Either I feel Like I'm a pretty amazing teacher or I feel like I suck! And, usually, how I feel depends on my students.
For example, I teach two classes back to back with the same information. The first one starts at 8 a.m. and the second starts at 9:30 a.m.
Class #1 has 5 students and class #2 has nearly 20. Always, after class #1, I feel crappy because I have absolutely NO class participation! My students are duds! They just sit there, dazed and confused. I ask questions and I wait. This morning I waited for nearly 2 minutes before I gave the answer. Do you know how long 2 minutes of silence is? It's excruciatingly long! 1 minute is even long! 2 minutes of painful silence and noone said a thing. I take that back - I have one student who says idiotic things! - mainly related to MTV. He is obsessed with MTV! He knows everything and anything about music. (That's not necessarily a bad thing but I'd like some diversity in the answers I receive.) I feel like I'm stumbling around at the front trying to persuade my students to give feedback and I get nothing. The success of my lessons are entirely dependent upon student participation. Class #1 bombed.
Class #2. I LOVE this class! They are wonderful! They give feedback and it's good too. They are fun to talk to and they bring a source of energy to the class. I feel energized and pumped in this class like I'm really doing something worthwhile!
Anyway, I just think it's interesting how the same lesson plan can be taught to different groups of people. A really great lesson plan doesn't really mean it's going to be a really great lesson. There must be feedback and participation and an energy in the class; otherwise, you're really great lesson plan will stink! Student participation is key to a teacher's success!
4 comments:
I would give anything to see the look on your face when Your MTV student makes his comments. It is cool to picture you teaching a class. You rock.
I'm new here, what kind of class are we talking? High school, college or what. What subject is this? Just trying to get to know you better so I know what your talking about!
When I taught in the past, I would always just say something like, "You know, I'm totally comfortable with silence" and then I'd stare at them. They'll get it eventually.
what a good idea, Amanda! And, Tami, this is college writing @ SLCC!
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