LOOKING AT MYSELF II

(REQUIRED BLOG RE: SELF-EVALUATION)

While looking at a videotape of myself teaching, I created a laundry list of things that I should do to make my teaching better. Unfortunately, some of the items on the list are exactly the same as those that I noticed during the first self-evaluation (for example, I need to eliminate the use of fillers like "ok"). The list includes the following: don't cover up my mouth with paper as I speak; stop looking at the board so much; call on a student to read word problems; be more specific with instructions; and create a system for remembering who has been called on so that I won't neglect any students.

I noticed while watching the tape that a mistake that I made would not have been noticeable had I not laughed out loud about it. (I forgot one element of the set and had to backtrack to fit it in.) Going forward, I should just play off the mistakes that I make.

Another thing that stood out to me was the way the lesson flowed with regard to student participation. During the team teaching, no one answered a question unless I called on them. In Holly Springs, I liked the students to just speak out the answers to questions without necessarily being called on individually. If no clear answer could be heard, I would then call on one person to answer. I liked doing it that way because all students had a chance to participate. This may not be possible with a class full of students, but some teachers have said that having an "open" classroom when working problems on the board can still be effective with larger classes. This is something that I will have to figure out based on how my students can handle it and whether an open classroom would cause more confusion than it's worth.

There were a few things that I thought I did well. I walked around the room a lot to assess and give feedback to students. I acknowledged common pitfalls while working with students so that hopefully the students would avoid them on homework and tests. I worked in review of other concepts while working problems.

Other than the open classroom/closed classroom distinction, I don't think my teaching style has changed much from the June self-evaluation to the July self-evaluation.