JTL
Spring 2016
Video Observation
Reflective Practice
February 17, 2016
During our joint video observation, Rebecca and I discussed some of the happenings in our individual sessions, including eye contact, enthusiasm, and conversational practices. In terms of eye contact, I noticed right away that Rebecca did a great job at making eye contact in the beginning of her appointment. I was able to see that when I would ask questions and take notes, I would tend to look down at my paper a lot – still glancing up to make eye contact, but spending a lot of time looking down. Rebecca shared with me that she has learned to write while she is not looking at the paper – in other words, she faces the writer and listens attentively and takes notes simultaneously. I thought that was very effective and I am going to incorporate that into my practice.
There was also an interesting correlation with my eye contact and enthusiasm. In my conference, one thing Rebecca and I noticed – as well as my VPod group – was that my writer was very much disengaged and not very interested in the session. What was intriguing, however, is the fact that when I would be talking to her and writing notes, or looking at the computer, she was staring off; but when I would look up at her periodically, she would nod and get more involved in the conversation. So, my goal is to make sure I am really making eye contact more frequently. I seemed to get wrapped up in my note-takingor the draft apparently, and I will work on that. However, this conference was not representative of most of my conferences. My writer was rather tough to work with in terms of engagement and I think that affected me a bit. I tried not to overwhelm her with over-enthusiasm, which has happened before, but perhaps this time lowering the energy level to match hers might not have been the best option… who knows. Rebecca had the opposite experience – she and her writer had great conversational practice with a lot of back and forth dialogue, active listening, and co-learning. I told Rebecca that I was happy that I had this video for reflective practice because it was not representative. I felt that I was able to learn a lot because hey, not every conference session is going to be dynamite, you dig? I really got a lot out of this round of video observations!