How video coaching inspires teacher self-reflection

Key points:

He Metropolitan School District of Decatur Township has been successfully using video in our teachers' professional learning for over seven years. According to our recently retired former superintendent, Dr. Matt Prusiecki, the return on investment has been “tremendous” because “the entire district team reflects more on practice, we have increased teacher retention, and most importantly, we have raised student achievement by improving the quality of instruction.”

Recent research highlights the value of video: A study A study by the U.S. Department of Education looked at video-based training in approximately 100 elementary schools. A group of 350 4th, 5th and 6th grade teachers were divided into groups. One group had five rounds of training in which they recorded themselves teaching and received feedback on the video. Another group did not receive video training. Compared to similar teachers who received no additional training, those who received five rounds of training showed significant improvement in student achievement. Teachers with five years or less of experience and those with teaching practices in the bottom third of participants saw even greater improvement in both math and English language arts.

This is how we have used video coaching to improve self-reflection, growth mindset, and mastery of teaching practices for all of our teachers.

Focusing on educators' self-reflection

In each building, we have educational leadership teams and professional learning communities (PLCs). These groups are part of our coaching culture, which means that everyone, everywhere in our district, from top to bottom, receives coaching. Video has given our leadership the opportunity to calibrate their training methods and evaluations, for example by sharing a video and discussing how each would rate the teaching in it. It is logistically difficult for colleagues to observe each other on a typical day, but the use of video on our PLCs has allowed teachers to coach each other, even if they can never visit each other's classes.

To make teachers comfortable recording themselves, we give them control of their own videos. We want them to take risks and they need to be in the driver's seat if they want to feel safe enough to do so. That means they can decide what they want help with and when they will be recorded. Just deciding what to focus on encourages teachers to reflect on their practice, and that's a win even if no one else sees the video.

We ask teachers to simply watch their videos and see what they notice, and see if there is anything they could do better or would like to change. From there, we encourage you to share it with one or two people in your PLC as an opportunity to reflect on your practice with colleagues you trust, respect, and with whom you have chosen to be vulnerable. When they are ready, they can share videos with their principal, their entire PLC, or another individual or group of educators.

We've also found that it helps to keep the videos short. Our teachers say about 10 minutes is the sweet spot, the same length as an observation from a coach or administrator.

However, our initial focus on high-quality self-reflection is not just a way to help teachers feel comfortable recording and sharing videos. It is also one of our ultimate goals, and to measure progress, we created a reflection rubric for teachers, as well as questions that teachers can follow while watching their recordings. They are designed to engage teachers in deeper reflection by asking themselves questions like, “How did that question I asked affect my students' learning?” If I changed this, what effect would it have on my children?”

Cultivate a growth mindset

As part of our culture of self-reflection, our instructional coaches share training videos with each other. This gives them the same opportunity as our teachers to reflect collaboratively and also supports district-wide alignment. All district coaches learn to speak the same language and are able to exchange ideas with each other and broaden the discussion by sharing perspectives. It's easy to say, “We're all trained and we all have room to grow,” but video actually gives us the visibility into everyone's practices necessary to carry out that training.

I have complete confidence in our teachers. When we review videos together, the teacher points out areas of improvement in his practice before I have a chance. The video has also helped us identify what works and what doesn't when teachers have mixed results. A group of kindergarten teachers may plan together, for example, but they all achieve different results in the classroom. Normally, figuring out why everyone saw different results is essentially a guessing game, but with video you can look at those different classrooms together to analyze and reflect on the differences you see and how they might affect the results.

This is not about “catching” teachers who are having less success. It can be about celebrating victories. It's about examining the delivery, presentation, or overall classroom atmosphere behind the success your colleagues are having. Create a positive environment that focuses more on coaching than evaluation.

We know it's working because we sent surveys to our new teachers in their first five years and the results have shown that video coaching has helped them feel more supported from the beginning. New teachers tend to leave the field quickly, and not feeling supported in the little things can have a big impact on their job satisfaction. Pairing them with a veteran educator via video is much easier than dealing with the logistics of meeting in person, and having a mentor to consult with can make all the difference in the world when they think about whether they want to continue teaching.

We have also had an influx of people transitioning into teaching from previous careers. Sometimes those people haven't been in a classroom since they were in high school, and having videos that allow them to see what their colleagues are doing helps them understand what it's like to teach in environments they may not be familiar with. Fortunately, when I watch training videos, I often find myself thinking, “This is fantastic! “We have wonderful teachers and what better experts could we have than the teachers in our own district?” Video coaching has really helped us identify teachers who are doing phenomenal jobs. Now, when we see exceptional teaching practice on video, we will use it as an example to share with other teachers in our district.

Sharing excellence through exemplary videos

Our library of exemplary videos shines a light on strong teachers within our community and provides examples of excellence that we know work within the unique context of our district. But there's also something to be said for videos created by teachers outside the district. Fortunately, EMPOWER Platform of the Teaching Channel provides a library of nearly 1,700 videos from educators across the country.

The videos cover best practices for questions, grouping, lesson structure, pacing, or anything else a teacher might need an example of. They are a non-threatening way to start a conversation. If we are sharing in a group, calibrating something, or even considering a practice, it is good to have examples from outside our district so that no one has to say what they like and don't like about the teaching performance of someone sitting right next to them. them.

Video coaching has helped us see the growth that our best professionals have been cultivating in their classrooms all along, share that progress with their colleagues, and foster teaching excellence in all of our teachers.