1. 10 Reasons and Ways to Video Record Your Teaching
Drs. John Somers & Rachael Aming-Attai

2. Some background…
UIndy is one of five organizations nationwide to receive a Carnegie Grant through a competition hosted for partners in 100Kin10 (a national initiative to provide America's classrooms with 100,000 excellent STEM teachers by 2021 while supporting tens of thousands more).
We developed a project - Constructing a Virtual Community of Mathematical Practice amongst Teaching Candidates, Teacher Coaches and Teacher Educators – which began in Fall, 2013.

3. 1. We used video to help us create a community of practice among:
teaching candidates (or pre-service teachers – PSTs) in their junior year
teachers from a local charter school
UIndy education faculty

4. Our Professional Learning Community (PLC)
PST’s developed rich tasks with help of instructors to implement the Common Core Mathematical Practices.
PST’s taught tasks to small student groups. Lessons were video recorded and uploaded to a video-sharing platform.
Teacher coaches viewed the videos and provided feedback.
PST’s reviewed videos and used feedback to adjust their next lesson.

5. 2. Videos capture the complexities of teaching.
We used iPad minis and Swivls to video record our students.
A Swivl is a robotic mobile accessory, app and cloud hosting service that makes delivering and recording presentations, lessons and lectures more dynamic.

7. 3. Videos afford easy online feedback.
After the PST’s taught and recorded their rich math tasks to small student groups, they uploaded these to a video-sharing platform.
The teacher coaches then provided time-synced feedback.
Edthena (

8. 4. Videos assist with assessment.
While viewing the videos, the mentor teachers used a rubric to assess the PSTs.
The rubric examined:
Instructional Factors
Discourse Factors
Assessment Factors
Curriculum Factors

9. 5. Video affords the opportunity to examine discrete aspects of teaching.
Look at a snippet of one of our PSTs
Sample Video
Examine her questioning and identify the:
Type – open or closed?
Kind – opinion or right/wrong?
Level – knowledge, skill, or big ideas?
What did you notice?
What else can you comment about?

10. 6. Videos improve PSTs’ practice.
Due to deficits in a sound conceptual understanding of their own mathematics content, many PSTs struggle facilitating rich mathematical experiences that:
foster conceptual understanding
applying the Standards for Mathematical Practice necessary to implement the Common Core (now the Indiana Academic Standards).
Through the process, the PST’s made great strides in developing, teaching, and reflecting on rich mathematical experiences for students in grades 4-6.

11. PSTs’ Comments
“Having the opportunity to practice the constructivist approach has built up my ability to teach math tremendously.”
“The videos allowed me to see my teaching from a different perspective, which allowed me to notice things that I didn't realize I was doing or that I should continue to do.”
“I was able to watch myself on the video and observe what areas within my teaching needed improvement. The videos also acted as a form of assessment when I did not take kid- watching notes during the lesson.”

12. 7. Videos showcase effective practice for teachers.
Reform documents such as the Common Core State Standards for Mathematical Practices and the new Indiana Academic Standards demand high expectations for mathematics education.
To meet these expectations, teachers must develop deep mathematical understanding in their students.
The use of videos can help teachers improve their practice by showing how kids explore and construct meaning for mathematical concepts.

13. Teachers’ Comments
“I liked seeing another rubric that describes effective teaching. Also, providing feedback for the candidates prompted me to reflect about my own teaching.”
“Watching teachers teach (especially new teachers, right out of and/or in college) inspires me to try new strategies that I see!”

14. 8. Coaching with video is very powerful.
Coaching is super powerful when combined with the power of video (disruptive innovation), especially when coupled with video-sharing platforms such as Edthena, Instructive Insight and Smarter Cookie (Knight, 2014).
Coaching that employs video responds to the complexities of teaching by adapting to that complexity over time.
Capturing teaching on video enables the teacher and the coach to see a true picture of teaching, that is, “seeing yourself doing what you do” (Knight, p. 8).

15. Coaches’ Comments
“Having this presented to us in a PD format and explaining that no matter what happens with Common Core--these practices are what is important has helped me outside of this grant as well by implementing it into the clusters I lead and coaching meetings I have.”
“…Reaffirming to see students working with a teacher in a small group. This was a good avenue for me to reflect on what I do well and what I need to remember as I was attempting to help someone else improve.”

16. 9. Video promotes collegiality and trust.
“The coaching opened up a lot of lines of communication.”
“We were willing to be vulnerable with each other which brought the grade-level teams together.”

17. 10. Videos help to develop professional learning communities (PLCs).
In order to become a highly effective mathematics teacher, one must possess deep mathematical content knowledge and mathematical pedagogical content knowledge.
The use of video helped:
PSTs learn how to teach through Problem-Solving.
Pre- and In- service teachers implement the SMPs.
Teacher educators provide feedback and chart progress of their teaching candidates.
To improve the teaching and learning in the entire school.

18. Questions?

19. jsomers@uindy.edu amingattair@uindy.edu
Thank You!