Video+Critique

=Video Critique=

Video Under Review: “[|Strategies to Improve Transitions and Time Management (Grade 6-8)]”

 * Strengths/Compliments:**
 * Ms. Hopf had some really good strategies in place for making sure that disruptions during class were kept to a minimum. She used an approach which had the kids raising one, two or three fingers to get her attention for various needs. One finger indicated that they needed her assistance, two fingers meant they needed to use the restroom, and three fingers indicated that they had to sharpen their pencil. This method of indicating needs allowed the teacher to acknowledge the student and their needs without disrupting the remainder of the class.
 * I also really liked the way in which she had students estimated the amount of time different tasks took. I think that’s a great idea to make them aware of the amount of time that is either wasted or used wisely during the class.
 * Lastly, I thought her use of the timer was a good way to insure not only that the students were on task, but that she was also kept on task.

Ms. Hopf seemed to run her classroom using a constructivist model where students worked together to solve problems and she was more of a guiding source. The only concern that I would have with using that model is determining whether that would be the best model for that grade level particularly given the new environment. I did like her use of the items listed under the strengths, and can certainly see how having children use that method would be much less disruptive than having them shout out their needs. At this time I do not have a classroom, although I do substitute for all grade levels (K-12). While I can see making use of the cooperative learning style she used and the timer for keeping everyone on task, I do not think that the finger raising or time estimation would work for my secondary education kids.
 * Weaknesses/Suggestions:**
 * I found it very interesting that she would assume that 80 minutes was a long length of time given that these students had just moved from a closed classroom environment. To them, they had remained in the same class all day previously, so 80 minutes probably seemed shorter rather than longer.
 * While I am a fan of students being able to use the facilities as they need to, the large number of students requesting to use the facilities would prove distracting during the class period.
 * Summary/Conclusion**