What to put in your teacher intro video

[TeacherGal]

Some people make a short video of themselves as part of their portfolio.

1. What do people suggest be said in such a video?
2. What would be a good location or background for the video?
3. What should be a maximum and minimum length?

[shadowjack]

I am just wondering why you want a teacher video?

Honestly, if you are at a fair, nobody is really going to look through your portfolio that much. If you are not at a fair, they might, but if a stronger candidate has applied, sans portfolio, it is a waste of time.

I started applying last year at a school that wanted me to upload a video answering questions. I started doing it and then thought - "To H E double hockey sticks with this" and binned it, never did apply. Which was good because as I started doing a bit more research I found out the division principal was someone I had encountered interviewing before - and that individual had left me totally unimpressed. So doubly glad!

I guess what I'm trying to say is why do a video? There are more enjoyable ways to waste your time ;-)

However, if you MUST...if you INSIST... then introduce yourself, your education philosophy and your teaching area. Try to keep it to one area, because having more than one confuses interviewers.

A good location would be your classroom because it gives prospective schools a sense of what your classroom looks like. If you want to be funny, you could use the washroom. Of the principal's office. Or you could be in detention with students... ;-)

Lastly - keep it short. If you can't do it in 1 - 2 minutes, it is too long. Prospective schools won't look past that time.

Good luck. I just am not a big believer in portfolios or videos - call me old fashioned, but then again, I'm in a teaching area where I don't have to do those sorts of things.

[GLOBAL_TEACHER]

I've been teaching in international schools for 15 years and trust me, this is a WASTE OF TIME! Just put a good CV together and interview in person at a fair or online with Skype.

Good luck!

[vandsmith]

i have to say, unless you're really actually awesome and using a digital CV or portfolio, there is no reason to put this in there where a recruiter can see it.
in general, schools don't ask to see videos, and they will tell you if they want one.

good for you, but holy canoli that's a waste, not to mention it could really be a negative (if you're actually not that great!)

best of luck!

v.

[PsyGuy]

Well if a recruiter or leadership asks you for a portfolio and you dont have one, youll probably be kicking yourself that you dont. The general position (not consensus) of the major contributors is that many ITs could go there entire career and never get asked for or have any use for a portfolio, but then there is that minority that does get asked for one. Whats the value of that portfolio, some recruiters ask for it just to see what you got and how you constructed it, they dont watch the whole teaching demonstration only a small part of it, if them.
The other factor is that certain subjects lend themselves more to a portfolio than others. Maths is pretty hard to have more than the document links, a teaching demo and interview, beyond that there isnt much more to include. On the other side of the continuum you have fine and performing arts where an art teacher would benefit from a virtual gallery of pieces and a music or theater IT would strongly benefit by having video of a recital or production. Those are elements you can actively use in the interview process. Then in the middle of you have subjects like science where an entertaining demonstration or science fair video or the like for other subjects can be interesting elements. A literature IT whose publish having a link to the book (or exert), maybe a sample of the IS Paper/Magazine. A PSPE/PHE IT who has a competition or practice video with some demonstrations might be applicable. Social Studies/Humanities doesnt have much unless they home something like model UN or they performed some type of historical production.
I advocate a portfolio, even if its never used its good practice to have those elements available, a living CV if you will. It also shows your technology savvy to a certain point.

Digital video interviews are becoming more common and popular but mostly in the third tier of ISs and ESs.

In a digital portfolio if your going to do videos I recommend 2 videos, one thats an introduction and one thats an interview. Start by framing 3-5 questions in the framework.. Focus on questions that are first, very general and second, focuses on your strengths. You want the general items because they will allow you to move into deeper material if your asked for a personal interview, and you want to focus on your strengths because they will anchor the value of what you bring to the position. For the introduction you just want a brief 1-2 minute video that introduces who you are, what you teach, and a little about what you love or like about teaching and working with students. What are your motivations for working in IE, keep it lite. For the second interview video my suggestions would be:

1) Start with an introduction and your background, what youve done that brought you into edu. This is as simple as just going through your resume as a narrative. Its a common item you dont want to waste time in during an interview, its easy and the audience can focus on your articulation and likeability. Do you smile do you laugh, do you have an accent or inflection, etc..
2) Describe your classroom organization. Whats your philosophy or approach. How do you prepare lessons. Whats your performance and presentation delivery style. How would others describe your teaching.
3) How do you integrate technology in the classroom and how do you implement differentiation or LS/SEN/SPED.
4) How do you communicate and build community with coworkers, leadership and parents.
5) Classroom and behavior management.

