Great Teachers Watch Film
Every great performer studies film. AND, what is teaching, but a well-planned performance? Therefore, in order to increase the level of best and next instructional practices in our schools, we not only need frequent informal feedback based on best instructional practices, but teachers must watch film of themselves in action. Reflection from memory is one thing. Watching your actions and delivery of content on camera are another.
When I made the leap into administration, I always told myself I wanted to remain a teacher at heart. If I could improve others’ teaching, I could improve education for a greater number of students. Therefore, I set out to help my teachers develop into the best educators possible. In order to do this, people must be observed, they must receive feedback, and they must implement effective measures within their lessons. We must create ample opportunity for quality feedback, discussion around best instructional practices, and a culture of reflective practice. A great way to accomplish this is through a weekly film study.
Outside of standard procedural meetings, teachers need built-in time to discuss effective instructional practices. Peer observations (let alone group, peer observations) and quality debriefing sessions are great, but they can be hard to schedule, track, and/or maintain. Video study combines many of the best elements of reflective practice into one manageable time slot (something we can all benefit from). The concept goes something like this:
1. All video sessions are non-evaluative. We are in video study to hone our craft and become better educators. Honest feedback is given to improve education for our students.
2. Once a week, a group of 4–6 teachers (could be grade level, content area, or mixed up) meet during a common period once a week in order to discuss best instructional practices.
3. As a group, we decide the video focus (i.e. delivery of a mini-lesson, questioning, introduction of a lesson/Do Now) for the next rotation. A rotation consists of each teacher being videotaped once for a given focus. Foci may be extended for more than one rotation if needed/decided.
4. One teacher per group per week is videotaped and his/her instruction is evaluated using as agreed upon rubric for the given focus area. We strategically stop the video in certain locations to provide general feedback (i.e. “I liked when you…”., “That was a great strategy you used to…”) as well as quick feedback pertaining to the rubric.
5. In addition to discussing the portion of a lesson through the lens of the rubric, we keep teacher statistics in several categories that we deem important. It is known that certain statistics will be more prevalent depending on the focus of the lesson. Each person keeps track of one statistic while we watch the video. There are no values that we are aiming to reach, it is simply to reflect and to use it as a “springboard” for instructional dialogue.
Our 7 statistical categories are as follows:
a. Content Specific Vocabulary
Prior to showing video, teacher states 3–5 vocabulary words we should hear from both teacher and students throughout the lesson. The number of utterances of each word by both teacher and students are tallied.
b. Teacher movement
The classroom is split into 6 subsections (front left, front center, front right, back left, back center, back right). Each time a teacher or teaching assistant steps foot into the zone, a tally mark is given.
c. Positive/Negative Feedback
How many times are we pumping upstudents for what they do right vs correcting them when they are wrong?
d. High Level Questions and Random Questioning of Students
How many high level questions are asked? Are we spreading the “love” to make sure we are truly checking for understanding?
e. Number of Chances For Students to Practice the Lesson’s Skill-
Obviously, this will vary depending on the segment of the lesson, however students practicing the skill and receiving feedback on their work is the single most important factor to them mastering the content.
f. Number of Student Responses During Lesson
Are we including students in the dialogue of the lesson? How often? “Turn-and-Talks” earn large points in this category ;)
g. Duration of Student Responses (hardest category to track)
When students respond to a question or make a comment, are they responding with one word answers or elaborating on their ideas and thoughts? This can sometimes be reflective of the questions we are asking.
At the end of the video segment, we debrief, have a conversation about what went well in the lesson, discuss a few changes that could have been made to improve the lesson, and then tally the statistics for the lesson. The teacher subject for the week is provided with a lesson statistics summary sheet with the totals in each category.
At the end of the year, each teacher has been videotaped a minimum of 5–6 times, dissected his/her own teaching practice, become part of a true teacher team, and participated in 30+ conversations with his/her peers around the implementation of best practices in the classroom. All of this on top of the informal (daily) and formal (3–5/yr) conversations/evaluations that are occurring within the school. Teachers become more successful, feedback becomes more positive, and ultimately, students win. Mission accomplished.
