Video in the Elementary School? Sure!

Let’s face it. We all have our own way to do things in our classes. For those of us that have been around for a while, we have methods that we are pretty comfortable with. Our kids seem to learn the material we present. They seem to be able to perform the skills we teach them. Why rock the boat? Why bother trying something new if what we already have is successful? My big thing is when something new comes along, does it fit what we are trying to do in the big picture. The last thing I ever want to do is to see something new, perhaps while attending a conference, immediately go back to school and plug it in the next day without first asking if it fits into what we already do. Just because an activity looks fun is never enough for me. If it’s fun and teaches something effectively, then I may have something there.

These are all good questions to be sure. I guess the answers depend on your comfort level, or on how much you are searching for the next great thing. I have to admit that for many years, I was one of those teachers who felt pretty strongly about what I taught and how I taught it. I felt that what I was doing helped my kids to understand and execute the skills that they needed to leave my building and then successfully build on those skills at our middle schools. My assessments showed me this assumption was true. Their skill level was where I thought I wanted it to be. There’s no need to change things up! Then my teaching partner went and threw a monkey wrench into my thinking. Kory McMahon is his name and he is a graduate class fiend! He is constantly taking graduate courses, always learning something new about our profession! If you have any questions about what I am about to describe to you, don’t hesitate to contact him.

He, like me was pretty confident in his methods. Then he came to me saying he was going to try an idea with video with our 3rd and 4th graders. As an elementary district staff, our three buildings had already developed some simple videos that showed our students what the correct form of the different skills we taught looked like. Showing kids these clips helped them see what they should want themselves to look like. They were pretty successful. But Kory wanted to take it one step further.

He did this in two ways. First he started to create tutorials on various skills that broke down each skill into manageable parts for the kids. He would show the video to the class when the skill was introduced. Then, if someone was struggling with a part of a skill, he would send the student back to view that portion of the tutorial again. Take a look here (the password is MottRoad). Today, we all individualize our instruction. The video piece allowed Kory to differentiate how he individualized his instruction. Listening to corrections is one thing; actually seeing it again is another all together!

Secondly, Kory was able to borrow iPads from our 1st and 2nd grade classroom teachers. This was the part where I was a bit skeptical. Was an 8, or 9 year old capable of filming a classmate with an iPad and then playing it back in a timely fashion that fitted into a class period? To say the least, my skepticism was dissolved right away. Yes, it did take a bit of time to get them comfortable with the video function of the iPad, but not nearly as long as I initially thought. Our 3rd and 4th grade kids wear pedometers in their physical education classes. Even using the iPads, the kids all still got between 1,500-2,000 steps in a 45-minute class.

Kory started doing this with a basketball lay-up; one of our 4th grade outcomes. With kids who had trouble jumping off the correct foot, or dribbling on the move, or following through high enough, Kory was able to show them what they were already doing well, as well as show them how seeing their mistakes helped to focus them on how to improve. Kory would have them look and critique themselves. At first, they all thought they did something wrong. But after viewing it with them and their peers he focused them on what they were supposed to do and what they actually did. Many times they were able to see that, yes they were doing it correctly, that this is what the skill is SUPPOSED to look like. To their surprise, the kids saw that “oh yeah, I did do that right.” And even simple mistakes like jumping off the outside foot when shooting a layup were easily corrected when they saw their own mistake.

When it gets to the assessment, Kory will use the iPad to record each student. He goes back and looks at the video to quickly assess each child. He even takes it one step farther by creating a “highlight reel.” He compiles video of the kids at a level 3, or 4 (on a 4-point scale) and shows it to the class. Needless to say, all students work hard to improve their skills so that they will be included in the highlights!

I joined Kory using the iPads when we moved to our gymnastics instruction. The goal of our 3rd and 4th graders was to create and perform a tumbling routine that consisted of specific elements and demonstrated flow between elements. The kids used the video feature in the iPads to record each other and offer feedback based on their knowledge of each skill. We always thought that they were pretty good at their routines before. After letting them use video of themselves, skill levels improved noticeably! What was even more helpful was that the kids realized that the video was not just to catch someone making a mistake. It was meant to use knowledge of a mistake to help fix it. Mistakes now weren’t bad things. They were spotted to help them improve. And the video was evidence that they did in fact improve. Being able to see this for themselves was a tremendous confidence booster for the kids.

Now, in something like gymnastics where some kids turn off as soon as they see the mats, these kids say to themselves that I CAN do this. I DID get better. I SAW it for myself. I didn’t just HEAR a teacher tell me, I actually SAW myself do it! If you’d like to see some finished routines, click here. (The password is: MottRoad). We have since used this technology with other skills; soccer dribble and shoot, lacrosse cradle and shoot, bowling approach and release, and consecutive tennis hits to a wall. The more the kids use the iPads, the more comfortable they get with them.

I began this article noting that we all tend to get comfortable doing things a certain way. Some things just seem to work well for us and convince us we are being successful. Well, take it from someone who has been around for a while now, using video in the way I’ve described, even with 3rd and 4th graders, can and will enhance your students’ learning! A bit of an investment in time is needed to get comfortable with the technology, but the rewards far outweigh the initial time spent. There have been days that I forget to sign out the iPads and instead I’ve whipped out my smartphone and done the same thing with individual kids. Being able to see themselves is a HUGE motivator. They all want to be able to do it right. The video helps them SEE what they initially did, and as the result of practice what they learned to do.