Filming often (and viewing the results) serves two purposes: 1) It gives you a chance to "get over yourself". You'll eventually accept how you look, how you sound, and all the other little details that we criticize about ourselves; and 2) You really do learn a lot about your teaching. You'll get a sense of what it's like to be a student in your class; you'll begin to recognize what demonstrating the standards looks like in your teaching practice.
There is a good chance that, even though filming can be frustrating,
you'll see some improvement in the lessons once you are more comfortable with the filming process. The kids won't be the only ones to forget the camera is running. You will too and then the footage will seem more natural.
So, the homework for April 3 is as follows:
1) Within the video footage you take, find a 5 minute segment to share.
2) Fill out the "Finding Evidence of Rubric Concepts in a Video" form. You can use more than the 5 minute limit for this - use the entire lesson.
3) Read Proposition 5 that is found on page 5 of the "What Teachers Should Know and Be Able to Do (Resource H). This is a shortened version of the full Proposition 5 explanation found in your portfolio. It can be accessed by going to www.nbpts.org. Go to "For Candidates", find your certificate, download it and in the index you'll see the propositions listed.
4) Answer one of both of the following guiding questions:
- What experience, if any, have you had with analyzing your practice or the practice of others in this type of format (a video)?
- What benefits do you see for teaching (your practice) and learning (impact on students) through videotaping your practice?
REMINDER: The next meeting is April 3, 2008 and we will extend the meeting from 3:00 - 6:00PM. See you then!
6 comments:
Kristi Hartmann
The last time that I have videotaped myself teaching was when I was student teaching ten years ago. At that time, there were so many blaringly obvious mistakes that I was making, that it was semi-uncomfortable to watch. However, the end result was positive in that I was able to change a lot in order to become a better teacher. Thinking about videoing a lesson was not something that I was excited about; thus I put it off until the very last minute. It makes me wonder how many times I will have to tape my lessons in order to capture just the right moment for NBC. I learned from this experience that you can go into a particular lesson thinking that it will go a certain way, but that there are so many uncontrollable variables. I am glad that I will have the summer to plan accordingly, and with this planning, I will allot several days to videoing because I think that it will be very tedious to get the “perfect image” in one shot. Analyzing the video was difficult because it is hard to look at myself and not be overly critical. In fact, I am dreading having to share this at our next meeting Despite the insecurities, I feel that there are innumerable benefits from watching a video on my teaching. You see things from an entirely different perspective and this help in many different ways. It was interesting to see the students’ reactions to the lesson, or lack thereof. When I am up in front of the classroom, at times, I truly think I am in my own little passionate world and because of this, I miss integral things going on around me. Watching a video recording of myself enabled me to see an entirely different picture. Despite the fact of how difficult it is to plan and integrate the technology, I think that it is a beneficial tool for any teacher who has the desire to become a master teacher. The video can be used as a guided tool for improvement in so many ways. Often times, formal observations don’t allot for adequate constructive feedback, or so this has been my experience. I think by watching myself teach, I was definitely harder on myself than any evaluator in the past. This is a good thing though because it promotes growth.
Kristi,
You have written about some valuable insights. We are much more critical of our own videos, than those of others. It is comforting to know that the assessors are looking strictly for the standards, and to certify that you actually taught the lesson, when they watch your video.
I know that your colleagues will give you positive feedback!
Mary
Kristi, you have hit all of the "video buttons"! Most teachers agree that this is one of the more difficult aspects of submitting a NB portfolio. At the next meeting,I'll share the video I plan to submit for my recertification. We will discuss the standards the video shows. I think you'll feel better after seeing how much a regular lesson can demonstrate.
I just video taped myself today and have yet to watch the video. First I'm curious to see what else was going on in class that I didn't notice. Next, I'm interested in analyzing my teaching. I really going to have to think about what I did and where in the video there is evidence of meeting the standards. Overall, I thought the lesson went pretty well- just basic stuff but I would like to record more lessons to have a better choice of lessons. I agree with Kristi that it's going to be hard to find "just the right moment" in order show that my teaching meets the standards.
What experience, if any, have you had with analyzing your practice or the practice of others in this type of format (a video)?
Ever since I started teaching this Life Skills class I have had people watching me as I teach, often parents, therapists, my class aides and special ed. Administers. I’m used to and at ease with the peanut gallery. I have practically no experience in analyzing my teaching through videos though. I have taken short videos of student achievements mostly to show to their parents and have seen some things, which have changed how I teach. Mostly I notice that students in the background are not engaged in learning, which has always been a frustration, since my students rarely are profitably engaged unless I am working directly with them.
What benefits do you see for teaching (your practice) and learning (impact on students) through videotaping your practice?
I’ve seen many things in my practice videos, mostly what goes on when my attention is elsewhere. My students need 1:1 attention to learn even if that is given in small groups. I have three aides, who do some lessons, but are mostly engaged in toileting, feeding, positioning, and in general caring for their personal, medical, etc. needs.
I can see that I may be able to hone my lessons, techniques of small group interactions and developing (semi) independent student activities, which I have been working for ever.
This is only the second time I've been videotaped teaching. As much as I disliked watching the videos, I think videotaping will ultimately be one of the most powerful tools I will ever use to improve my teaching practice. Not only is it hard to get over the way you look and the way you sound, it is also hard to grapple with the concept that some of your preconcieved notions about yourself as a teacher may be inaccurate. I've always thought I was very nurturing and respectful of my students. There are instances in this video when I think I come across as abrupt and almost dismissive. Hopefully it was because I was stressing about being taped, plus I chose a lesson where there was a lot of student movement so I was concentrating on crowd control.
After I watched the videotape I:
1. was dismayed by the way I looked and sounded
2. wished I had chosen a different lesson to videotape
3. considered begging my videographer (Nick) to spend another chunk of his valuable time to come in and videotape a different lesson
4. realized I was going to have to show a chunk of this lesson to the class even though I would never in a million years consider submitting it to National Board
I can definitely see the need to videotape oneself frequently but how do you do this? I've heard stories about the difficulties of reserving cameras, trading cameras with other teachers, etc. Nick was wonderful and spent about 40 minutes in my classroom taping me with his awesome new camera. I can't ask him to do that on a frequent basis. After he videotaped me, we spent alot of time figuring out how to get a 5 minute segment transfered from the camera onto a disk that could be shown (with both sound and video).
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
On a lighter note: after watching the videotape I immediately changed my hairstyle.
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