Clip 6: Video for teachers

Delwynne:

At the beginning of this year, we videoed both of the teachers’ lessons. And after school we came in, in a staff meeting, and we lay here on the floor and we watched our video clips. And I asked them to identify each of the teaching decisions that they’d made in a ten-minute clip. Because sitting behind each teaching decision was a belief system that had never been unpacked. They just did it because it was an assumption; it was something that they had always done.

Both teachers realised that the classroom was set up to suit themselves. It was really about teachers’ managerial issues, as opposed to the children’s learning, that was driving the teachers’ decision making. And a huge part of that is the model that the teachers had themselves when they were learning to teach.

Kathy:

She came back to us, and then we began to get down to the nitty gritty – which was videoing us, which was just awful really. Because I thought I was doing very well. But at the end of the day, we sat on the library floor and she began to challenge belief systems. And I can remember distinctly her saying, “Well, why have you done this?” And I said, “Because I’m in charge around here.” And it’s been a journey from there on. It’s actually been a very challenging journey.

Geraldine:

It has, yes.

Kathy:

Because sometimes I’ve wanted to fall back on my own professional development in the past. You almost have to ritualise some things and have a tangi for them, if you like, and fare them well, and then move on.

Geraldine:

But if you do that, then you’ve got to say, “Okay, well what next? And what’s it going to look like?”