Finding Your Own Style

When I started my last job, working at Nordstrom, I was always anxious about what I was going to wear to work. Would my managers approve? Would my customers think it was stylish enough to listen to what I had to say? I would either let my coworkers pick out clothes for me, or choose something based on what they were wearing. Sometimes I was comfortable with those choices and sometimes I wasn't, but at least I fit in. As I continued working there, I became much more comfortable choosing these things on my own. There were certain styles that I loved and because I was comfortable, those worked really well for me. My customers were confident in what I was saying, because I was confident.

This week, my field supervisor came in to observe my dyad partner and I teach a lesson. After the lesson, one of his comments dealt with how similarly we both chose to teach the lesson. This was likely due the fact that we had watched our master teacher teach the same lesson 1st and 2nd period. He commented that there were parts of the lesson for both of us that we seemed slightly uncomfortable teaching the way we did. When he asked us why, we both responded with "that's the way our Master Teacher did it." We both realized that while that style of teaching may work well for her, it was not the only way the lesson could be taught. When we're not teaching a lesson in a style that we're comfortable teaching, not only are we less confident in what we're saying, but our students are less engaged in what we're saying.

It will be interesting, going forward to be aware of these things as I'm teaching. I'm excited to see how (or if) the next lesson I teach will improve based on my trying to find the style of teaching that works best for me.