Video Self-Observation

Part 1: General
1. What is the first thing (verbatim) you said to your students?
Its for reviewing not only the gerund and infinitives, but some adjectives we learned for
describing personal characteristics.

2. How did you introduce the lesson objectives?

I usually introduce the lesson objectives at the very beginning of the class by presenting them on
the power point slides so that the students can have an idea in advance about the contents which
are to be covered in class. In this video clip, I explained again that this activity is designed for
reviewing some adjectives we learned along with gerund and infinitive verb forms.

3. How did you connect the lesson (or parts of the lesson) to previous lessons or students
previous experience or comments in the class?
Since this activity was designed for reviewing, I tried to connect this lesson to previous lessons
through reminding the students of some structures learned before. While I was giving detailed
direction for the activity, I introduced some useful questions they might use in their conversation,
and those were also written in the handout.

4. Did you notice any patterns in your tendency to call on some students more than others? If so,
what were those patterns? What might the explanation be for those patterns
In this video clip, I did not show strong tendency to call on some specific students, but I noticed
that I pay a lot more attention to those students who frequently ask questions about what I
explained. One of the reason for this pattern could be because I believe that the reason they could
not understand me was because I failed to make myself clear. Thus, I try to focus on their
questions, and check again if they are on the same track with other students.

5. Were there any surprises or unexpected events during the lesson? If so, what were they? How
did you handle them?
While students seemed to engage themselves very actively in their conversations, some of them
did not use the expected sentence structures (i.e., verbs with gerund or infinitive forms). I tried to

give them recasts so that they may recognize the target structure, but some of them still
demonstrated some errors.

6. What is one compliment you would give yourself about your teaching, based on this
recording?
I think I did my best to listen carefully what the students said, and encourage them to actively
participate in the activity.

7. What changes would you make to this lesson if you were to teach it again?
First of all, I would start by explaining the definition of matchmaking again. Since the word
had been introduced in the unit in the previous lesson, I assumed that students would remember
it. I think I should have been more concrete and clear with the directions, but I should have made
it short.

8. Did you see anything on the tape that you were unaware of during the lesson? (e.g., Were you
paying more attention to some students than others? Was a student trying to get your attention
and you didnt notice? Anything else?)
After watching this video clip, I realized that I talk too much. Since the first class, enduring
silence was the biggest challenge, and by taking too much, I tend to make the flow of the class
rather fast. I received valuable advice from fellow teachers that I can handle my anxiety by
asking questions to the students and see if they can come up with the answers. By doing so, I
would have been able to control my speed, and provide more opportunities to my students to
express their opinions.

Part 2: Teacher-initiated questions

1. As you watch the video of yourself teaching, write out all of the questions that you ask
your students. Categorize them into the following groups:
I couldnt realize that I rarely used these question types when I explain something to the students
in this video clip. The only question types I was able to write out were some yes/no questions for
checking the students understanding, and questions that elicit one- or two-word answers. My
justification here is that this activity was designed to serve as a reviewing activity, especially

focusing on the grammatical structures and vocabulary, for the final test. Rather than practicing
those through pattern drill or exercise, I decided to introduce a speaking activity in which
students are expected to take initiatives in meaning-oriented conversation. I usually utilize these
question times when I explain a new concepts or structures in class, but I was not successful
doing so in this video clip partly due to the characteristics of the activity.
a. Yes/No questions
b. Rhetorical questions (questions that cannot be answered)
c. Questions that elicit one- or two-word answers
d. Questions that stimulate student thinking or ask for student opinions

2. Do you notice yourself using any IRF (Initiation, Response, Feedback) sequences? What
type of activity were you doing?
In this video clip, to my disappointment, I hardly find myself using IRF sequence to help
students understanding of the contents. I think the reason was partly because of the
characteristics of this activity since this was originally designed to be used for reviewing activity.
However, I regret that I should have used various question types so that I can engage myself
more actively in meaningful interaction with my students rather than focusing on conveying
discrete knowledge of the language forms.

3. What patterns do you notice in your questioning habits? (What kinds of questions do you
tend to use most often?)
I think I tend to use yes/no questions and questions that elicit one- or two-word answers much
more often than rhetorical questions or questions that stimulate students thinking or ask for
students opinions. As I explained in #8 part 1, I think the reason is partly because I feel anxious
if my explanation was clear enough for the students to understand; thus I tend to use many
yes/no questions to check their reactions. As the CEP class proceeds, however, I came to learn
that asking rhetoric questions or asking for students opinion is much more effective in terms of
eliciting students meaningful output. Once I ask an open-ended question to the students, they
need some time to be prepared, but eventually they come up with their own ideas, and through
their process of building up their ideas into language, I can be of help for them to reach the goal
without much intervention.

4. How do your students respond to the different kinds of questions you ask?
They usually try to come up with the best answer they have, and when they find it hard to
understand the questions themselves, they ask me to give them a detailed account about the
contents of the questions. Sometimes they present their answers first and ask if their
understanding is on the right track.

5. Are there any times on the video when you are able to encourage student participation
without asking questions?
In this specific video clip, as the students successfully engaged themselves in building up
meaningful conversation with the other students, I did not really have to encourage their
participation on purpose. However, when pairs of students finished their conversation too short, I
encouraged them to utilize their imagination, and asked them to add more information about
their imaginary children so that they can further make their conversation interesting.

6. Based on this observation, what changes, if any, would you like to make in your questioning
habits? Why?
Definitely, I would reduce my teacher talk, and provide more opportunity for my students to
express their opinions more. Also, I would use more questions that stimulate students thinking
rather than using too many understanding check-up questions. Lastly, I would write more
neatly on the board so that the students can recognize what I wrote more clearly.