Reflection - Recording Myself

As part of the Incredible Years Training I am doing they recommend recording yourself teach and reflect on what you notice. This week something on my agenda has been to record myself teaching. This is something I have not done before and I felt quite uncomfortable about the idea.

It has been a few weeks since I was told to do it and I have only got up the nerve to do it. I gave a school iPad to my 'star of the day' and their job was to record me.

This actually worked really well. I had to have a laugh when the child's finger was in the way of the lens for a good 30 seconds.

Anyway....here were my findings:

• I noticed lot of non-verbal hand gestures, even while talking I was using my finger on my lips to stop children talking. 
• I enunciate A LOT! I was surprise how clear my voice was and it was very interesting to listen to. 
• Proximal praise: I noticed that I was doing this here and there and it was cool to see the children respond. 
• I was not speaking loudly all of the time. I was dropping my voice to quieten those whisperers. 
• Lesson was clear and I happy how it was modeled. All of the children knew what they had to do. 
• Next step: For me it is praise, praise, PRAISE! I still don't feel that I am doing this enough. It is so easy to focus on those children who are whispering to a buddy or aren't looking at you or who are getting a bit wriggly on the mat. I need to spend more time noticing and praising those children that are doing the task.