My own worst critic.

I have many idiosyncrasies, but one in particular was very obvious not only to myself in the video, but also to Mr. Alred and Mr. Cole in their evaluations of me--and they let me know it. I move. I do it all the time. I am on my feet walking all around the classroom from the time of the first bell until the dismissal one rings. Over the summer when I'm only teaching two periods or so, this isn't too bad. After all, I tend to be a louder, more authoritarian teacher. Add to that my 6'2'' 200 lb. former football player (and new coach) personality and you have a combination that makes me much more inclined to physically dominate the classroom instead of relying on my rules, procedures, consequences and rewards. That is a big problem. As both Matt and Mason have pointed out, I'm going to be so physically exhausted at the end of the day that I won't make it that way for more than the first couple weeks (especially when I'm coaching). Not only to I stay on my feet the majority of the time, when I do sit down i remain in motion. I'm not consciously nervous or anything, but I'm almost positive that it will be interpreted that way in the fall.

Another bad tendency I have has also been exacerbated by my four-student classroom; I tend to turn my back on the students (not all the time, but much more than I should). With more than four students, I would have been setting myself up for disaster about 5 times per period; however, with only four and two extra teachers in the classroom we've never had a real problem.

One thing that I started doing at the beginning of the summer that I really like is calling them by Ms.- or Mr.- Whatevertheirlastnameis. I hope it gives them the impression that I respect them and that we have to work collaboratively like we are co-workers if either of us are to be successful. I'm not sure if that's their impression or not, but oh well. 

When I went back this week to review the material that was being taught in the taped period, I was amazed at how little they remembered and were able to do when given problems. I shouldn't have been. I spent way too much time listening to my own voice than making them work to learn. I know exactly why I do this, too; if I only talk the first twenty minutes and then leave the last thirty for them to work independently, then I end up answering the same questions over and over and over again to individual students rather than to the whole class. I feel like the more I say, the less I'll have to answer later when they still don't get it. The only problem with this is that I'm still doing all the work. I'll have to get much better at letting them struggle for awhile to get something. If any of you older folks have any suggestions or thoughts on this last paragraph, please let me know!