Voyeur Part II

I just watched the video of my taped July lesson, and here are a few of my thoughts.

Class size makes a big difference. In this tape, I had much more time for informal assessment and interaction with each student; by the end of the lesson I felt that the students really understood the material I was teaching (a review of commas, clauses, apostrophes, and capitalization). The students were more involved than last time, and they all got multiple chances to go up to the board and show their stuff. I'm definitely glad I had the larger class in June though, as it is much closer to what I will encounter in Jackson in a few weeks.

I'm still pretty poised and articulate in front of the class. I speak slowly, review previous concepts, and check for understanding regularly. I'm clearly enjoying myself (mostly thanks to AW's hilarious review sentences and game idea) and I think at least a little of this enthusiasm trickled down to the students. Still need to work on the wardrobe and hair smoothing tic, however.

My downfall during this particular lesson was classroom management- ES noted this as well, and wrote me a note to that effect during my lesson. We were playing a review game that got students up out of their seats, but I definitely didn't make clear what the expectations were for this sort of activity. Was it okay that students were shouting out answers and mugging for the camera? Was it okay that students were making comments about other students' abilities while my back was turned or while I was lecturing pedantically for the twentieth time on the fate of Oedipus? (Yes, that is the ditch I am going to die in...) No, it wasn't; I could have done a much better job with the classroom climate during the last half of the lesson.  It's easy with only seven students (a couple of snaps and teacher looks quieted the disruption), but it could have been truly chaotic trying to control that activity with twenty five or thirty students in the room.

To be honest, I didn't see too much of a difference between my June and July tapes, but I do feel that my July lessons have been better on the whole than the ones in June; I've found a groove with lesson planning and feel more confident and prepared going in each morning. And another random discovery, everyone looks better in the glow of the overhead light- it's so flattering!