Had to Teach a Class for the First Time Today

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I knew it was going to be bad, but, oh, my goodness. I tried and tried to project an appropriate persona, but I kept falling out of it. All those faces just looked so sullen and some of them angry; I kept having to remind myself that I was probably misinterpreting what I was seeing. I tried to follow the advice in the articles we read for our practicum and ask open-ended questions, but they just stared at me after most of them. I told them my name about three times because I kept losing my place in my presentation -- and this is after rehearsing in the same room earlier in the day.

I just hope the next one goes better. I've got twenty-two more of these to do before the end of the semester.

Wow, today went a hundred times better than yesterday. I think I've hit on a good trick. I kept my focus slightly above their heads except for a few very brief moments every so often and when it got to the powerpoint part of the presentation, I turned the lights all of the way off so I couldn't see their faces very clearly so their expressions didn't throw me. I also told them straight out that they were going to have to ask for help if they were confused because I was not the sort of teacher who could tell just by looking that they needed help -- they were going to have to ask. Everything went much more smoothly.