Training Instructional Coaches To Use Videos

In 2012, the Foundation approved a three-year grant to the Weizmann Institute to develop a database of filmed mathematics lessons to advance the professional development of five-unit high school mathematics teachers. The VIDEO-LM (Viewing, Investigation, and Discussing Elements of Learning Mathematics) project is a pioneer in this field in Israel, and since its inception has been met with interest and demand. The grant was dedicated to producing 60 videos and developing learning aids for use in courses and workshops for teachers. 100 mathematics teachers have already participated in such courses, and this year, ten VIDEO-LM professional development workshops are taking place around the country, as well as in five teacher-training colleges.

There is an emerging demand for the program, but the project is not yet ready for wide-scale distribution, because it lacks a cadre of qualified instructional coaches able to present the content to the teachers. The proposed program aims to address this need and to disseminate the use of the video content by training, qualifying, and guiding a group of 40 instructional coaches. These coaches will be trained to use the content in professional development programs operated regularly by the Ministry of Education for teachers from all over the country, and will be employed and paid directly by the different frameworks of the Ministry. The project leaders estimate that by using this proliferation method they will be able to engage between 300 and 400 mathematics teachers each year in using videos for their professional development.

The proposed program will train the coaches in two groups of 20. All coaches will be working teachers of five-unit classes who have already participated in VIDEO-LM advanced training sessions and whose capabilities stood out. Training will last a year, in which the participants will meet regularly to analyze the lessons and discuss issues and challenges they face. During the second year the graduates will receive continuing guidance in their work as instructional coaches by an experienced member of the VIDEO-LM team.

Furthermore, the program would like to add 20 additional filmed lessons to the database (resulting in 80 videos in total) and carry out a comprehensive evaluation of its activities and achievements. Nevertheless, the proposed additional films are designated for teachers of gifted classes and heterogenic middle school classes, outside the usual focus of the foundation on the advanced five-unit classes, and therefore will not be funded as part of the proposed grant.

On the other hand, in discussions with the foundation’s staff and following reviews from world-renowned experts and teachers, the foundation expressed its expectation that the program will spotlight evidence from classrooms regarding the thinking and learning styles of individual students and the correlating teaching which exposes and addresses them. It should also include an option for self-filming by participating teachers in the professional development courses.

It is hoped that this scaling up of the program will make the skilled use of classroom-based videos in professional development courses more common, and mathematics teachers will work with videos both inside and outside school as an integral part of their professional development during all stages of their careers, beginning with teacher training.

* The text presented above shows the grant as approved by the Foundation Board / Grant 143