Lost in the Attempts
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This week I have been busy working on my tutorial videos. So far I have only have one completely edited and ready to post. This one video was quite a learning experience for me. I have never done anything like this so it was a big process from start to finish. I am hoping now that I know a bit more of what I am doing the other videos will be much less demanding.
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| via Giphy |
Starting these video tutorials brought with it some unforeseen challenges. For instance, I sort of forgot that I am very shy, so talking on camera was a hurdle to get over. This was a bigger deal than I had thought it would be. I am constantly having to step outside my comfort zone in order to be the best I can be in my teacher-librarian position. I thought I was used to that, but I had a surprise bout of severe stage-fright once I pressed record! I found it helpful to write out a script and list my main points in BIG BOLD LETTERS on multiple post it notes all over my screen. Even with these supports, there are still some 'ums', 'ahs', and word stumbles that I just couldn't help- or edit out!
Another interesting development was how many takes it took! This was also a little tricky as I am not currently teaching at my school (I am on maternity leave) so I didn't want to mess around with the system too much and cause confusion for my teaching partner and replacement. As I was doing the videos I practiced while recording multiple times without actually doing anything permanent, such as placing holds. Likewise, I have an admin account, which brought up the entire district's books instead of just our school, like a student would see. I had to get creative by logging in part way through the video instead of at the start.
I used Open Broadcaster Software (OBS), which had minimal install problems and ran smoothly with no start up glitches. So, technology was on my side at least! I also have added background music from http://freemusicarchive.org/ to hopefully distract from my nervous pauses. I have tried to keep the videos short, I was aiming for no more than 1 and a half minutes, but my completed video runs about 3 mins. I will try to be a bit shorter in my next two.
References
OBS
Music
Well done reflection! Your realizations about recording yourself are very common and the uhms and ahhs will still be there even after making lots and lots of videos. I have gotten much better and more comfortable with just accepting the first take, with all its mistakes, as it saves me time and is not that bad to have a few breaks or gaps in my speaking. Overall, things do get faster, you get less self-conscious and things get easier.
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