My first taste of power

I just finished teaching my first two "trial" classes of college writing; I figured it was blogable (if perhaps bloggeral, and therefore unbloggishly impertinent of me, in which case I have committed a faux blaugh). My mentor teacher didn't have much to say except he liked it. He took issue with some minor points of my argument, which is fine since I'm trying to apply his model in a way I've never had to do before.

Observations:

• It's hard to call on students when you don't know their names. You have to sort of wait until they look up and then wave your hand and catch them.
• Students think you can't see and hear things, like when they chat in the back of the classroom (it's not very big) or when they don't have the story out that we're studying. I still call on them because I'd rather they felt uncomfortable than me.
• When you find a student or two who talk all the time, it's hard not to just call on them all the time so you can move on, but probably wise not to.
• The second class went rather differently than the first, in part owing to having had one run through the material, in part owing to getting different sorts of responses. I found myself often departing from my notes when it served the overall purposes of the lesson.
• It's hard to tell if they're interested or not, since talking doesn't of itself indicate comprehension or attention. One guy wasn't even taking notes, but I called on him anyhow and he was able to answer. Also, every once in a while I got a laugh out of them.
• Getting laughs is nice, and makes you want to caper around like a Shakespearean fool just to know you have their attention. But I don't think they'd get my foolery at that point.