Film as a Tool for Teacher Training and Development

Reflecting and thinking about my own upbringing as a classroom teacher, and aligning this with my most recent work over the past few weeks of capturing footage in six, very unique middle and high school classrooms, I began to ask myself a simple yet powerful question: Did I or have I been privy to, in my own development as a high school teacher watch flims on exemplary teaching and learning in the classroom? After some self-discussions, and reflection, I came to the solid conclusion, that very little if almost none of my development as a professional was done with film. With the exception of some footage from Big Picture, that focused on the days and lives of an advisor (which as you can see I still remember) the opportunity to view and reflect and to enhance my own craft was void of any such film. Recording the classroom is a particulary powerful experience for all involved. For teachers, it creates obvious anxiety, for many reasons the most prominent of them all, centering around the fact that practioners are not certain about what is the intent and use of such footage. Perhaps, for many teachers who volunteer and open their classrooms, it is simply a way for the administration to evaluate and critique and perhaps, even negatively assess practice. It is a very highly personal experience and for the six brave souls that allowed me into their classrooms, their responses either prior to, or shortly after the conclusion of the experience certainly led me to think this way. One teacher stated that "she was up all night" trying to review and become familiar with new material. Another teacher straight up asked, "Now, what is the footage being used for?" In this role, I become a sales person and a carrier of the professional learning community touch all in one. I try to ease fears and stay in the background of the classroom. For students, at least the ones that I was in the classroom with, were pretty open and naturally free about the footage, from what I could tell. Of course, there is the possibility that students are not normally that well behaved, but I would venture to argue that these were normal days. For some students, it was visibly clear that they did not want to be on camera and some even gave off a very negative vibe of being recorded. For myself, as the video camera man, it made me think that I was capturing some very powerful experiences and that I should respect and honor all that I was to capture. Nevertheless, the purpose of writing about film as a tool for teacher training and development is simple: if we are to improve our practice and learn from each other, then we must begin to examine and view film on exemplary, mediocre, and poor teaching and be able to know and learn the difference. When I was in high school, and literally obsessed on becoming the next great Division I Basketball Player (I received a few offers but not D-1!), I received a tip from one of my peers that I should literally record, study and memorize basketball games with my favorite players. Can I tell you to this day I still remember the explosive cross-over and behind the back moves from when I was a youngster? I was able to review, and see, and observe and then practice over and over again, until my moves became second nature and when I arrived on the court, at full speed, I made moves and became a Honorable Mention Basketball Player for my high school divison. Now, video footage is not the silver bullet, however, if we infuse high quality footage of teaching and learning, particularly of teachers in urban areas, and structure a process that infuses such practice into the classroom, then we are providing the structure for teachers to hone their craft, see exemplary teaching, and make those same moves when they are on their own basketball "courts," their classrooms, and students become beneficiaries of this knowledge exchange.