This is where being confident comes into play. Let's face it, if students sense that their teacher is lacking confidence, it tells them that they will be able dictate what happens in the classroom, increasing the odds that they'll begin pushing to see how much they can get away with. Aside from the fact that confidence decreases the possibility of disruptive students, it also increases the likelihood that your students will be receptive to you. Think about it - if you are being taught by someone who is constantly looking down and avoiding eye contact or saying "uhm" or "uh," you probably won't be as engaged as you would be if the class was being taught by someone who had good posture and constantly made eye contact.
While it may seem like I'm stating the obvious, I think new teachers forget how important body language is, and they let their lack of confidence/nervousness dictate the lesson. As we discussed last week, new teachers may find themselves following the rigid lesson plan they have created, for nothing more than to avoid a situation that they're not prepared for. This ruins the educational experience for the student. In my opinion, confidence = better teaching.
I agree with a lot of this but I think the word I'd use is preparedness. If you're prepared for things to go wrong then you won't have as much stress when things undoubtedly do go wrong. I'm not sure I agree that you have to be super confident going into your first lesson. I think it is easy to think of students as 'bad kids' or trouble makers. When people talk about classroom management it's always about how to make their students behave but I don't think that's a huge problem. Students aren't sociopaths waiting eagerly for the moment you mess up to pounce. I think it's more beneficial to go in there understanding that they are people who understand that mistakes happen and that they generally don't want to see someone struggle.
ReplyDeleteI once taught a lesson and a lot of it went wrong. I kind of panicked and got really stressed out. After a few minutes one of the student actually got up of his own volition and tried to help me work out some tech problem I was having. I think worrying about how you present yourself the first time might just be adding pressure that doesn't need to be there. No one should expect to be super confident their first time.
I agree, confidence is key, and I think you will do great when it comes to teaching your lessons. You should not be nervous at all. All you need to remember is that if something goes wrong, you can always fix it or find a way to work with it. We are teachers and are able to work with anything (I hope) and the lesson plan is just our guideline that we are free to move away from if we really want, because we are the teachers and it is our lesson. And the lesson is never set in stone. I think students like when teachers decide to improvise too, I know I always did.
ReplyDeleteI too have repeatedly imagined how my first lesson will unfold. I actually agree with a little of both of the previous comments... I think that confidence is an important factor but less so in regards to how you deliver the lesson and more so in how you react to the mishaps or unexpected situations that occur during it. I know each of us as new educators have different personalities and levels of comfort, however, I truly believe that going into our first lesson expecting that there will inevitably be some hurdles we will encounter and preparing ourselves, not for the hurdles, but for our reaction to them, is what is more important. We must go into the experience with a sense of humor. Try not to take everything so seriously, laugh at your mistakes, and acknowledge that you don't have all the answers. If you are open and honest with your students and tell the class, "Listen, this is my first time teaching, I'm excited and a bit nervous, but I hope that you enjoy what I have planned for you. Feel free to chime in, give me suggestions, and don't hesitate to correct me if I make a mistake. I want to share my knowledge but I also want learn from all of you." Let students know that this is a learning experience for everyone involved because that really is the reality of the situation.
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