November 3, 2003
Well, I finally got the camera set up in my room. (I was supposed to be able to use the camera every Thursday, but with four other people in the building going for their Boards, that's been tough.) I made sure I spoke with my class before the camera arrived. I explained that I was trying to become a better teacher, and that part of that involved sending videotaped lessons to some people so they could watch me teach.
The students had many questions about the camera when it arrived. Is it on? How do we know if it's on? Why are you videotaping us again? I chose to not turn the video camera on that day. I found the children were somewhat interested in it in the beginning, but by the end of the day, they didn't seem to remember the camera was there.
That night I went home and reread the videotaping section of the National Boards binder. The section gives such hints for videotaping as setting up the camera away from windows, checking sound quality with external microphones, and putting the tripod to the side of the classroom to get the best view. The guidelines also recommend watching the first lesson that you videotape without the sound turned on -- looking for things like your body language and your student's body language during the lesson.
The next time I have the camera in my room, I'll turn it on and check the quality of the videotaping.
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