Friday, September 18, 2015

First Day of Class Reflection

So how did my first day of class go?... Well lets just say, I'm glad it was a "practice run", and not actually my first day at my cooperating center...

All in all, there is a lot of room for improvement in my presentation... I need to use more expression, utilize my classroom space better, move around more, smooth out my transitions, and add variety to my responses...

What is challenging for me? It is a challenge for me to feel confident and at ease when I am presenting about a topic that I am less familiar with which in turn makes me nervous and then I tend to become fixed in one location, stumble over my words, and loose any expression... I almost feel as if I have had to memorize facts and regurgitate them. 

In contrast with this, when I talk about something that I feel I have some expertise in (such as dairy goats), I'm not worried nearly as much about what I am going to say next because it just flows out because of my knowledge base and passion.

I'm not exactly how to overcome this problem, but I'm going to try to start by moving around the classroom more when I teach, and hopefully as I get more practiced and "memorize" how a lesson is suppose to be ordered, I won't have to concentrate as much on that part and will be able to focus on other aspects of my presentations. 

Probably having a lab space to utilize would help... I'm all about hands-on learning, and that would help me to move around, and not just feel like I'm talking to a bunch of students with blank stares (no offense guys... I'm sure I do the same thing).

As a future teacher, I must learn to internalize my nervousness, and present with confidence the material I am teaching... This will certainly be more of a challenge in certain subjects especially if those courses have more lecture time and fewer opportunities to incorporate hands-on skills, but I do feel confident that if I keep working at it and trying that eventually I will start improving.

Here are several links I found that have suggestions on how to boost teaching confidence:
- http://teaching.about.com/od/SchoolPrincipals/a/Building-Confidence.htm
- http://www.onestopenglish.com/support/methodology/professional-development/professional-development-teacher-development-and-confidence/146473.article

 
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2 comments:

  1. UnknownSeptember 19, 2015 at 12:37 AM

    Rachel, I had the opportunity to observe your video, and I can tell you that it was not as terrible as you make it sound. Surely, we as pre-student teachers are not going to be perfect on the first run. Think positive. It can only get better from here.

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  2. UnknownSeptember 19, 2015 at 6:42 AM

    I struggle with teaching with confidence as well, it will get better! I would prepare as much as you can beforehand and try to anticipate what some students may ask to fully prepare. I think becoming as prepared as possible can really assist in your confidence!

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