So, the second time was an improvement, but i still have a ways to go. I've gotten much better at movement and at increasing my energy level. One of my most frequent comments before was that I was doing a good job at presenting the information, but that I seemed so mellow during my lessons that it often seemed low-energy. Having to teach 1st and 4th period, almost exclusively, for the last few weeks has forced me to increase my energy level if I didn't want the majority of my students to fall asleep. I found that once the 4th week of summer school came, students became either restless of sleepy especially during the first and last periods. In some classes (middle school) I almost welcomed the decrease in energy, but in order to keep myself and the students energized i tried to be more energized as well. I think my second video reflects this change energy partly because of my efforts to do better and also as a result of my increased comfort in front of a classroom. I've also gotten much better at movement, although this too sometimes fails when I'm giving a powerpoint presentation. I've also found that in my larger middle school class I have more trouble moving around just because its a bigger class and its hard to watch everyone when I'm also moving up and down rows. But I've definitely gotten better at proximity and moving towards distractions in the classroom.
I still need to work on talking too much though. It's been hard when I feel like I have to cram major historical events of scientific events which could take a week, into one 50 minute period. I think I just need to work on really condensing the information and teaching to the test, even if I would personally prefer to give them the whole story. But I have decreased my talking some, and I've gotten better at giving the kids activities which will decrease my talking time and increase their quiet learning time.
Kelly!
ReplyDeleteI only managed to see two of your lessons all summer - one history lesson at the beginning and one science lesson at the end - but the difference was palpable. I personally thought that your classroom movement was good in both settings, but you were so much more energetic in that science classroom toward the summer's end! You were walking up and down the rows, prodding people with questions, doing impromptu demonstrations of Newton's laws, and you generally seemed much louder and more animated. You got students engaged and got them learning -- I really wish I could see you teach this fall! As for talking too much, that's a challenge I've had all summer as well, but I have no doubt that we'll both get better at "making the students, not the teacher, do the work" once we're dealing with six or seven classes a day...
ReplyDeleteHey Kellz,
ReplyDelete