After the conference I felt better about a few things because I actually felt that I didn’t do so well. She told me that she understood that it wasn’t my class and that substitute teaching is an awkward situation, but I already knew that. I had already given myself all the excuses I needed to feel better. What made me feel better is that she said that the start was well done and that I gave the class the impression that I knew what I was doing. This is good to hear because I felt that my start was terrible. I felt very unfocused for a while. She also said that I used the blackboard well. I wouldn’t say so from my own standards. Usually I use it very well but this time I couldn’t decide whether I was going to use it or not. Not only could I not decide whether I wanted to get caught up in writing all this stuff out on the board, but I also couldn’t deal with the arrangement of the room. If I was out in the middle, by the students, where I felt I should be, then I couldn’t get back to the board easily as there was a large table in the way. Because I couldn’t decide if I wanted to deal with the blackboard at all, I didn’t do a good job of using it.
One thing that surprised me is that she said I repeated myself too much. Besides the fact that I wasn’t used to the students and was having trouble getting responses from them, I wasn’t aware that I was repeating. I guess I am so used to modifying my speech. I would have to hear myself. This shows the value of the video camera that I am learning.
As for my reaction to criticism, well there wasn’t too much to react
to. I took it pretty well though. I was actually expecting much more criticism
because I felt that I had done poorly. I still feel that it was disjointed
and that time wasn’t used effectively.
back to the before conference journal
forward to the final journal for the practicum