Monday, July 17, 2006

Video Review: part II

Alright, so this is the second time I've had to watch myself on video. I bought a new tie over the break, so immediately I give myself a couple of style points. Seriously though, I think I seemed a little more uptight than I did when I was teaching the kids. When it was the kids, I tried for it to be more of a performance and play off of their personalities. You could tell I was teaching for an evaluation grade; at least I thought so. It was a basic lesson on multiplying/dividing fractions and one that I thought lacked creativity. I don't think I had any glaring weaknesses and for the most part I presented myself in a confident manner; however, I guess I just imagined myself to be more energetic and INTERESTING. I've got to continue to seek new ways to make my class better. I did, however, appreciate the great feedback I received from Mrs. Cornelius; she's awesome. You can tell she loves to teach and loves math. Plus, the woman is creative. So anyways, if I had to summarize my performance, I would say that I presented myself in a confident manner, but I thought it was just a plain old basic lesson.

HT

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Summer School...Part II

Alright, so I'm not going to lie; I enjoyed that 4 day July 4th weekend break a lot more than I thought I would. Now, I sit in front of the computer on July 9th just stalling and writing a blog, becaues I can't think of a creative way to present a lesson on middle school math! Relax though...it'll come to me. A lot has happened since my last entry. My parents came up for the 4 day break. They absolutely loved Oxford. I do love how cautiously my parents give affirmation to a place though. It's like you can tell they really like a place, but they don't want to give it to much praise for fear that their only son won't one day come back to Texas. You've got to love Texans. I think my parents, in particular my father, are about as stereotypical as it gets for Texas pride. It's charming though...trust me. When we took my two roommates out for lunch the last day, it was absolutely hilarious. My dad loves to talk sports, especially college football, so if you are a fan even a little bit, he'll have you rolling with his first-hand insight and endless supply of humorous stories. My roommate from Ole Miss was rolling, because my dad kept making references back to when he coached for Mississippi State in the early 80's. He even brought up how Ole Miss (supposedly) cheated State in the Egg Bowl of '83....it was hilarious, you've got to meet the man to match the story. We did have some good family time though in Memphis and Jackson, and I was so happy that they got to meet Ann and Dr. Mullins at the Monroe's BBQ. It's always nice when your parents are in awe of the caliber of people you get to work with on a daily basis. But now it's time to get back into the swing of things. It's amazing to me how hard it is sometimes to get back in to a hard-working routine just like that. I'm sure by mid-week that'll change, and things will go back to how they were in June. Oh, I also found out that I am one of five students in the program who was chosen to be a part of the documentary. Now, I just hope I'm not that one teacher who just breaks down on camera, because they can't handle their kids. That would be kind of funny though too....can't you just see it....."I hate my kids, I hate my administration, and Ben Guest can kiss my a**"....ahh, let's hope it doesn't come to that. Well, I've got to get back to work on my lesson plans.

Later