An Honest Recording

     This year, I've decided to pursue National Board certification, which among other things, means I have to occasionally record myself teaching. I was fortunate in that I had to record myself many times during my student teaching, so I no longer have fear of seeing or hearing myself on video. But still, recording your teaching and knowing that someone else will be watching it for the express purpose of judging you would make anyone nervous. I couldn't help but be hyper aware of every little thing that went awry.

Here are a few things that happened on camera in my classroom today:

1.) As a reward for winning the Black History Month Door Decorating contest, my principal bought doughnuts for my little darlings. There were more than we needed, so most kids ate two. Cue nausea and hyperactivity all around!

To be fair, they did a great job.

2.) One student stared directly into the camera for five minutes and made funny faces. Blissfully unaware, I continued to teach with him in the background.

3.) One student burped loudly, twice.

4.) One student (on camera, mind you) dropped his paper and then accused another student of taking it from him and throwing it on the floor.

5.) And JUST as I was finally getting into a solid momentum with the lesson, one of my girls sprang a nosebleed.

After this last interruption, you see me sigh heavily and say "Oh, teaching..."

Regardless of all of this, the lesson actually went pretty well. For the purpose of National Board, you only need 10-15 minutes, and you can make two cuts to the video. I will also record on other days, but honestly, there is something endearing about this video. It's the kind of thing I would show a student teacher or a class of preservice teaching students to illustrate the best and worst thing about teaching: even the best laid plans don't stand a chance against a determined group of middle schoolers.

This post was written for Slice of Life Tuesdays.