Video Production
The videos produced to accompany the SIA innovations depict teachers of English as a second language (ESOL), math, and reading providing standards-based instruction. Instructors were selected for videotaping because of their teaching expertise. They were given no specific direction on what or how to teach—they taught the regular lessons for that day, irrespective of the filming. Nor were students given any direction on what to say or do. The videos were filmed in the fall of 2009 in Woodbridge, VA and Overland Park, KS.
The presence of the film crew and equipment in the classrooms did result in some slight differences from normal classroom activity. Teachers and students had limited mobility about the classroom. For example, the positioning of a camera tripod, a light stand, or the boom microphone operator dictated on which side of the room or side of a table a teacher could walk or stand and whether students could easily rise and move from their seats. Students were asked to raise their hands so that the sound engineer was alerted to where he should place the microphone. Occasionally, when students spoke too quietly to capture their voices on tape, they were asked to repeat their comments or questions. The classes are authentic, but some aspects of the lessons were influenced by the presence of crew and equipment.
While the videos were edited to improve their use as professional development tools, they still preserve the integrity of the classroom activity. Some class activities represented in these videos lasted longer than the final footage you see here, because some practice exercises or lengthy activities were removed to reduce the length of the video, and some segments were deleted due to technical quality issues. Time lapses are indicated through the use of a 'dissolve,' a technical feature in which one scene fades out and into another. While every attempt was made to represent the class sessions accurately, some post-production modifications were necessary to create the most useful final products.
All instructors and students captured on these videos generously shared their time and skills so that these videos could be produced.