Classroom cameras

Some daycare centers are allowing parents to log in and watch what's happening in their kid's classroom via secure webcam. As sort of a follow-up to yesterday's post, here are some questions a friend of mine and I recently had about extending this idea to K-12 teachers...

1. How would most teachers feel about parents being able to watch and hear, via a secure password-protected webcam connection, what was occurring in class on a regular basis?
2. Would teachers' classroom instruction / pedagogy be better, worse, or the same if parents could watch and hear what was occurring in class on a regular basis?
3. Would classroom management / discipline be better, worse, or the same if parents could watch and hear what was occurring in class on a regular basis?

There are some other issues too, such as the impact on school bandwidth, but I think discussion around these three questions might be pretty interesting...

Comments

[Miguel Guhlin]

1.

Scott, great questions!

1) Teachers would feel invaded. There is much that goes on in a classroom that involves establishing a connection, building a dynamic with students. This might be even more true in classrooms in urban settings...but no less true in small towns, too. Since unknowledgeable strangers--even though they are stakeholders--are looking in, they might see something innocent and perceive it as dereliction of duty.

For example, the possibility that someone might look in and see a teacher grading papers while the kids watch a movie that's not related to a lesson. Sure, it's not supposed to happen, but is allowed in education culture. How would parents react?

What about a show-down between a teacher and a child, played out in front of cameras? A million opportunities to second-guess the teacher. This is also dangerous because of the "Big Brother is watching you phenomenon." Are we sure we want to inculcate students with the idea that they are under constant surveillance?

Of course, that's less an obstacle now...we are all under surveillance, and this would just mean the illusion is gone.

2 & 3) Classroom instruction/pedagogy would not be worse...discipline might improve in the short-run, but is this really the way we want to go with schools? Why not video-tape parts of the school day? Maybe when the teacher is doing high stakes test-prep? (smile)

I need to reflect on this more and I'm out of time now. THanks again for the questions!

Miguel Guhlin
Around the Corner-MGuhlin.net
http://www.mguhlin.net

[Scott McLeod]

2.

Somehow the daycare center teachers seem to handle being observed.

I don't think we'd let unknowledgeable strangers observe the classroom, only parents via a secure, password-protected connection (too many legal issues otherwise).

My friend thinks classroom instruction might improve substantially...

[Scott Elias]

3.

Fun questions to make one think on a Tuesday morning... I posted a quick pass at some initial reactions on my blog: http://snipurl.com/19hjn

I deliberately avoided reading any comments here before writing mine, but I'm caught up now...

I have worked in urban school settings and I am trying to think of anything I did in building a relationship that I wouldn't want people to know about. Kids lie to their parents and misrepresent teacher behaviors all the time to their parents (I field the parent complaints all the time!). I think occasionally it would be nice to have some video "evidence" that I said X and not Y.

Regarding a teacher-student faceoff, I think that would present a golden opportunity to counsel the teacher in some strategies to effectively de-escalate the situation without it coming to a head.

In my position as an AP, I see too many discipline referrals for situations that would have been non-issues were it not for a teacher who escalated it.

Certainly that is not always the case, but I would make a conservative guess that 8 out of 10 situations I deal with could have been effectively nipped in the bud by the teacher before coming to the point where I had to intervene.

Just my $0.02.

-- Scott

[Karen Janowski]

4.

Scott,
Great questions as always!
I, too, think classroom instruction would improve dramatically as teachers would be held accountable for instruction.
Does it have to be all or nothing in the K-5 classroom? Could it be this week observe our math instruction, next week observe our language arts instruction, etc? Parents would feel more connected and informed about what is happening in their kid's classrooms.
At the middle school/high school level the filming could be for the entire class period and the parents could click on their own student's schedule and choose to watch what they wanted to.
To be honest, if this type of service was available, I believe that parents would initially observe often and then infrequently "check in."
On another note, As a speaker/consultant/educator I welcome feedback as I'm constantly trying to improve my skills. Teachers don't have that same opportunity to gain valuable feedback from consumers and taxpayers and this would be an opportunity for them to gain that feedback. We can always improve no matter what our skills.

[Nancy]

5.

I've taught for so many years that all I could think of were all the legal issues. In our district you cannot post student work with a grade on it on a hallway bulletin board. Our parent volunteers cannot grade papers with student names on them. As a special ed teacher I cannot mention my students by name in the newsletter. Could you see the ramifications if all parents could "see" into the classroom? They may "see" a students grades being discussed; they may "see" a special ed student getting extra help, they may "see" Jonnie leave for his gifted class!! Heaven forbid. haha!

