Issue 11, Spring 2006
TELL @ ELI Archive

Improving your Teaching through Video Analysis and Critique

Think back to your favorite teacher. What was it about that teacher that you admired? Was it a depth of knowledge combined with a great presentation style? A feeling of confidence because that wonderful teacher clearly explained and got you to understand the perfect subjunctive hypothetically conditional of the third person, once removed? Or maybe…well, I'll leave it to you to finish thinking about what makes a favorite teacher. We would all like to be good teachers, imagining that every lesson, every day is well thought out, well taught, and that our students leave us as brighter human beings. But every now and then, our lessons don't go as planned, don't excite the students, and we teachers are left wondering, "What the heck went wrong?"

Many times a less-than-successful lesson is the result of behaviors that the teacher is not aware of. Poor communication skills make the easiest topic hard to grasp. Good presenters who don't pay attention to good teaching practices become entertainers, not teachers. One way to improve both communication and teaching skills is to record a teaching session and to constructively critique that session. This constructive critique should not be left up to the "tapee" alone, but should be done along with an experienced teacher/mentor. To make a critique as beneficial as possible, specific behaviors and skills need to analyzed-the critique cannot be just a checklist of "yes/no", "meets expectations/needs improvement" columns. Instead, both mentee/mentor should view the recording, notice and write down what was done, how it was done, whether it was successful and why so. Or not so. Through a truly critical analysis, followed by thoughtful and specific recommendations for improvement, any teacher can become that favorite, admired teacher that inspired us many years ago.

So, how do we construct this critical analysis of our video-taped teaching session? Let's begin with describing the three stages: Preview, View, and Review. In the Preview stage, the mentee plans what to teach, and why to teach it. There are two steps here: half the Preview consists of self-reflection on what the mentee would like to investigate, and why he or she would like to do this. Topics could explore the efficacy of using technology (see use of technology questionnaire), or a certain teaching strategy, or for a more basic yet important analysis of good and not-so-good teaching behaviors. The other half of Preview is a "how I'm gonna" outline. Here, the mentee decides what will be done and/or what will be needed to implement the lesson. Is special technology or realia needed? Is it available? A lesson plan and the completed Preview questionnaire are then submitted to the mentor two days before the scheduled recording. It is the responsibility of the mentor to look over these materials to ensure that the mentee's objectives can be reasonably met and therefore observed and evaluated.

The second stage is called View. In this stage, the video tape is independently watched by the mentee and the mentor. It's important to give the mentee some time alone to adjust to all the impressions that trouble us when we first see ourselves on video tape: "My voice sounds funny, I had a bad hair day, thought I was taller, I don't remember doing THAT…". Watching the tape a second time in private gives the mentee a chance to take a more objective look at holistic impressions. Then, the mentee should answer the questions on the View questionnaire. If technology was used, there is a separate questionnaire to evaluate its use. The mentor should also watch the video, again independently from the mentee, and complete the View questionnaire as well.

The third stage is the Review stage. Here, both mentee and mentor get together to compare answers on the View questionnaire, then watch the recording and look for specific behaviors that detract from or enhance teaching and learning. (These behaviors are listed on the Review questionnaire and classified into communication skills as well as teaching skills.) Lots of rewinding and re-viewing should take place. Both participants should have an honest discussion of the mentee's strengths as well as strategies for resolving weaknesses Finally, the mentee should write a "lessons learned" summary incorporating his or her own reflections on the recorded lesson along with the mentor's comments and suggestions. Ideally, the mentee should have a chance to teach a second lesson to practice new skills or techniques.

Video critique using the Preview-View-Review analysis can help both beginning and more experienced teachers improve their teaching and communication skills. And who knows, after finishing your critique, you may leave your classroom thinking, "I know what went right!"

TELL@ELI Issue 11, Spring 2006

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