In-Person vs. Video Observations: Why Both Matter

Erin Stanley:
So you do both in-person and video and have you found one to be less effective than the other?

Ann Stark:
So I think that both are important and both sort of serve in a different way. So when I go and do my in-person observation, I do get a feel for the classroom. I’m sort of in it so you can really pay attention to who’s doing what and how they’re reacting. And you really get the vibe, you get the feel a little bit. And then video recording provides a whole nother set of dynamics that really help the teacher because when I can record the lesson and then go back and watch it, I pick up on a whole lot of things that I wasn’t able to pick up while in the classroom because when I’m in the classroom and frantically writing notes and trying to take it all in without missing something, and then when I sit down and meet with the teacher and go back, it’s like, well, I took this note.
I’m not quite sure. Having the video recording is really an opportunity to see it again and again and again and let the teacher see it. And so you can really pick up on the strategies that are happening and the behaviors and the disengagement or the engagement or all of those things. And then I can comment on it when we use GoReact just at that time in the video when it happened. And so it’s all really authentic and really meaningful and a lot of great conversations can come out of that. And I don’t have to try to be like, okay, remember this point in the lesson and it’s right there, so it’s really, really valuable.