop a critical incident file. Illustrated with numerous classroom examples for discussion and reflection, Critical Incidents in Teaching is for everyone concerned with the development of professionalism in teaching. Although aimed at teachers who want to improve their own practice and pass on their expertise to others, it is also part of David's long term agenda to improve the public status of teaching and to encourage more inductive research in education; he sees classrooms as situations to be explained rather than as places in which to apply theories developed in other disciplines.