Our class has always hosted a great collection of excellent Teacher Candidates. Every year, between two and five student teachers from one of the Faculties of Education in Ontario, Canada come and share a little piece of their lived experience with us. It's wonderful. I could preach the benefits of hosting student teachers all day long: They enable students to see adults as learners; they provide an alternate type of role model to children who don't necessarily connect with their regular classroom teacher; they offer fresh perspective.
Today is the last day for one of our favorite student teachers. In appreciation, my students filmed some stuff and I edited it together. Since I had nothing to do with the filming (and didn't even see the kid's work until I was editing), I was surprised to see the unique perspectives and insights of some of the class members. The kids spoke to the camera with brilliant honesty - devoid of the typical power dynamic that exists between teacher and student. There's something to this. The gears in my head are turning. I'm sure I'll post more about video in the classroom, but for now here's our most recent creation...
