I pretty much always assumed as a new teacher that I would be awkward in front of the classroom and you can definitely see that in the video. I tend to shift positions and postures — moving from standing with arms at my side to my hands on my hips. Comparing myself to other teachers, while everyone has awkward moments, I think the confidence in front of a classroom that you find in good teachers comes from experience. Hopefully, as I progress through the teaching program at the UMN I’ll continue to gain confidence and experience.
Listening to myself was a little strange — I know that I tend to be monotone when speaking, but just listening to it just showed me how much my voice and intonation do not change when I’m speaking. I definitely need to work on this, I’ve been trying to put more emotion in my voice, but usually, I only think about it when doing a read aloud with kids. I don’t know if older elementary kids are affected by this as much as younger ones, but I think a lot of times kids feed off of the mood of the teacher, so if I sound disinterested to the kids, how will they feel? I want them to hear me be excited and feel excited themselves.
Kenady's Blog 