TEACHING TECHNIQUE---STOP THE TAPE

[William Lambert]

TEACHING TECHNIQUE---STOP THE TAPE

Early in my teaching career there was only 16mm film. The Memphis City Schools Board of Education published a film catalog listing hundreds of film available for teachers to show in their classrooms. The usual procedure for the teachers that worked in the school with me was to order a film, get a student to put it on and monitor it and then go to the teacher’s lounge.
Of course no teacher does that today. (hopefully not)
When I order a film I would always stop the projector and exclaim, “Did you see that!”
I would then rewind the projector (a formidable task at the time) and show that portion of the film again. It was something that I really wanted them to internalize.

ACTION STEP 1: Never show a DVD or VHS all the way through. Stop the tape; emphasize the concepts that are important. That makes an additional step desirable.

ACTION STEP 2: Preview the tape and determine where you want to stop it. List the time code where to stop the tape. Technology allows you to do this with DVDs (and VHS) whereas it was not easy with 16mm film.

ACTION STEP 3: Share this document of time code stops with the major desired concepts with other teachers in the school that teach the same subject as you teach.

Not enough sharing is done in most schools. Teacher’s rooms are like remote islands.

Later I started making a handout that had to be completed as the students watched the tape. I would then stop the tape without the exclamation and sing a line from a song I liked “come on all you teachers, got to teach a new way”, They knew that was time to complete the next question on their handout.

PRINCIPLE: You cannot be sure they are seeing what you want them to see. There is a corporate concept I believe in. It is:
TELL THEM WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO TELL THEM
TELL THEM
TELL THEM WHAT YOU JUST TOLD THEM

This concept can work for media in the classroom.
Using still pictures taken from the tape, show and discuss what they are going to see.
Show them the tape, stopping it at predetermined places to emphasize critical points,
then discuss what they have just seen.

How?
Today’s instructors must embrace technology. You MUST have your own personal computer. You must keep up with both software and hardware that can help you to be a better teacher. You cannot wait on the board of education or the school to provide what is needed.

I strongly suggest that every teacher become adept with Microsoft PowerPoint.
Also consider buying and using, Total Video Converter, Flix Pro, Windows Movie Maker and Cool Edit. Please “Google” each of these to see the wonderful things they can help you do.


I suggest as a hardware addition a video capture card; a video capture card allows you to record any video clip from Television, a VHS tape or a DVD. This resulting clip can be inserted in a PowerPoint presentation. Also a microphone for your computer is a must.

This equipment will allow you to more easily perform the (HOW?) Mention above.