Kendall Shultz

UTL 640 Professor Haug

Observation 7: Video Critique (Lesson 8: Wife of Baths Tale Reading)
I would have liked to do a much more interactive reading assignment with them for this
teach, since me just reading the book is pretty uninventive and teacher-centered, but I had to read
through as much as possible. Im glad I was able to break up the reading with the sketchnoting at
least. It took until about 30 minutes into the lesson to get to the actual tale since we had to finish
up the prologue to it, so I kind of had to improvise the commentary I included with the part of
the prologue I read. As a result, I didnt have any questions for that section and it was pretty
much solely me reading/interpreting.
The first thing I noticed about this teach is that I am very monotonous when I read. I
suppose it is not quite monotonous, it just doesnt have any flare or pizzazz. When reading a text
to students, it seems ideal to read it in a manner that will engage them and try to bring the text to
life as much as possible. This is especially important if I will be reading for a long period of time
with no real breaks aside from my describing what the text says and the occasional question to
them.
I still say umm and, especially in this lesson, like an exorbitant quantity of times.
Umm makes me sound unprepared, and like does as well. I need to be more intentional with
the words that come out of my mouthboth unintentionally and intentionally. It also makes me
seem less like a teacher and more like a student, so I think this is one of the biggest things that
should be relatively easy to fix that will make me a bit moreteacherly.
Outside of professional/public settings, I tend to swear a good deal. I dont typically slip
up in situations where bad language is unacceptable, but the rhetorical situation of high school
presents its own problems. One of the ways I avoid swearing in public is to use a euphemism to
replace the word that I would normally say. However, even in high school, some students (or at
least their parents) might object to my use of the word crap. The possibility that anyone was

offended was highly unlikely with the group of seniors I was teaching for this lesson, and it is
less likely the older the students are, but I do need to be careful.
In a related incident, as my girlfriend was watching my video with me (for moral support
since it is pretty painful to consume on my own), she looked at me when, in the video, I said,
Case in point: women suck. She knew I was saying this as if I were the Wife of Baths
misogynistic fifth husband, but some students might not pick up on that sarcasm, which could
lead to some having a negative perception of me. I need to be a bit more conscious about how
other people might (not) perceive the true meaning of what I say.
One improvement is that I think that I look a bit more comfortable up in front of the
classroom. I pace back and forth as I read, and I am facing the students the whole time (since
there is not projector to distract me). It just looks a little more natural than before, which makes
me look more like a teacher. My overall posture seems improved as well. I am not slouching as
much, which makes me look more confident. However, I do stand with my legs crossed a bunch,
which either looks awkward or too comfortable. Either way, I think that I could command my
body language a bit more in order to look more in control (Im 65, I should be able to take
advantage of that).
Overall, I think that this lesson was much cleaner than my previous video, but it was a
much simpler, structured, and straightforward lesson, so that may have had something to do with
it. Simply being confident and trusting/telling myself that I have control of the lesson material
and have authority could be good for my teaching persona.