Tricks of the Trade

I had myself taped while I taught a lesson last week (my second taped lesson overall). I finally got a chance Monday to sit down and watch myself in action. It's pretty interesting to see how I work and the video tape gave me that chance. Luckily for me, the lessons were short so I did not have to watch much. I did pick up on some mistakes I was making from the tape, most importantly my problem of not being very loud when I talked. This will be something I will need to keep in mind as I teach.

P.S. Thanks to Matt for helping me figure out the title business. He's turning into a blogging pro

A Couple of Notes

Observation number 3 is done and I've finally started to see a little tech in my classroom (not counting the old school overhead that is always used). Two new devices were in yesterday, both of which were new to me.

The first was a computer program that would randomly select a student to read from the textbooks. It would use the class roster, saved on the computer, and play some goofy selection sounds before choosing a student. This could become useful, as it takes away complaints and competitions over who reads. Of course, it could cause problems if the program selects a student who refuses to read.

The other device was pretty clever. It looked like a traffic light. In a normal setting, the light would hold on green. If the noise level of the classroom rose, the light would switch to yellow. If it got too noisy in the classroom, the light would switch to red and an alarm would go off. This became useful, as I saw some students worried when the light moved to yellow. It had its downsides, though, as some students tried to purposely set it off. Also, when my cooperating teacher gave directions, he would set the alarm off.

Both of these new devices could have some real usefulness in the classroom. Of course, at this rate it won't be long before they just replace teachers with computers altogether. I'll have to wait and see about that one