Self-Evaluation

30 June 2006

Ok. So. Apparently I say, OK, So, a lot. I was sure that I, like pretty much every teacher I've ever had would have some annoying verbal tick. Ok, So, will have to do for now.

Ok So, what else? Watching myself made the advice of my second second-year all the more obvious. Sometimes I teach like college-radio. Dead-air is awful. It's just so boring and painful to watch. Seeing my own dead-air made me physically wretch. So, everything needs to be quicker and more energetic. I don't necessarily want to do more, just do the same and similar things more quickly and more often.

Ok, So, watching myself also convinced me even more that I want a classroom that uses tons of small group stuff. Concept tests, group problems, just lots of the students communicating with each other while I float and occasionally address them all. It's just so unrealistic to lecture or do examples for more than 10 minutes and even pretend that people are interested. Even if I have to go back and forth between groups working in twos and then going over an example, I think that would be preferable.

Ok, So, in the spirit of me talking less.