[Dan Meyer]

6.

I'm trying to balance Miguel's good sense that a policy of constant surveillance could create a very uneasy environment against my desire to become completely transparent to my colleagues and, particularly, to the taxpayers who sign my checks. I'm planning on posting complete daily lesson plans -- handouts, slide deck, the works -- to my blog within the month. Darren is podcasting everything. Aren't things trending towards that sort of "surveillance"? If not, where is the line between podcasting and vidcasting we won't cross?

[Melissa Clark]

7.

I am researching this topic for my children, what happens when your child is the victim of teacher abuse or negletic. I see all sides, but really... these are OUR children at age 2 or age 18 we have every right to see how they are doing and What they are doing. Weither my child is the bully or the one being bullied I have the right to know. and the "he said, she said" is not good enough anymore. Teachers and administors alike are abusing the fact that they have a certin amount of control over these children. The accountability is lost. too many sigle parent families and dual income families have made up our parenting groups along with granparents and foster families in much there are larger numbers than even 20 yrs ago. The need to have more and make more money has come between the care and education of our children. I once had a teacher tell my husband that "They don't give out homework anymore, because the parents stoped caring and the children werent getting it done". So... the teacher stoped caring too. And what about the teacher who has no time to teach. Parents get homework that they themselves may have forgotten how to do or have never done. The world has changed, I helped my son so a Social Studies assignment, there were continents on it I didn't know existied and my daughter corrected my husband the other day about there only being 8 planets. Now Pluto doesn't count. If we can watch what is going in the classroom and hear is too then we can see and hear what then are doing so we can hold them and the teachers accountable and can help or teachers teach. I don't see any reason not to put cameras in the classroom.

[jayd]

8.

I am the mother of a very petite down syndrome girl. she is currently in a self-contained classroom. For the last two years I have had speculations that neglect has been going on in her classroom. She wets her clothes everyday at school and yet she wears a diaper. I feel that they are not changing her till it is too late, but I can't prove it. I do know that this rarely happens at home. I also feel she is left in a stroller for hours at a time, because when I come to visit, she is in one although they always have an excuse. By the way, she is completely mobile, yet again, I can't prove it is happening repeatedly. I can say without any doubt that cameras should be in special education settings to protect these defenseless children from neglect and abuse. My daughter has no verbal skills and cannot tell me what is going on and I can never know exactly what is going on...It is all the words of the teacher and aides. Please encourage your school district to get cameras in the special ed classrooms!

[Moses Tighil]

9.

I taught inner city 5th graders for four years. And i always wished there was a camera in my class so that parents could see their kids behaviour. Even the most challenging students that i ever had were extemely different whenever their parents were in the room. So while it is hard to explain to a parent that his/her angelic kid threw a tantrum yesterday, it is definetely worth a while for a parent to be able to see playback of their kid's behaviour. As a teacher, i'd gladly welcome a video camera in my class. As an administrator, i'd ask my teachers if they'd be comfortable with it. As far as the benefits are concerned, it is a plus to have a camera in the class.

[Martie]

10.

I think that this idea would be great. Not only will it give the parents a relief on KNOWING that their child is being taught properly but also that he isn't in any danger. There are alot of teachers out there that are great teachers and would never hurt a child but all you hear in the news nowaday is how these teachers take advantage of these children. Its awful to even think of something like that happening to my child. You obviously cannot trust anyone and this would be really great. IF not I'm still going to try to put a hidden camera on my childs backpack so that i can moniter what is going on. This is just what I think.

[Teri]

11.

I am a 9th grade teacher at a city school. We are on block schedule -- classes are 1.5 hours long. Day after day I find it hard to teach because students will not stay in their seats, they talk, they throw things, etc. I have had days that for 20 minutes I could not teach because the students would not be quiet. I have been teaching 16 years and have never had discipline problems. I want a camera in my classroom even if I have to bring my own but I don't know if it is legal. I don't want to post anything in a public place, I just want to be able to show parents and administrators that we teachers are not inadequate teachers. It is that our children refuse to cooperate, close their mouths, and let us teach. Question is: Are cameras in the classroom legal?

[John B]

12.

As a parent of a 15 yr old boy who has had a past of stretching the truth about things that happen in the class, I would WELCOME a service that allowed me to subscribe to my son's schedule and log in whenever I wanted to observe. I would pay money for it! I suspect I am not alone. I have had this idea for a few years and found this thread through a bored afternoon google search.