Ann Monroe Assignment: Videotape a lesson in the month of July and write a reflection that compares your current teaching style to the style depicted in the first videotaped lesson.
My second videotaped lesson was much easier to watch than my first. Where I had been awkward and fidgety, I was now confident and comfortable. One major downside however was the fact that I had taped an extremely boring lesson. Unable to break my endless streak of continual procrastination, I passed up plenty of opportunities to videotape great lessons. By the time I got around to filming myself, all that was left was a lengthy, unbelievably boring review of all the cellular biology we had covered over the last five weeks.
The most notable change in my teaching has been my newfound sternness. I started off being very apprehensive about handing out consequences, ignoring almost everything the students chose to do, but now they have come to expect that there isn't a whole lot I'm willing to tolerate. I can't help but feel a rush when I tell everyone to quiet down and then twenty pairs of eyes immediately look up at me.
At the beginning of the week, a girl asked me why I had decided to be so strict all of a sudden. I lied and told her it was because I didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea and start thinking it was summertime when they were still in the homestretch. How funny would it be if my students knew my initial inability to discipline had been due to the fact that it was the very first time I had ever stood in front of a classroom?
On your last point, in my class they were fooled for a while about our teaching experience and capabilities, but eventually they figured out that when Jake would mention “first-year teachers” on the announcements, he was talking about me, Maya, and Kevan. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteMany of my students asked me about that, and I told them we were all taking classes at Ole Miss and it was our first year in Mississippi, not necessarily our first year teaching. Some of my students believe that I've been teaching in New York for a few years, consequently they must think I'm just a bad teacher instead of a new teacher.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the "rush" - it's exciting and rewarding to feel that you're finally in control of your classroom! I got the same feeling the day I guest-taught in another room; after forty-five minutes of handing out detentions left and right, it was a real thrill to bark "SILENTLY" and hear actual silence as the students handed in a quiz...
ReplyDelete