Yesterday I tried something new. A new way for me to look at instruction. I took a one second video every minute during one class period. I had no idea how this would turn out and it was not something I planned on doing. I just got the idea and went with it.
I set my timer on my iPad so I could make sure I took a video every minute. I started just by sitting in a desk, but then I moved around the room to get different perspectives (which I would recommend). When class was over, I downloaded my video clips to iPhoto and then imported them into iMovie.
I reduced each clip to exactly one second. I did not add any transitions or additional sound/audio. I wanted this to be about the classroom. Again, not knowing what this would look like....
The 52 second movie of this one 52 minute class period was spot on. The instructional methodology, philosophy, tone, and reality was almost clarified and articulated in a manner that could not be achieved in a 52 minute long video of the entire class period. Please do not misunderstand - there is a a valuable need to be a reflective practitioner and view an entire class from start to finish; however, sometimes more is less.
This may be a common practice where you are, but if not, try it! I'll be doing many more of these 52 second videos to help improve instruction for all learners...
