Mistakes to Learn From!

Yes!! I made mistakes today!! How awesome is that--now I get to learn more! #attitudeiwanttomodelformystudents
My high school has modified block scheduling and today was the beginning of it. I just have two classes on Tuesdays--one Algebra and one Geometry. It's a half-day of work, basically. I am blessed bigtime. Yeah, buddy. Anyways ...
In Geometry I just had a couple of things to show them and then the majority of the period was to be spent having them begin the process of construction. They're going to be constructing a ton of stuff this coming unit--that's practically the whole unit. So this was one of those lessons that, when I first saw it presented me, I was like, "Oh boy, that'll be cool."
And so ... alas!! We just stumbled out of the gate (or I did), had technological issues getting ... Have you ever had those moments where you're like, "I just need to project this damn image," and the projector is not projecting ANYTHING? And the room is ... dead ... freaking ... silent. I've got to say, that was pretty devastating to the ... I mean, there's the image I'm tryin. g to project, and then there's the image I'm trying to project, if you know what I mean.
So I end up being like, "OK, let's move on to something else, here I'll pass back the test from last week," and we go over that, and then like 15-20 minutes later, we start the constructions. And I'm walking around helping people here and there, but ... man! How could I not feel .. apologetic.
And one grace note is that I have learned to NOT be apologetic, or as little as possible--there is nothing less helpful to them than a teacher with his tail between his legs trying to get their approval. And I could feel myself hardening a little as the time passed in the second half of the period, like I was instinctively retreating away from that type of behavior which I engaged in so much my first year.
So we salvaged the end of the period, I suppose. But ugh, you know? I think I'm going to need to address that moment with them, next time I see them (Thursday). Just talk about the devastating awkwardness of that moment--ham it up, call it the worst moment of my life.
And then ... Algebra 1. So one thing I realized as Algebra 1 opened was that part of how Geometry had managed to be so awkward was my get-straight-to-work way of starting out at 7:15 in the morning. I think getting straight to business isn't always a bad idea, but here's the thing. At that moment, on a typical day, my agenda is just sort of  coming together. I'm not as well-prepared as I should be. I'm just trying to keep it in my own head, and then push my way into it. I'm exerting myself into it; I'm tight, not loose. In this case, I was using getting-straight-to-business out of fear, fear that I would forget what we were supposed to do, fear that I was not as ready as I should have been ...
And it occurred to me as we set sail into another 95-minute block, Period 3, that we had a lot of time, and there was no need to surge straight into business, and that I could just ... make small-talk with them a little bit. Now, acting like a friend instead of a teacher was another of my weaknesses last year and has gotten me into trouble in the past. I'm still figuring out when to approach directly and when indirectly. When to tell stories or jokes and when to .. teach! But it seems like ... the beginning of a 95-minute block period is a good time for off-topic conversation. Seems like a time to ease our way in to things. So Period 3 got off to a good start because that's what I did.
But the finish wasn't great. I've got an open-ended task for them to do where they imagine a square pool being built, a 1 x 1 square pool, and they see how many tiles it takes to surround it (8). Then a 2 x 2 square pool, then a 3 x 3 ... They have a packet on which they can play with it and then, they're going to get some pretty serious credit for elaborating their conclusions.
Unfortunately, I didn't really get them started on this until there were about 20 minutes left in the period. We spent most of the first half of the period discussing our way through some combining-like-terms problems and then I introduced the open-ended task with some sequence-term-value problems that ... Jesus, I'm getting bored just describing it. The one thing I am clear on is that I want to flip the order that I teach the above in tomorrow--We'll do the pool problem first, and then finish the class with the combining-like-terms stuff (which they're being tested on on Friday) ...
The common thread is that these 95-minute periods are long enough to get lost in. They are crying out for three-acts, for big cool projects that teach the concepts we're going to be getting into. But they also require some kind of structure, if only in my mind.
So, I've got my work cut out for me. I still feel really really fortunate. Learning is fun!  :-D