Video Self Reflection

I have to say that I was completely horrified when I was watching the video of me teaching. For those of you back in Madison and West Bend, I have been student teaching 7th and 8th grade science at Oxford Middle School. As part of our formal evaluation I was to create a video tape of a lesson that I taught. So I taped my lesson on physical and chemical changes about 2 weeks ago, and you wouldn't believe how weird it is watching yourself on tape. We spend our whole lives watching everyone but ourselves, so when we do have the chance to actually watch ourselves it’s very telling.

The following is my self reflection on my teaching from a student's perspective.

Man this guy is boring! He be spending most of the 30 minute lesson pacing back and forth and lecturing to us as if we were college freshman. And who does he think he is coming in here all dressed to the nines thinking he's something special. That preppy little white boy ain't telling me nuthin I don't know already.

Whoa, smokin!! Sandy is looking mighty fine today. Mmm, mmm! I think I'll corner her after school and try to walk that chick home to her mother. Maybe I can get some fresh baked cookies out of the deal. Oh and could I ever use fresh baked cookies. These snacks they keep throwing at us, man, they like cardboard or something. There whak man. This school sucks.

Oh, here comes Mr. Lochen again. Oh no, don't you call on me whitey. I don't know nuthin. What is the definition of matter? Geeze dawg, how am I supposed to know that? I ain't no white preppy boy for Wis-cawn-son. Matter! I'll give you matter. "Um, I don't know." There, that should shut him up. Man, why he still standing there. Naw dawg, move on to someone else. I don't care if light is matter or not. "No, light’s not matter." Dang dude, keep steppin. "Nope, gravity ain’t matter either." "Yes, air’s matter." What's the difference between air and light or air and gravity? This guy's dumb as dirt. "Duh, you can weigh air and you can't weigh light. And air takes up space, light doesn't.” Good answer, yeah that’s right…“Fool." "No, I didn't say nuthin." Mr. Lochen...what a jerk. "Yes I know what matter is, I just told you...matter has weight and takes up space." Hey, I do know what matter is after all. That'll show him. Now I can just snooze and won't have to answer to Mr. Lochen again. "Man, I ain't sleeping. I am paying attention! I can still hear you." Put my head up? Man, what a fool!

Man, I wonder if he's going to blow something up today. That’s what chemistry is. Just blowin things up. I want him to blow something up. "You gonna blow stuff up today Mr. Lochen?" "Aww man, you ain't no fun." "No, I didn't say anything sir." Demonstrations? Later? Hey that's better than sitting here doing nuthin.

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If all my students were like this, I'd be happy. Many of my critiques are embedded within this student's mental and verbal conversations. For example, I thought I was quite boring on my video. My set wasn't as interesting as it could have been and I felt like I was too collegiate with my teaching. Furthermore, I paced back and forth when I really should have been standing still or circling the students.

My strengths include addressing almost every person in the class at least once, sometimes more than once. There is no sleeping in my classroom. I expect each student to remain attentive and alert. They don't have to be interested, although it would be nice, but I do expect them to be paying attention. Another strength, one of which I am particularly proud, is my ability to lead students to their own answers. "I don't know." is not an acceptable answer in my classroom. If students don't know, students must guess. If they refuse to guess, I break down my question into smaller and simpler questions that are intended to lead the student to the answer to the original question. I see this as my biggest strength. It forces the student to be engaged in the material and it also lets them know that if they don't pay attention, they will spend more time answering my questions.

All in all, I have a lot to learn and I'm looking forward to improving my skills. However, I think I am well on my way to becoming a successful teacher. I just need to visualize myself succeeding.

Due to my extreme case of procrastination, you can expect 2 more assigned blogs to come in the next day or two. Four blogs in four days. That's my goal. So keep checking in!

God Bless!