Video Supply Lessons

A few years ago, I came across this blog from Mr. Robbo called “How I Teach When I’m Away From Class,” and I thought it was a brilliant idea.  Basically, rather than leaving long and detailed written lesson plans for the supply teacher to read to the class, he records a short video of himself explaining what the students are expected to do.

I have used the technique a few times, and it is wonderfully successful.  My students have always responded well to it.  I think that seeing my face at the beginning of class helps students to remember that, even though I am not present today, I still very much want them to have a productive learning day.

The example video below is a “lesson plan” I left for my grade 10 Applied level Science class two weeks ago.  It was really important to me that I do the video lesson plan for this group of students because they generally do not respond well to change.  It was also still very early in the new semester and I wanted to reinforce the expectations we had been discussing at the beginning of the year.  (Have you ever noticed that even good students try to take advantage of supply teachers?  It seems they lose all sense of behavioural expectations.)  I also think that it’s great when you can show the students what they are going to be working on in class while you are away so there is no misunderstanding.

If I am organized ahead of time, I like to record my lesson videos at school and put them on the school network drive so it is easy for the supply teacher to show.  I have also put the video on a USB stick or, worst case scenario, uploaded the video to my website to be shown from there.

At the time when I recorded this video I could not find my digital camera, so I had to use my cell phone instead (which is why the quality is poor and the recording is so shaky).

As a precaution, I still type up basic instructions for the supply teacher so that they know what the video instructions are going to be about ahead of time.  This is also a good backup in case there is a tech issue and the video cannot be shown.

28. February 2011 by Graham Whisen
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