The Video Viewing Task: A Source of Information for Assessing and Addressing Teacher Understanding of Text-based Discussion

Source: Teaching and Teacher Education, Volume 25, Issue 3, April 2009, Pages 415-423

This article reports on the Video Viewing Task (VVT), an assessment designed to measure teachers' developing understanding of two reading comprehension instruction approaches: Reciprocal Teaching (Palincsar& Brown, 1984)) and Questioning the Author (Beck, McKeown, Hamilton, & Kucan, 1997). The VVT consists of video excerpts that teachers view and comment on during their viewing. The VVT also includes a series of questions to guide teachers' reflections after viewing. Analyses of teachers' comments and reflections in response to the VVT provide evidence that the VVT captures teachers' entering conceptions.
VVT is also sensitive to changes in teachers' developing understanding following professional development specific to the two instructional approaches.

References
Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., Hamilton, R. L., & Kucan, L. (1997). Questioning the author: An approach for enhancing student engagement with text. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Palincsar, A. S. & Brown, A. L. (1984). Reciprocal teaching of comprehension-fostering and comprehension-monitoring activities. Cognition and Instruction, 1(2), 117–175)