See It For Yourself

Kathryn Procope has been a school administrator for 13 years. In 2016, she was named named a State Principal of the Year by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) and is currently the Head of School at Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science.

How can video change the observation and self-reflection process for teachers?

Kathryn: One of my experienced teachers he's been teaching for over 20 years. And he came and he sat down and we were reviewing his video and he got this really pained look on his face and I said, "What's the matter?" And he said, "I didn't realize I talked that much." And I smiled to myself because I said, "I did." But I was really happy that he saw it. He said, "I don't even give the kids a chance to answer." I said, "Well let's just take this a little at a time. What are we going to work on?" And we've been working on his wait time and his not being the center of the classroom. And we recently looked at the video and I didn't say anything and he said, "I'm getting better." And he was. And so I think that was a lot. I have been giving him this feedback for a year, and there was no change and it didn't change until he saw it himself. And so that was a validation for me as to how important this is.