Man, it’s hard getting back into the groove after spring break. One of the first assignments that I had to do was a self-evaluation of my sample lesson that I taught my methods class. (The lesson plan is posted under the My Work tab.) Although I know that recording my lesson will help me discover any distracting mannerisms, give me a chance to review the lesson from a different standpoint, and overall help me become a better teacher, I was not looking forward to seeing and hearing myself on video. On the whole, I’d say that my lesson went pretty well, but there was definitely room for improvement. While watching the video, I cringed every time I said, “um,” which happened…um… A LOT. Despite that, I was pleased that the group activity at the end worked as well as I thought it did during the moment. The students seemed to like it, and every group came up with a really cool poem. Even though students were excited once they started the activity, the lesson seemed to start off slow. This may have been partly due to the sound not working at first and how flustered that made me. I still think, though, if I was going to do it again that I would start off the lesson with some sort of activity or even just popcorn reading to get everyone involved. The group activity went really well for the students, but I’ll admit it. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I felt like I should be supervising, but I felt like I was hovering around the groups too much. Are there any teachers out there with some advice about how to strike up a good balance?