What teaching style do you favor? How do you present material in
your class? When I was student teaching (many years ago now), I
recall that we were required to observe another teacher in our
supervising teacher’s department. I observed the man who
happened to be chosen Teacher of the Year for his school by his
colleagues. Actually, it was probably my supervising teacher who
recommended I observe him. Matter of fact, I also observed the
department head, who was an intimidating woman, both to her
colleagues and students (she required English department members
to hand in lesson plans, and I recall after one particularly
didactic department meeting, the other English teachers
clustered in the parking lot to “discuss” the meeting). The
Teacher of the Year’s class was taking a notebook check the day
I observed. He apologized for not being “up in front of the
room,” but also added that he wasn’t up in front of room a lot
because he “really didn’t believe in that.” What he was trying
to say is that he viewed his ro