Hi John,
Don't do it! I believe that this sends a number of signals to students.
1. You create a barrier between your students and yourself.
2. You are too tired to move about the class, so you may not have the energy to teach the class.
3. You have to claim the entire teaching area as your own, meaning classrom, lab, etc. By staying behind the desk or podium you have only claimed about 4 square feet. The students have claimed the rest. What does claiming mean. It means to the students that you are not going to enter their space and that they can do anything they want in the rest of the classroom/lab.
4. You can start class behind the desk or podium, where your gradebook or notes are and then move away from either one.
5. If you are not secure being away from your desk/podium due to being a new instructor and/or have a case of the nerves, move to the left or right of the podium leaving one hand still attached to the podium. This is much like a balance pole for a highwire walker. It give security. For the desk move around it and lean on the front of it. Sit on it. What ever will make you comfortable. The point is the students should see you as being mobile.
6. Put flipcharts on either side of the room. Walk from the desk/podium to one flipchart and write something down. Then back to the desk/podium and go to the other flipchart. Just little things that will force you to move without making an issue of it with your students.
I just completed writing a new course dealing with developing instructor skills and media selection that has several sections on this very topic. The course will be available in June of this year.
Gary
