Instant Next Steps: The Power of Video During Learning

Instant Next Steps: The Power of Video During Learning

Empowering Children to Improve Instantly

In my last post I discussed how we must encourage children to become Publishers rather than Consumers - Read it here - Consumers Vs Publishers.  This has got me thinking, 'what does this actually look like in my classroom?'

I've been using video for years in my PE lessons with my Year 3 class; I have found it to be the most powerful way for children to understand their next steps during PE.  The beauty of this model along with the introduction of mobile technology in our classrooms, makes this feedback instant and very effective.

Using video and slow motion replay during cricket.

Our children are used to their digital lives being available instantly; instant video, instant music; instant documents and instant communication.

They are online constantly, and this is becoming more and more available in schools across the country.

But are the children using this technology in their everyday learning in schools?

In my last blog I briefly talked about how children are learning skills, but then not doing very much with them?  We need to teach them to share with the world as the whole world will give very good feedback, very quickly, sometimes in real time.

What does it look like in my classroom?

We have two hourly PE sessions in my class every week.  This half term we have been improving our striking and fielding skills and choreographing a dance routine.  We use video throughout the lessons.  This is how I used video during my cricket lessons.

Joe Root. Forward Drive for England

The first session of a new PE topic always starts with showing the children professional sportsmen and women performing in their sport.  When we started the cricket sessions I used footage of  various England cricket players playing a forward defensive shot (the shot we were focussing on the first week).

This gave children a 'professional model' to start creating a list of success criteria for playing the forward defence shot.  I highly recommend reading Shirley Clarke's research on 'Effective Formative Assessment' (Assessment for Learning)

We had found a video on YouTube showing the shot with voice instructions over the top - Forward Defence Video and watch the video back using slow motion replays to find essential parts of the shot we could use - stance, grip, posture, head position etc

Using the video helps teachers who are not very confident in teaching the required skills for the sessions.  It also helped me pick out key parts of the shot and the correct language to use when modelling for the children.

Learning the Skill - Using Video for Instant Next Steps 

I had emailed the link to the video to the children and then given them an iPad to take with them outside.  This enabled them to view the video back whenever they needed to check a certain part of the criteria they had identified.

As the children had identified their own success criteria, it made it easier for them to peer assess any weaknesses in the shots they were playing.  

Crucially; they were in control.  

Throughout the session the children were filming and watching back their forward defence shots.  They were comparing them side by side with the two videos I had shown them earlier and making adjustments independently throughout the session.  By using video the children had become the learners and the teachers.

Using an iPad to create video quickly

By using the video footage, child created success criteria and good peer assessment the children had improved their skills throughout the lesson.

The children were independently differentiating and personalising their own learning.  All the children were at different stages of acquiring and applying skills, but crucially they knew how to independently improve.

What do you do with all the footage?

At the end of each session I will ask each group of children to film one shot to be analysed before the next session.  The children set up one final shot and record a voice explanation alongside it. This helps me assess which children have fully understood the skill and also see the shot they've played.

Ready for the next session, I will compile all the video, upload it to our school website and email the children the link.  This enables the children to watch back their performance again before the next session, look for next steps and come armed ready to start -  The Flipped Classroom.  Read more on My Flipped Classroom

Publishing and Sharing

The children can then share the video with experts from around the world to get further feedback if they wish.  If you watch the 'Guide Video' and scroll down to the comments, you can see that people have already left improvement comments for the video.  I used this as a teaching tool to show the children the power of social media and using it to further improve their skills.  Read more on Publishers Vs Consumers

How can I start?

As long as you have a piece of technology to record, edit and publish a video, you can use this model in your classroom.  The children in your classroom will be experts at this as they will have been creating videos on their own technology - ask them, learn alongside them.

What next for me?

Next week I will be back at school for the first time since beginning to write this blog.  I will be documenting my own journey into flipping my classroom and further embedding technology into my everyday learning and teaching.

Follow Me on Twitter @chriswaterworth

Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/channels/videosformyclassroom