Claire Wang 4/1/14 Journal #10, Artifact #9: Spring Video Analysis Video: http://why-homework.weebly.com/video-of-practice.

html I chose to capture this lesson because I had planned homework time in class so students could see how they could use their notes to complete the assignment. The last few problems were challenge problems but I wanted students to really think about the content before I reviewed the answers with them. This video captures a portion of my inquiry on homework. More specifically, the video captures an instance when I am giving students directions for completing the homework and I am giving them time in class to get started on the homework. This strategy has been well received by students. Although I am in the classroom with the students the video allows me to observe what students are doing in class when I am working with an individual student. In this clip of my lesson I am explaining, modeling, and questioning as I go through the first 4 problems of student homework. Each student has a Covalent Bonding Packet and when I assigned the homework I had the first few problems on the page on the Promethean Board. I chose to do the first 4 problems because it was a set of problems that led to finding the total number of valence electrons for a covalent compound. With student responses, I went through the first 4 questions making sure I wrote down student answers. I called on students who raised their hands and I also used cold calling. I think my use of cold calling has been valuable as informal assessment of where students are and the common use of cold calling takes away the stigma from singling out a student. I make it a point to cold call a different student every time before repeating. At 34 seconds in the video, I cold called Mike to ask him how many valence electrons a chlorine atom has. He appears to get caught off guard and distracted by my cold call and by the video camera. After he says UhhI dont know he immediately follows with sike nawI think 5no no no hold on hold on hold on. In the video the audience cannot see what I am doing while Mike is rethinking his answer, but I read his facial expression and body language and understood he was searching for a periodic table to reference. This made me happy as a chemistry teacher because I have been trying to show students that the periodic table can be their greatest resource in this classroom. Therefore, I directed Mikes attention to the front lab bench where a poster of the periodic table is hung up. From there, Mike determined that chlorine has 7 valence electrons, and this response proved to me that he was not just guessing like his answer I think 5 but he was applying his knowledge of the periodic table. While watching this video my audience and I need to take into account that this clip may not be an accurate portrayal of my students because it was the first time they have been videotaped. From the video the audience can see that some students are camera shy whereas others are excited to pose. Towards the middle end of the clip individual students are seen doing their work independently and all of them seem engaged and on-task. I liked the parts of the video when the camera was on a student but you could hear me helping another student out. A closer look at 6 min 5 sec showed me that the male student in focus was just starting problem 5. This was concerning because I worked through questions 1-4 with the class. I cannot see whether the next page of the worksheet was completed, but this particular student seemed to be off-task until

my classroom mentor walked by with the video camera. From my in class observations and from my video I think that my students in 7th period use homework time wisely in class to get their homework done. Now, I am wondering what implications my observations may have on my inquiry. I have yet to ask students for feedback about the extra time. As a student I think I would like being in this class doing homework because it would mean that I have to spend less time at home doing homework. There is also time in class for me to get help from the teacher in case I cant come during another time. In addition, there is also plenty of opportunity to work with others during class. Once my students started working independently on their homework it was difficult for me to keep track of what every student was doing. I was busy working with individual students so I was not focused on the rest of the class. I helped the female student around 4 min and 17 sec by redirecting her to why the work shown on the Promethean board was correct and the chart in her notes that has the same component in a different form. I was delighted to see that the female student then physically moved over to the male student next to her to teach him how to answer the homework questions. Peer teaching would be the model or strategy that I would like to work towards from the beginning of the school year within my classes. It provides students with an opportunity to share their knowledge and to articulate their knowledge in a manner that peers can understand. The student receiving help is then able to get individual attention even if I am busy. I was shocked when my female student suddenly smacked the male student in the midst of her explaining a problem. On the video it is captured and it is loud! I was glad that the female student apologized and shortly after the male student called me for assistance. Additionally, since my classroom mentor was videotaping for me on her phone so it was difficult to catch a wide view of the classroom, but whenever the camera switched to another part of the classroom, the students in that space were on task either working independently or discussing the homework with one another. Overall, students seem to be using class time efficiently to get the homework assignment done. Reflecting on my video, I wish I had videotaped my second period class again so I could compare my demeanor with the same students over time, however, it is valuable to have video of both classes that are incorporated into my inquiry. I think I have also shown growth in smooth and clear transitions in the classroom. Although the short clip only captures the end of class, I do not believe the students had any doubts about what I was trying to accomplish. The clip does not show me handing out the Covalent Bonding packets but before I worked through problems with students I gave each student a packet. Another improvement I saw in my spring video in comparison to my fall video was my explicit PowerPoint slides. It is much easier to uphold student expectations when students know exactly what I want them to do. I have found, however, that it is still challenging to make expectations clear if students are not actively listening to directions or looking at the board. Too many times students will ask me what they are doing even though the sheet in front of them is copied onto the Promethean board at the front of the room. It really makes me wonder what I missed in the 5 minutes when I was working through a problem with the rest of the class. What was this student doing that (s)he does not even know what paper s(he) should have out? Something that I would like to work on is to make sure I check in with each student, especially on days when there are only 10 students in class, during independent work time. I spent a lot of time with students who had questions, which did not give me time to check-in with everyone. On the other hand is it necessary for me to check in with all students if they are working diligently alone? I think I am very adamant about checking in with each student because

I worry that students who tell me they are doing great may be confident about their misconceptions or misunderstandings and consequently their wrong answers. After re-watching my fall video I noticed that my voice really bothered me in both videos but for different reasons. In the spring video there are times when I am really enunciating my words. I know I am trying to be very clear about what I am asking about in regards to the homework questions. It just sounds somewhat belittling to me, and I still do not like the sound of my voice on video. Other than the moments I really enunciate my words or phrases I think I sound comfortable in front of the classroom and while helping students individually. The first thing I noticed in my fall video was my intonation. I have no idea how to describe it but once I hear my voice in the video I cringe. It sounds like I am demanding a lot from students, and it sounds very unnatural. In my spring video I think I sound more comfortable and I have more control and modulate my voice better than in the fall, aside from my enunciations. Furthermore, I believe that both videotaped lessons are relatively student centered. In the fall video the beginning of class is spent giving students time to make their quiz review study list, which was meant to make students take ownership of their learning. Moreover, besides grading students packets, it is evident that I was paying attention to what my students wrote in their packets. The clip for my spring video focuses on homework, and for my purposes I am pushing for students to see the benefits of doing homework in regards to assessments. I want students to value learning. In the fall video, after I passed back student packets I said, When I was grading your packets, I noticed that some of you are still having trouble drawing Bohr models so I want to do a very brief review of Bohr models I think I am finally starting to grasp what my different classes need. For video reviews, I would have liked to videotape more of my lessons so I could see my growth over time. It is impossible to capture my fall or spring practice in just one video, but any video footage is invaluable for my growth as a teacher.