- self-reflection: climate and teacher mood.
Is there a class that you don’t really look forward to teaching? How do you think you greet them and set the tone? Watch yourself greeting a class you look forward to and a class you don’t. Sometimes the enthusiasm you put into greeting a ‘good’ class sets your students up for a positive or a negative lesson;
Broader reflection: How do you start your lessons? When you watch yourself in the first three minutes, what surprises you?
- Self-reflection: quality of explanation.
Getting an explanation right can enormously help or hinder a lesson. Although, that’s easier said than done. Pick a task or a concept that can be tricky to explain and go to the platform and watch the lesson where you have to make this explanation.
At the same time, write a step-by-step written explanation of the concept or task. You can do this before or after you’ve taught the lesson.
Put the written explanation in front of you as you watch back the recording: what differences do you notice? Did you enhance the spoken explanation with non-verbal aids like gestures? Which is clearer?
Broader reflection: Listen to the level of your language in your explanations. Considering your class, is your language dumbing down, appropriately ambitious, or inaccessible? If it is appropriately ambitious – can all pupils access this, and how are you widening the access to others?
- Sharing practice.
You may think that this is more for Subject and Faculty Leaders; however, we all benefit from watching others. Whatever your level in your department, pick a 2/3 minute clip from a lesson – this could be something you plan ahead to share or something you look back on and think would be interesting to share.
The key is to approach the watching activity with one key focus, ideally a clear question. For example: ‘Did I pace this modelling correctly – giving pupils time to enough follow without leaving too much dead time?
You do NOT need to be picking ‘outstanding’ practice for this – it is actually more beneficial to all to see something more routine.
Broader reflection: Do you feel comfortable with your colleagues seeing your ‘everyday’ teaching? How can we use ONVU as a school to broaden sharing within the school?
- Seeking development and support.
We all ask for support frequently, but this doesn’t always involve watching us teach. Be proactive and pick something – a specific lesson, class, or activity – where you think you could do better. Ask one other person – this person could be senior to you or of any level – to watch 5 minutes of footage with you and give you one piece of developmental feedback.
Broader reflection: If you teach more than one group in the same year, how do you reflect in between teaching the same lesson twice? Could ONVU help you review ‘sticky’ moments before tackling them a second time?
- Strategy comparison.
Whether it’s planning a lesson or feeling like we want to do something differently, we have all wondered ‘which strategy would be best here. How often have you decided to try both – and compare?
Add ONVU into this comparison – watch yourself during the key 2/3 minutes of each strategy, with a pupils’ book in front of you. Which leads to the best: pupil engagement/teacher ease/pupil work?
Broader reflection: What do you learn by looking at a pupil’s book/work whilst reflecting upon (or watching!) your practice? Is this a useful tool?