Using video records and journaling to increase reflection practices

Abstract

Every year my high school Human and Child Care Services class looks forward to working with community children and sharing their teaching knowledge, yet each time they fall short in the area of reflection. The purpose of the action research project was to integrate a means of reflection through video-taping to promote metacognition and increase the quality of reflections these students make on their lesson plans. Review of literature provided a clear avenue of components needed to guide student thinking through questioning techniques, peer discussions, and viewing video recordings of student interactions. All the factors together were designed to promote student awareness of their approach to teaching and how to improve upon it. Data collection tools included daily journal reflections, an end of term survey, and a final reflection assessment paper. Findings from this action research project established that student reflection practices increased over the duration of the playschool unit. The implications for practice clearly suggest the use of reflective data tools after viewing the video recordings increased student's depth of thinking.