Rewind. Play. Stop. Reflect

28 Millimetres: Portrait of a Generation by JR

JR's provocative image epitomizes my sense of uneasiness when aimed at with a video camera. JR obviously wanted to convey a strong social message that goes beyond what I'm trying to describe in this post; however, this image sends a clear message: video cameras can be indeed intimidating when aimed at you!

Video Cameras are unforgiving; nothing will slip past them. The notion that every single hand gesture I make (I am after all Mediterranean), every slight movement and every word I say in my funny accent will be captured on tape is to say the least daunting.  

Watching myself on camera has allowed me to appreciate how dizzying my lunatic hand movement can be, but it has also given me a great reality check on my teaching. Micro-teaching can indeed be agonizing! There again, this is the whole idea behind it.

The notion of micro-teaching or videotaping yourself while you teach and then watching the post-mortem (I stole that one from Wikipedia) has been around for quite some time, yet I had never been exposed to the idea. In fact, I only decided to video tape one of my lessons after reading about it on the Global Achievement Gap.

The lesson that I videotaped was an introduction to the new investigation assessment for the Grade 8 Humanities class. Watching the tape allowed me to see my self... teach. I know, I have a knack for stating the obvious, but this lesson was indeed a monologue! Even though students seemed attentive, there was no clear evidence that learning was happening. Once again, I certainly did not feel flattered by what I saw on the screen, but the feedback I got was priceless as I was able to see the lesson from the students' perspective.

So, following the High Tech High's Collegial Protocol, I asked my assistant principal, Cynthia Wissman to be my critical friend. After having watched the lesson, Cynthia sat down with me and we did a video taped "post-mortem". The conversation we had was flowing and frank. After all, I had already seen myself on tape prior to the meeting and now, with Cynthia's help, I was able to clearly identify the areas that needed improvement. In a nutshell, instead of providing students with a 30-minute introductory monologue, I should have facilitated a group activity where students could unpack a sample investigation and recognize the steps required to obtain successful outcomes.

The videos were then shared with the other members of my department and we were able to have a meaningful discussion. Moreover, another teacher wanted to try this out and I played the critical friend role. Once again, this led to some fruitful reflection.

These were the benefits that I could draw from these exercises:

*Unlike classroom observations this experience is more genuine. In my case, Cynthia was not the evaluator who pointed out the strengths and the weaknesses. Instead seeing myself on tape allowed me to come up with a more honest analysis on the lesson. Cynthia's role was non-threatening and as a result I felt more comfortable bouncing off ideas

*When I started teaching ten years ago it seemed that classroom observations had to be a dog and pony show. Those observations were a missed opportunity for self-improvement. And that is what makes micro-teaching relevant. When lessons that videotaped at random, there is a bigger chance of recognizing the areas that you need to work on.

*The tone of this exercise was lighter than formal observations. If videotaping became a regular protocol at our school, I believe that the process would be more formative and less evaluative.

*Most importantly, there were some concrete take-aways from this exercise. By empathizing more with my students (I made myself watch my whole 30-minute monologue....twice) I was able to make modifications to my other lessons.

Still not convinced about micro-teaching?

Website: Visible Learning 

In his extensive 15-year research, Hattie looked at difference practices and their degree of influence on student learning. Needless to say, micro-teaching ranked fourth. I rest my case.