The introduction video should be somewhere neutral with a plane wall, not that i wouldnt recommend a green screen, but if you do something like a white wall you can easily replace it with various backgrounds. Stool in a corner works well. For the interview video I would avoid a classroom unless your classroom is amazing. You arent applying for a reality program. The most important aspect is good lighting as opposed to background.

The intro video should be 1-2 minutes, the interview video should be 10-15 minutes.

I would agree with @vandsmith though you really have to put sufficient effort into this if its going to be a positive. Even on you tube viewers expect a certain amount of production value, and if all your going to do is shoot some video on a mobile its going to look very amateurish, which may be a detractor rather than valuable.

[seinfeld]

From my experience schools barely look at a website you might make (I've made one).
If your CV doesn't speak to them at first glance they aint going to get swayed by your video.

[PsyGuy]

@seinfeld

Its the value of "barely", its down to three candidates one of them has a digital portfolio (website) the recruiter/leadership doesnt dislike, if that candidate gets the offer, than the portfolio had a lot of value if it was the deciding factor.

[shadowjack]

@PsyGuy - reminds me of the song, "One in a Million" - you're right, someone has to win the lottery of intro videos, but what an extreme waste of time...

[PsyGuy]

@SJ

Compared to other extreme time wasters people engage in like posting pictures of their food to FB. Posing for fake "just woke up" selfies.
A good digital portfolio shouldnt take longer than a day on the weekend, maybe half a day. A couple hours to to do the intro video and the interview video, you can do them with a phone and some basic video editing tools for trim and transitions. A photo gallery of projects and works. A downloads section for documents. Host and mark the whole thing in Google sites for free. Even someone who was a total noob, could work it out in a week tops. Ive seen ITs with little in the way of tech skills just do it in FB or LI (that way you dont have to deal with page design).

[Thames Pirate]

I have never needed one, nor could I imagine most schools would expect one. There are three factors that get you ahead--a solid resume, a personality that meshes with recruiters at fairs (ability to interview well, etc.), and solid recs. The school will look at your resume and put you into the yes, no, and sometimes a maybe pile. Then they will look through their yes pile. If it is a small enough group, they will either set up interviews or glance at recs to see if that narrows it down, then set up interviews. They might check references after the interviews.

Where is the video in that process? Very few recruiters will use it in placing a resume into a pile.

[PsyGuy]

@Thames Pirate

Its when you had 450 applications and youve narrowed the selection pool down to 25 ITs who are nearly indistinguishable from one another and your HOS wants no more than 10 candidates for the short list and trivial qualities start to matter.
Thats the value of the "very few", how many opportunities are you prepared to miss for something that you could do instead of binge watching a season of television programing.

[shadowjack]

How many opportunities am I prepared to miss? Any that require me to waste my time making an intro video! haha

[Thames Pirate]

Good HR can narrow the 25 to 5-10 easily enough, putting the remainder in the maybe pile. I know our HR does it all the time. They aren't going to take the time to look at a teacher video, especially since they don't generally know what they are looking for in that video since they aren't teachers, but office staff--and frequently too busy to look at a video even if they did know. Our principal won't even read the cover letters of the 5 top candidates.

No, save the video for when your dream school asks for one--then you can tailor it to them if you are willing to make one.

[PsyGuy]

@Thames Pirate

No, HR doesnt usually do selection thats reducing the candidate pool, HR does screening which is building the candidate pool. Your right HR doesnt usually know what they are looking for which is why leadership often reviews the hundreds of applications and builds the selection pool and long and short lists.

We disagree.

[Thames Pirate]

Funny, that's not what my friend the HR director said. Though of course each school is different, so anything is possible. But that's a lot of speculation.

If you think the video is worth the effort, do it. Most of us think it isn't. Take that combined experience for what it's worth.