Throughout the School Placements, trainees will complete activities that involve recording themselves or their Class Mentors in order to review these after the lesson. Recordings are mainly video recordings, but if this is not possible an audio recording can be made instead.
These recordings are generally reviewed by CM and trainee together, and a reflection on this should be included within the trainee’s weekly reflection. Although trainees may find watching themselves slightly uncomfortable, they will come to realise things about themselves that they were previously unaware of and are more able to address them appropriately. This process is also powerful in revealing to trainees the strong elements of their practice.
Making Video Recordings
All recordings should be compliant with school policy and be made on the school’s devices, not trainees’ personal devices. The recording should be reviewed as soon as possible, to reduce the amount of time it is stored, and then deleted once the review is complete. Trainees and CMs may therefore need to identify and set aside a specific time for this purpose. If CMs have any concerns regarding the compliance of making and using recordings in this way with school policy, they are asked to email Ian (i.campton@soton.ac.uk).
Using Digital Video
The purpose of videoing a lesson is not to facilitate a thorough analysis of the entire lesson. Rather, it is to sharpen the focus on one ‘teaching moment’. The recording can therefore focus on the trainee and exclude the children. Although trainees may find watching themselves slightly uncomfortable, they will come to realise things about themselves that they were previously unaware of and are more able to address them appropriately. This process is also powerful in revealing to trainees the strong elements of their practice.
In reviewing the video, trainees should select two teaching moments from the recording. One which they consider represents a strength within their practice and the other that represents an area fro development. In preparation for the feedback discussion, trainees should make informal notes and comments on each chosen moment, using the following analysis framework:
- Explain: What were you aiming to do at this point in the lesson, and why is this important?
- Assess: How effective was this?
- Modify: What could you change or modify for future teaching?
These notes and comments should then be discussed during the feedback. Questions from the Delayed Debrief may help inform this discussion and it might be useful to have the recording to hand during the feedback so that the teaching moments can be replayed when necessary.
The trainee’s reflection for the Weekly Review should include their learning from this discussion and targets should be set accordingly, as usual.
As is now practice, all recordings should be compliant with school policy and be made on school devices. The recordings should be reviewed as soon as possible, to reduce the amount of time it is stored, and the device not taken off the school premises. Once a review of the video has been successfully completed, the recording should be deleted. Trainees and CMs may therefore need to identify and set aside a specific time for this purpose. If CMs have any concerns regarding the compliance of this exercise with school policy, they are asked to email the trainee’s professional tutor or Ian (i.campton@soton.ac.uk).
Where it is not possible to video record the lesson, then an audio recording can be made. As this is slightly more difficult to analyse, a video recording of only the trainee (without children in the shot) may be more preferable.
Further Guidance
We have produced some guidance for CMs to help them support trainees in reviewing and reflecting on the video recording. Based on the article Using Digital Video in Professional Development by John Yandell, available here, it includes a list of suggested questions that CMs may wish to ask trainees as they review the recordings together.
