Throughout the duration of the MALLI project, we found that the teachers who participated felt that the MALLI practices and Lesson Study with Video Club professional development model was useful, engaging, and professionally fulfilling. Our publications report on this high level of teacher satisfaction and enthusiasm, but you don’t have to take it from us. Here are teachers describing the experience in their own words:
Youtube Playlist: Teachers Reflect on the MALLI Experience
A Few More Teacher Reflections:
“I think that it should be part of every teacher’s repertoire, every so many years to record yourself….I know how important it is to take a look at that videotape and evaluate what are good things that you’re doing, but what are things that you could improve.”
“Usually, you go get a PD and then you come to your classroom and you’re like OK…done. What do I do next? But this was kind of like, I got information, I went to my classroom, I reflected, I thought about okay, how am I gonna do this? … And then… I got feedback from one of my videos, I was like…“I didn’t know I could take it even farther, and implement some of the things”
“One of the things that I found most helpful about the program was the amazing ideas from other teachers and particularly being able to watch examples of other teachers teach and focus on the different areas that were presented and see what it looked like in the classroom, as well as just seeing my teaching through the lens of others and seeing what kinds of things that they noticed and being able to see others teaching and recognize how they’re teaching math. It really opened my eyes to how things might be done differently in different districts but still those basic needs of the students are still there. I was able to learn a lot of skills and strategies from those conversations with other participants of the program.”
“We exchanged ideas, and it was just wonderful to see their work in action in those videos. And then, after that, the discussions that we had definitely deepened our understanding of how to teach better and how to think about different approaches, focusing on things that will make an impact on students’ understanding in the area. So yeah, it was really helpful to have those interactions with other teachers and with our whole team … the exchange of ideas was really fruitful.”