I teach in a separate Special Education building ..

.. servicing 500 students ages 5 to 21, nearly half of whom are autistic.  Some are multiply involved.  Most are plagued by communication and processing problems.  Most will require some degree of lifetime supervision.

In 2007, I was assigned to teach “Careers” to 15 classes each semester. That’s 150 students each week, half of whom are on the Spectrum. 

I thought, “How can a child choose a career preference when he may not even recognize himself in a mirror?”

Flashback twenty years to 1987 when I first began using videos to capture events from each school year.... not just the special events but everyday life in the classroom.  From the start, my students got a greater kick from watching themselves on camera... even more than from reliving the events. 

Video of any mundane classroom activity would be met by squeals of delight.  If they saw themselves demonstrating some newly acquired skill, they would beam with pride.  On the occasion when some unpleasant behavior popped up during a clip, you could be sure someone in the room was feeling embarrassed.  Regardless, audiences were always appreciative and boisterous.

Flash ahead to 2007.  I am now “Mr. Careers” to 150 students.   

My students range from high functioning 7 to low functioning 18 year old students. I must introduce them to the world of work.  I must help them become more aware of their personal interests.  How does someone accomplish that with children who lack a strong self image?

First, children must be able to see themselves as others do. ( At that time, I was not familiar with Metacognition)

I concluded I would:

• Use activities that engaged their attention (I wasn't sure what would do this)
• 
  
• Focus on activities that would allow students to observe themselves
• 
  
• Record these activities with the computer camera 
  
• 
  
• Play back these recordings so students could observe themselves
• 
  
• Once engaged, teach them basic computer skills so they could independently:
  • communicate
  • make their own choices
    
  • moderate their own learning process

All I have to do is find some interesting stuff to show them.

Problems: 

• Our standard educational dvds were not applicable to my goals
  

• Aside from a few jewels like Starfall.com, most web sites were not educational, too sophisticated or inappropriate
  

(I now have a longer list of sites I use regularly which you may access here )

• Most students had no computer skills.
  


• Some totally ignored the computer
  

I looked to YouTube for videos I could organize into theme folders.

That had an effect.

I would bring small groups around the computer or SmartBoard to test out sites and programs.  Some children got the idea straight away.  Others paid no attention to the computer screen forcing me to explore other ways to hook them into the process.

I tried an number of approaches to getting student attention:

• looping brief video clips captured on iMovie, then adding funny sound effects
• Sticking my own face into the camera
• The class singing
• Students demonstrating an academic skills (reading from abook)
• The iTunes visualizer (groovy color swirls)
  
• I even tried taping narrated  communication boards 

    ...and I was hooked

Our memories are stored on tapes that we watch once then sock away in the VHS cabinet only to trot them out again for Aunt Mildred’s holiday visit  (Aunt Mildred! You wore a mini skirt in college!?  You were such a hottie!).

 A picture may be worth a thousand words but the moving image that has changed our thinking.

Once young men espoused romantic poetry.  Today,  they trade movie lines...

Pop quiz:  Which of these 2 quotations is better known?

"I Shall Return" 

Douglas MacArthur, General of the US Army, as he retreated from the Philippines, WWII

OR

 "I'll be back" 

Arnold Schwartenegger,  The Terminator

I know my students respond well to the use of video.  I would be nice to understand

But,  My primary concern is HOW DO I USE IT?

Did you know?

Video modeling

Researchers have been exploring the use of video modeling to improve behaviors since 1971.  They agree that VM can be effective for teaching individuals … a range of socially significant behaviors.

Video-based intervention is a broader term used here to be inclusive of procedures that involve presenting video footage as the independent variable for intervention.

"Thus, VBI conceptually includes approaches described as video modeling, video prompting, video self-modeling, computer-based video instruction and video priming.”

Yaynor, Denhold and Sigafoos

CLICK HERE

To read a synopsis of the Sigafoos report

Why haven't you heard about it before ?

• The field was in its infancy and little was known about it. 


• Technology was very expensive and far too technical for the layman. 


• There were no experts


• Digital technology was still a dream

Today most people have access to 

commercial  DVDs   and Internet sites able to engage:

• early learners


• youngsters  
  


• older children
  

With a cheap camera, you can also create your own custom clips.  You might need some help to get started.  But, you will be a pro in no time. It is that easy.