When I took a look at the video recording of myself giving a lecture to Digital Media about pattern design, I noticed my wordy tendencies. That is one of the main things Cortney and I have discussed, based on what I need to work on. In my power point presentations, I tend to be a bit wordy. In some ways I feel like she means I'm mumbling. I tend to be a mumbler and I'm worried this is coming out in my teaching. It's not something I'm proud of and I think it's a good thing that teaching forces me to work on it. However, I hope that I can improve this!
In the video, I hear the awkward pauses I take. Sometimes this means me breaking up sentences or dropping the volume of my voice at an awkward time. It frustrates me to see/hear this on video because I can notice it a bit when I'm actually speaking to the class. I become self-concious about it, which probably causes me to make more awkward pauses.
Another issue I notice is my posture or movement around the classroom. I think I usually do a pretty good job of monitoring the classroom or walking around to check on the students, but I noticed in the video that I was kind of just pacing back and forth. I'm not sure if this is completely distracting to students or not. I do like being able to walk around the classroom, rather than stand in one spot, especially since my voice might not always carry. Courtney said I do a good job of making my way around the classroom, but watching this video makes me wonder how I can improve that.
I think the biggest thing I learned today is how to take control of classroom management issues. I got extremely frustrated today. There were three students who were talking a lot during my presentation. The time I noticed, I politely asked them to stop talking. The second time I came by and quietly said, "Guys. Please." The third time I looked at them from across the room with a extremely irked facial expression and just said "Really?". Basically, what I learned, is that I handled that all wrong. I really felt empowered around the second week of ST when I shut some kids up and got them to pay attention, but I'm realizing now that I haven't taken any steps forward. What I should have done in this situation today, was confidently and out loud separated the boys. This keeps the pace of the classroom and my presentation up and it doesn't hide or hinder the problems their causing. It just plainly and simply solves the problem at first hand.
However, this issue really got to me. It was the last hour of the day and I felt totally taken advantage of for the first (ok, maybe second time). High school students are a tough crowd, especially at the last hour of the day. I think sometimes I compare myself too quickly to Cortney and her ability to make things sound exciting and worthwhile. But Cortney says I'm being too hard on myself, and maybe I am, but I just want to feel like I'm being heard. It's only Tuesday and this week has already been the toughest week. I've felt really challenged, but also discouraged in my teaching abilities. Some of it does have to do with a critique I did yesterday. I'm suppose to be 100% taken over by now, which I pretty much have for the past couple of weeks, however, during a critique yesterday Cortney wanted to check out the student's design, so she said she was going to come join the critique. What bothered me, was that she kind of just took over. I wrote up the plan for the critique and had control, but Cortney stepped in and kind of made it her show. That might sound kind of dramatic, but it kind of dimmed my mood. I believe that she has the right to do that, but I feel like it confuses the class. It makes it seem like we're co-teaching. I want the students to understand that I'm there teacher now.
No comments:
Post a Comment