Recording my teaching to improve my practice

Recording myself teaching was a game changer

At the start of my training, I was encouraged to record myself teaching to improve my practice. I initially had some reservations, as I thought I'd feel a little awkward watching myself. However, I knew that it would accelerate my progress, and they would only be seen by my support roles. Watching my recordings allowed me to see exactly what I was doing and what my support roles had observed. I could see what their specific feedback was referring to, and it really supported my understanding. As a result, I was able to make immediate changes to my practice, and I adjusted my physicality. My mentor said that I made rapid progress when I started recording myself, which was really encouraging. It definitely boosted my self-efficacy. 

Early in my first term, my mentor told me that I needed to make my silent hand signals much bigger and more prominent. Watching my recordings back allowed me to see how small my signals looked, and I was able to make the necessary changes. I immediately started doing larger hand signals, which initially felt quite dramatic. However, that feeling quickly vanished, and prominent hand signals became a part of my practice.

Iris Connect

Ahead of September, I was sent an Iris Connect Starter Kit, which I would use to record myself teaching. Iris Connect is an online professional development platform with video technology that allows teachers to record, review and reflect on their teaching. It's designed to be used by teachers to improve their practice, and schools allow it in their classrooms. During my summer training (Summer Institute), I set up my online Iris account and used the platform with my mobile's video recorder. Of course, I wouldn't be able to use my mobile phone in the classroom. The kit arrived in a large box and was neatly packed inside a carry case. The key pieces of equipment included a tablet, a charger, a tripod and a microphone. Every trainee received a kit to use throughout their training, and we were told to keep the box for when it was time to return it.

The only bit of kit that I took to school was the charged tablet. As I was teaching in year 1, I thought that a tripod would be too distracting for my class, so I propped my tablet up in a suitably discrete spot. My classroom had a low ceiling, and I found that I didn't need to use the microphone. The tablet didn't allow me to access the internet, but it did allow me to access the Iris Connect Record App. I just needed to sign into the app using my Iris login. Although the tablet came with some instructions, I did find it a little tricky to navigate at first. Thankfully, a fellow trainee was able to talk me through it beautifully, and I was totally fine from there.

Once I knew how to use Iris, it was really easy to record myself teaching and to reflect on my practice. I had hours of teaching videos captured on the app, and I didn't have to worry about running out of storage space. Each recording was called a reflection, and I was able to look back and reflect on them all. I watched my reflections on my laptop, from my Iris account, and I was also able to edit them. This was a really helpful function that allowed me to identify and capture specific parts of my teaching reflections, which I could then share and discuss with my support roles. I would simply mark an in point and an out point on a reflection to clip and create shorter videos. My support roles were able to leave comments on my reflections at specific timecode points, which I was then able to reflect on and learn from. 

As a trainee, making progress was really important to me, and I would encourage all new trainees to record themselves teaching. My videos were a great learning resource for me and were integral to my progress. As well as being a fantastic learning tool, my recordings were also evidence of my teaching. Teaching videos can be used as evidence for termly reviews and can really help a trainee if their support roles are not aligned about their progress. If you're a trainee teacher, don't be scared of the little red light. Press record, and watch your progress. Good luck :).