Developing Expertise: Using Video to Hone Teacher Candidates’ Classroom Observation Skills

Abstract

This research explores the impact of a video observation model developed for teacher candidates in an early experiences course. Video Grand Rounds (VGR) combines a structured observation protocol, videos, and directed debriefing to enhance teacher candidates observations skills within non-structured and field-based observations. Findings illuminate that VGR teacher candidates (TCs) demonstrated significantly greater growth than non-VGR teacher candidates in their abilities to focus on salient features of classroom interactions, to identify the complexity of classroom interactions, and to readily transferred observation skills from a video platform to an in-school platform.