Teacher Video Reflection in Paired Conversation: Seeing and Believing Student Learning During Multimodal Composing

• In Event: Digital Video in Literacy Research, Teacher Education, and Professional Development: Demonstrations of Research Techniques and Practices

Abstract

Purposes

To initiate changes in schooling to include multimodal composing with students, teachers need opportunities to reflect on and transform their roles, knowledge, and beliefs (e.g., Koehler & Mishra, 2005; Leu, Kinz, Coiro & Cammack, 2004). This digital video composing project focused teachers with professional development opportunities as they attempted to initiate new literacy practices (Gee, 2004).

To examine what learning teachers see as students compose, we initiated a study of teachers’ reflective responses to specific instances on video of multimodal composing. I will demonstrate how we used digital video as a tool to stimulate teacher recall and reflection in talk with a collaborative partner, addressing these questions: (1) What attitudes and beliefs do teachers’ comments reveal about student multimodal composing on curricular concepts? (2) In the context of the case studies in which this video commentary is embedded, what roles do the video commentaries play in developing teacher learning and/or change?

Theoretical Perspectives & Method

Instead of using videos of teaching for instructional purposes (Brunvand & Fishman, 2007; Harris, Pinnegar, & Teemant, 2005), we used videos for generative purposes; teachers chose what to observe and how to analyze videos. In conversation with their partner/research assistant, the teachers controlled the interactions about the classroom videos by framing their comments around any issue(s) of interest. The inquiry partner served as interested interlocutor to better understand the teachers’ reflections, sometimes providing point-of-need questions and specific details to prompt further response/reflection. We digitally recorded the teacher’s commentary as he/she viewed the video twice, and then read the video transcriptions of those sessions and commented.

Data and Analysis

Data included: original video collected in classrooms, teachers commentary (two times), and teachers’ reading and commenting on a transcript of their first and second viewing. Data analysis focused on what teachers noticed, how they framed what they saw, and whether/how they evaluated the video segments as confirming beliefs, prompting questions, and/or providing new standpoints on student learning. The conversations about each video were transcribed. This permitted close examination of teachers’ discourses about teaching and learning to note changes (within the video analysis or as compared/contrasted to earlier interviews). This included fine-grained analysis of the teacher reflections and peer conversations about the videotapes (Schoenfeld, Smith, & Arcavi, 1993).

Findings

The teacher-controlled commentary with a familiar partner provoked honest critique, promoted reflective stances, and, often, interrupted or solidified beliefs about student learning. The video also provided a means of holding up real practice around multimodal pedagogy alongside a teacher’s perception of goals for practice. The discrepancies prompted deeper thinking—even among accomplished teachers.

Significance of Demonstration

Multimodal composing using digital technology is a growing area of interest within education. This presentation highlights significant findings related to teachers’ attempts to enact multimodal literacy practices. Multimodal teaching and learning poses dilemmas and challenges to researchers in search of new techniques (Jewitt, 2009). The techniques and demonstration around stimulated recall and response draw on previously known techniques but are applied to a new context—that of digital multimodality in teaching and learning.

Author

• Suzanne M. Miller, University at Buffalo - SUNY