How many times do you have to practice something to become proficient? 10,000 hours? A lifetime of fanaticism? 21 days? 20 hours? The answer might surprise you: there really isn’t a specific number of times that guarantees proficiency. It all depends on the skill, the learner, the context, and intentionality.
Consider the example of a professional athlete. While some may have a natural talent, they still need to put in countless hours of practice to hone their skills. For example, NBA superstar Kobe Bryant once said, “I never get tired of hearing that I work hard because I know nobody’s working harder than me.” According to a study by researchers at the Berlin School of Economics and Law, professional basketball players in the German league spent an average of 15.7 years playing basketball and practicing for 32.5 hours per week before turning pro.
Musicians also require a significant amount of practice to become exceptional. World-renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman has said that he practiced for six hours a day when he was young. And in a study of music students at the University of Texas, researchers found that those who practiced for more hours tended to perform better.
But what about everyday jobs? According to a survey by HomeAdvisor, the average plumber spends about 10,000 hours on the job before becoming a master plumber. That’s a lot of practice!
Teaching is no different.
Imagine that you want to improve your questioning techniques to encourage more student participation. Logic tells us that the more you practice, the better you’ll get. But it’s not just about practice – it’s also about intentionality. All teachers know that practicing a flawed procedure or technique is not helpful for student learning—it’s likewise not helpful for teacher development. Unfortunately, teachers don’t often have an observer who can give them feedback on how well they are doing something.
That’s where video-based reflection comes in as an effective method for professional development. Video-based reflection is a method of using recorded videos of teaching practices to facilitate self-reflection and improvement.
The following step-by-step strategy for using video-based reflection can help you get started with this valuable professional development tool:
- Choose an aspect of your teaching practice that you would like to improve. Try to be specific and narrow your focus to make the experience more useful. Some good examples might be questioning techniques, student engagement strategies, managing small groups, using the language of growth mindset, etc.
- Create a list of specific actions or techniques you want to improve and design a lesson to integrate those actions.
- Record yourself teaching the lesson. (Be sure that photo/video consent forms are on file for your students and follow all relevant privacy and confidentiality guidelines. Let students know the purpose of the video and encourage them to engage as they normally would. Also ensure students that the video is only going to be viewed by you and other teachers in the building.)
- Watch the video of yourself teaching, taking notes on what you see, paying particular attention to the list of actions you are trying to work on.
- Reflect on what you have observed. What did you do well? What could you improve? Think about ways to incorporate your reflections into your practice moving forward and develop a plan to improve those areas.
Video-based reflections put teachers in the unique position of seeing themselves teach and give teachers the opportunity to share the video with a colleague, mentor, or coach who can help them analyze and think through strategies for continued improvement.
Remember that becoming proficient at any skill is not a one-time event. It requires an ongoing cycle of practice, feedback, reflection, and adjustment. Video-based reflection is one useful step toward continuous growth and improvement.
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