(Reaction to video taped lesson #1 on 6/26/2008)
My very first reaction was "wow, it's not that bad!" I was expecting to really hate watching myself, but it didn't end up bothering me at all. My voice was weird and I felt pretty bad that the students had to hear so much of it. I really think I would be much more effective if I could deliver a lesson in a third as many words. That way, what I do say will pack more of a punch and the students won't get confused with all the extra fluff.
I video taped myself on a review day. Since it wasn't a normal lesson, I skimped out on the set. This was a big mistake. In the past I had pretty good sets and, even though I used to think they were kinda pointless, now I'm realizing that they really do focus the kids. I also noticed that on days where I don't have a very structured plan, I tend to get pretty scattered. I'm hoping that when I've been teaching a bit longer I'll be able to "improv" better, but as of now, I really need thorough lesson plans.
The lesson I filmed took place last week when I was just beginning to realize the problem I had with assessments. Since then I've really tried to do better, but I still have issues. I don't do enough informal assessments and so when it comes time for the formal assessments, the students struggle. Then I feel crappy for not teaching them better and so I help them too much and then the assessment suddenly isn't so formal anymore. I have been working on this though, saving lots and lots of time for informal assessments. I've also tried to make formal assessments that are very structured so that I am less likely to forget them (homework questions) or be tempted to help too much (like on a quiz). I think this is something that I'm actually improving on and that makes me happy since I tend to get stuck in ruts where I just can't improve. I guess the good news is that I haven't been teaching long enough to have any ruts.
Strengths - the kids were actively involved, there was a very positive environment, I had a lot of energy, the kids seemed to learn something. I've heard people say that they watch themselves and realize that they say "like" or "um" a million times, as far as I could tell I didn't do anything like that - woo hoo! Also, as far as I can tell, I don't do the weird swishy hand move anymore (my second year said I did it a whole bunch my first day), so that's a bonus.
Overall, watching the video didn't really reveal anything that I didn't already realize I did (I usually notice stuff I do wrong as I go and remember it). It was good, however, to see what the evaluators see and where they're coming from when they grade me.
More pictures will come when Aaron is home and I feel motivated to leave my room.
