Job Discussion Forums

neverheardofem · Joined: 29 Feb 2012 Posts: 100

I've been asked to give a video demo of a real lesson for a position. In other words, Ill have to film myself giving a lesson in my current school. I'm not sure how to go about it as I'm not great with technical things - I guess I could do it on an ordinary camera? Have any of you ever had to do this? Was your school ok about it? I kind of didn't want them to know I am looking yet! Now I'll have to tell them! Or would it be risky to do it in a subtle way, and not tell anyone?
Any thoughts, tips or ideas?

MuscatGary · Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 8:51 am Post subject:

Is this for a position with Sabis? If so read about them before proceeding.

golsa · Joined: 20 Nov 2011 Posts: 185

Another thing to consider is whether or not you should be filming yourself of the students. If the employer focuses on student centered learning (as they should), why would they want a video of you for an hour?

mmcmorrow · Joined: 30 Sep 2007 Posts: 143 Location: New Zealand

I do feel that you need to let the school and students know in advance that you want to film part of your lesson. You don't necessarily have to say this is for a job application, though. Filming yourself could easily be justified on the grounds of professional development.

One possibility would be to ask another teacher or the director of studies if they could film you and just let you have a copy. Another might be to invite one of the students to film you. This would only be for short extracts of the lesson - for instance, giving instructions, dealing with a grammar point, giving pronunciation practice and feedback on a task. The filming topic could be integrated into the previous lesson - e.g. some vocabulary and discussion questions and a bit of practice of students filming themselves or other students.

As golsa pointed out, teaching is not just about what the teacher does. But I still feel that it's not necessary to point the camera at the students. You can provide evidence of your ability to teach in a student centred way through providing them with a lesson plan and an explanation. But I think the employer will be most interested in seeing you do things which teachers typically have to do, whichever approach they follow. And by not filming the students directly, I think you are respecting their privacy to some degree. Essentially, this is about you and all you really want is short extracts of you doing things, which you can send as part of a portfolio of evidence about your teaching ability.

Martin McMorrow, Massey University, NZ