Video Taping, Part A

It is crucial that you start taping as soon as you can (no...don't wait that long. Do it today.). If you start early, you will go through the crud that everyone goes through, but you will have done it early in your process, giving you an edge.

I want to read a video entry by the end of October from all of my candidates.

Logically, if strong teaching is happening in your classroom and an impact on student learning is occurring, you can film several times a week for NBPTS. If you are waiting for the "perfect" dog-and-pony show, or the lesson you would share when your principal comes in, your video taping process will become too more complicated than it needs to be. I filmed this video, the next day after taking with candidates, after returning from 5 days off due to surgery (you will notice my limp and lack of suit and tie).

This video is Part A of two parts.
A few years ago, after talking with NBPTS candidates early in the video taping process, and their reluctance to share their videos with the group, I filmed my lesson the next day which happened to be a small group activity on dialogue. This small group activity has small group work independent of the teacher, small group work with the teacher posing questions and fixing misconceptions, a portion of teacher as center of attention, and summary of lesson conducted by students. I happened to film this myself using a video camera on a tripod with a PZM microphone on a 20 foot cord.

It also happens to be my first day back in my classroom after being gone for a week from surgery (that is why you see me in informal attire and a bit of a limp). Items I may have brought up in my contextual information if I felt it appropriate.

In your videos, I suggest that the candidate watch the video through once to find what he/she believes to be the best 15 minutes (with some wiggle room on either side until completely decided). I would need to cut about 5 minutes from the video (part A+part B)

Once the 15 minute segment is decided, the candidate can watch and keep a transcript of what is seen in the video. Review your standards. I broke the paper on which I recorded the transcript into three columns: one for what I saw in students, one for what I saw in teacher, one for what I hear being said by either party. I jotted down every little action, because, as we all know, teaching is made up of carefully chosen actions that are different for each student and each situation. Why did I lean down when talking with that one student but not with that other one? Analyze and describe the conscious decisions being made.

What are the strengths, and equally important and often overlooked...what are the weaknesses. Be critical of yourself and do the same for your cohorts.

Then the candidate can share the video with cohorts to get their feedback. Again, the candidate needs to watch the video after getting the feedback to finalize the observations in the video.

It is crucial for the teacher to think about what is done on purpose and not to presume that the person reading the entry will know everything that the teacher knows. The information in the teacher's head needs to make it to the paper in order for the assessor to know the situation.

It is ALSO CRUCIAL that items important for getting the bigger picture of the lesson be in the write up if they are not in the video. For example, this video is day three of initial work on dialogue. Sharing 4 basic types of dialogue and 3 advanced types occurred. On day two we practiced writing them. Day three is a chacne to play around with, make mistakes, deal with misconceptions, and engage in a purposeful discussion of the dialogue before moving into day four which would be to solidify what we know about dialogue.

Then it is time to write the ENTRY. Use your directions; have your Notes page out; read the Rubric for a 4; and place your standards nearby.

This video was not filmed as part of my NBPTS entries. Parent permission granted.

If you have questions, post a comment and it will get to me. Leave your name so I know to whom to address the response. Or email me directly.

[if you are unable to view the video through this channel, try viewing all of my sample videos through Teacher Tube.]