Observing myself

This has been a really interesting week for me as I started observing myself teach in class. I managed to get hold of one of those tiny 'Flip' video cameras on Amazon and thought what a fantastic opportunity it would be to be used in class. No more hassles about managing the cables and adapters necessary for video work. No more time consuming analog to digital conversion before using the video, simply just plug it into my laptop and everything is so effortlessly transferred. I propped the Flip up on a tiny tripod at the back of my class and had been recording myself teaching in class for 3 consecutive days.

Wow! Never have I learnt so much about myself teaching in such a short amount of time. I definitely have a lot to learn to be a more effective communicator. All the nuances of my speech patterns such as the pauses and stresses, the manner I speak when addressinga class of 40 compared to talking to a small group, all the embassingly incessant amount of 'Ok?' and 'ahh?', became so crystal clear during playback. Now, I have a much better sense of how it feels like on the receiving end of the instruction.

Below are 2 very short clips of me teaching in class.

Clip 1 shows me teaching a group of 40 pupils, refreshing them on the materials to bring for their painting lessons.

Clip 2 shows me explaining to a couple of upper secondary pupils on the key words used in the Study of Visual Arts compenent.

I picked up what I thought are the more critical gaps and was a lot more conscious of correcting them the next time I was in class. I followed up by recording the subsequent lessons too, important as that I can make a comparison.

There is so much to learn in observing yourself in action that cannot be replaced by the feedback given by the impression of others. I am excited about the prospect of using this for self improvement and I am definitely going to introduce it to the team.