"Cameras in the classroom: Should we film teachers at work?"

[WinkyDink]

"Wyoming lawmakers have proposed installing video cameras in public schools and taping classes to help evaluate teacher performance, but some educators say the Big Brother-esque practice would violate the privacy of teachers and students alike. Other opponents say principals could more effectively monitor teachers by making unannounced visits to classrooms. Will videotaping teachers improve their skills, or merely unnerve them?"
http://theweek.com/article/index/211430/cameras-in-the-classroom-should-we-film-teachers-at-work

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"CAMERAS IN THE CLASSROOM: Video cameras could soon be monitoring teachers in four Wyoming school districts. The Senate Education Committee approved a measure to place cameras in classrooms as a way to evaluate teachers' effectiveness. Evaluations would then be used to determine teacher pay raises, the Casper Star-Tribune reports. The bill would make Wyoming among the first states to film teachers in the classroom. A pilot program funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has already placed cameras in classrooms in six urban school districts to identify successful teaching practices."
http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=546073
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"The $90 million grant has allowed MCS to create the New Teachers Project. Strategic partners are used to recruit and hire higher caliber teachers.

More timely evaluations have helped as well. But MCS Superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash says one of the major moves this grant provides is putting cameras in classrooms."
http://www.wreg.com/wreg-gates-visit-mcs-story,0,2611109.story
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(You know there's money to be made, don't you?)
http://www.teachscape.com/reflect/pdf/Teachscape_Reflect_FAQs.pdf

[BanzaiBonnie]

1. No BIG BROTHER in the classroom

I'm not a teacher and I know that's a bad idea.

[RC]

2. They have money for cameras and video equipment and people to watch the results, but

in too many classrooms the teachers has to buy the pencils, paper and other miscalculation stuff for their over stuffed classrooms. Plus they are cutting teachers, salaries and benefits.
This is less about evaluating teachers performances than it is spying to make sure the teachers only teach the 'approved' curriculum.

[gkhouston]

24. Best post in ths thread. Think of how many supplies or teacher hours you could

buy with what they're willing to spend on surveillance.

[RegieRocker]

3. Yes this would be good for all.

Parents, teachers and students. So much could be done with this it's a shame it hasn't already been implemented. It would restore order in the classroom and the hallways. School is not a private place. Cameras are everywhere for security. Why shouldn't we secure our schools.

[demtenjeep]

4. ABsolutely...put them in my classroom

I have NO problem with this at all.


but I bet the kiddos would come parent teacher conference time!!!

[lumberjack_jeff]

5. Sure.

It'd be a good tool for parent conferences and it would be a good coaching tool for adminstrators.

There's no reasonable expectation of privacy in the execution of one's work.

[rucky]

6. I have no problem with this.

It would be an eye-opener for parents, administrators & CEO's who think they know what goes on in the classroom.

[demtenjeep]

7. absolutely

.

[dembotoz]

8. after fox and acorn video editing

i would not trust it
nope
nope
nope

[gratuitous]

9. Why stop with teachers?

Think of all the people who could be employed monitoring all the proles at their jobs! If you're not giving a full eight hours (or 10 or 12) of constant sweat and toil, you don't deserve that handsome minimum wage your employer is giving you. And you surely don't deserve any benefits, you lazy slob! You're lucky to have a job at all, and there's nothing in the Constitution guaranteeing you a right to privacy. Now, bend over, because Dr. Kaltenhans needs to do a little probe. Gotta be sure you're not stealing pens.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

12. Surely you realize GOBS of people are videoed in their jobs everyday. n/t

[gratuitous]

20. Yes, but that doesn't make it right or desireable

Who watches the watchers, and why don't we have video recordings of folks who are in much higher positions of authority and responsibility? Wouldn't it be useful to see what Jeff Skilling did for all the money Enron paid him (for example)? And wouldn't it have been instructive for the jury to see for themselves whether Mr. Skilling was actually responsible for Enron's financial shenanigans? Or whether Skilling's claim that he didn't actually do anything to earn his salary was valid?

Instead, our society is focused like a laser on some schlub flipping burgers at a fast food joint. Who decided the schlub was more important to watch than Jeff Skilling or Erik Prince of Blackwater/Xe? I would submit that teachers have quite enough to contend with that adding answering for every little snippet of video would be remarkably onerous.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

21. I can see your point...

but workers being recorded/monitored is simply not new is all I was pointing out. I think if the monitoring is used in a 'proper' way it can be used to improved job performance and help actually cover the employee being recorded in the event of some anomaly...

sP

[JitterbugPerfume]

10. bad idea

REALLY bad!

[goforit]

11. No...... Try to find teachers to do it.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

13. Give them a choice...we video you or you're out

and I bet a VAST majority will stay put and be videoed.

sP

[MorningGlow]

14. Pfft--do it

Speaking as a former teacher, I say go right ahead...as long as the cameras capture EVERYthing, including student behavior. The crap some of them get up to is unbelievable, and when a teacher calls them on it, it often ends up as a case of the teacher's word against the student's. Getting that stuff on video would be pretty eye-opening for some "my darling would never do that" parents.

[demtenjeep]

25. exactly

Parent teacher conferences would never be the same!

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

27. They would probably not show students' behavior

Don't want to violate their privacy, after all. The cameras would only be used to knock down teachers, not to document student behavior.

If you make the entire classroom environment available then that's a different story. Watching a student tell the teacher "F*ck you!" is something that might be of interest at parent-teacher conferences.

[Canuckistanian]

15. I think we should film Wyoming lawmakers

Let's see what THEY do all day.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

17. They may be being recorded when they are in session

but not living in Wyoming I cannot say that they definitely are.


sP

[struggle4progress]

16. If people are actually going to review the videos in any meaningful way, it takes

at least a person-hour of review for every person-hour of recorded video. That is, you at least double the number of paid person-hours for every instructional hour. It would make more sense to double the number of teachers: that would halve class-sizes and increase the opportunities for individual attention. You can do a lot better job a class of 15 than with a class of 30.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

18. Interesting point but

you could certainly record and selectively review...

sP

[Rex]

19. I have an even better idea: cameras in the CEOs office of the top fortune 500

companies and wiretaps...so we can make sure they don't need another 800 billion dollar bailout! It can happen again people, but NO let us instead focus on teachers and the sad little sum we spend on education every year. No need to rehash lost money from the corporate crimelords, they have cabinet seats waiting for them!


Cameras in the WhiteHouse. Cameras in the Congress (all rooms). Cameras in the backrooms of the SCOTUS. Cameras on all the megalomaniacs for megalomanias sake!

[Bragi]

23. +++1000

[Bragi]

22. A bad idea whose time has come

This will help prepare everyone for the renewal of the Total Information Awareness program.

[jpak]

26. Yes, if they film student class behavior, parent/teacher meetings and school administrators at work

Big Brother Loves You

yup

[cynatnite]

28. What happens to a teacher who voices an opinion that's not liked?

I can see the benefits, but I'm uncomfortable with the potential abuses of cameras in a classroom.