Recording yourself on video as a classroom teacher is not unheard of in teacher prep programs. The idea is that by watching yourself on video you will notice things that aren't obvious to you when you're in the moment of teaching. I recorded myself teaching/facilitating a lesson years ago and remember learning a few things from the experience -- some good and some not so good. As I look ahead to starting year ten in education, however, I'm thinking that I should take a look at my classroom from a fly-on-the-wall perspective again. I believe I'm in a better position in my career to learn much more -- I think -- from a video recording of my own teaching than I was the first time I recorded myself. I have greater insight in what a classroom should look, sound, and feel like and I'm hoping choosing to videotape myself teaching this year will help me get closer to that ideal. So, this post is short but has an important purpose: to share my goal of video taping myself teaching this year with you so that I will actually do it! Stay tuned for a future post on what I learned from the experience.
Here's an article from Harvard University on the "value of self reflection" via video recordings if you'd like to learn more. Lastly, feel free to let me know if you're a teacher and have videotaped yourself in the classroom before. Did you do it long ago or recently? What did you learn? Should it be common practice?
Happy back-to-school season,
Ms. Vila