Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Monday, November 3, 2014
Some Thoughts on Teaching Video
I should have distributed the handouts before beginning my lesson. However, delaying the handouts until after I had introduced the topic makes for a good approach, too. For the sake of the video, and for self-learning purposes, the former makes better sense than the latter as a means of giving more time to straight teaching/engagement. I perceived that I was quite nervous during this session, for I displayed little eye-contact with the audience. I was very out of character here, for I normally do not teach like this. I am usually far more confident and assertive with my teaching (though there were so moments in which I showed the 'old' Joseph of yestertide. I assume that part of the problem here lies in the fact that I knew that I was being recorded and that I was being observed--not as a teacher--but as a student/preservice teacher.
I showed some positives, such as my explanation of the difference between a participle and gerund. By differentiating function, students will make the greatest strides in usage over memorizing definitions. I noticed, too, that I slipped in a participial phrase in part of my mini-lesson. No one picked up on this. "That having been said..." This is a participial phrase known as an absolute construction, or nominative independent. Other languages employ this construction as well, though not so many modern languages. Latin had this construction, but in the ablative case rather than the nominative (which appear in the English construction, hence "nominative independent"). In Greek, the construction appears in the genitive, but sometimes in the accusative case. Sanskrit uses the locative absolute, Gothic, Old English, and Old Church Slavic use the dative absolute. In my studies of modern German, French, and a few other modern languages, I noticed no usage of absolutes. I find that very peculiar. I am under the impression that the existence of this use of the participle in Modern English is a calque on the Latin, but I could be mistaken. The basis for this assumption is that most--if not all modern European languages--were losing this construction, even the Romance and Germanic languages. So, why not English, too? Since I am no Chaucerian scholar, nor have an extensive knowledge of Middle English (yet, I have studied some works in that stage of the language), I am confident that this problem can be solved easily by examining works from the Middle English period. If absolute constructions are frequent during this stage, then the construction is still native to English. If it is rare, or practically non-existent, I suspect that the modern construction is a borrowing from Latin syntax, just like avoiding double negatives and split infinitives stems from imitation of Latin, not native English.
I spent too much time erasing the board. That is not good. I had no idea that what I had written on the smartboard could be saved and another clean board would pop up. I guess one learns something new everyday.
I am pleased that I did what I usually do unconsciously when I am teaching--even nervousness couldn't stamp it out, and that is my use of praise for students who give correct answers. I also gave encouraging words (not necessarily words of praise) to those who were trying to understand the difficulties of this somewhat complex structure in English. That was good, too.
I caught myself doing another unconscious act, but not a good one: biting my nails. Although I saw myself doing this but once, that was one too many. Students don't need to see their teachers exhibiting a nasty habit.
Another note: Clint Eastwood starred in 'The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly,' not Charleton Heston. My nerves were showing again!
I wish I had time to go more in depth with the lesson, but then that would have made this teaching effort a lecture and not a mini-lesson.
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