Caught on Video

In response to "Caught on Video"

I really liked this article. I had never thought of using video in my classroom like that. I think if it were possible (and maybe someday it will be) to give every student and teacher a small video device, it would be awesome. I really like the idea of having students record on video what they are doing in the classroom. I think this would definitely give parents a better idea than how the students are doing. By doing that, a lot more pressure and accountability would be put on the teacher in the classroom because parents would be watching. This would also put more pressure and accountability on the students. Instead of the teacher giving a grade/report of how and what the students do in the classroom, the parents would actually see this through the video. I think this would be very beneficial, but also cause some interesting situations. I know that many times elementary teachers will give a slightly (or maybe not so slightly) higher grade than the student's work actually warrants mainly because of pressure from parents. If the parents actually saw what was going on with their student in class, they might respond differently. Like the author said, I think this would further expose and challenge letter grades. Along with that, recording students throughout class sessions would be a great tool to have at parent teacher conferences. Showing them a video would be so much more effective than trying to tell them what and how their students are doing in class.
There is another side of using a video device that I believe would be completely positive. I think students would be more motivated to learn. Students are so entrenched in technology that they would no doubt love the opportunity to record what they do in class and as homework. Students would be more motivated to do well in class because their parents will see the video and be more motivated to complete their assignments because they get to videotape it! I think it is a great way to integrate technology into the classroom and allow kids to learn through technology while having fun.
Even though I'm sure my school will not be able to put a video device into the hands of every student, I would love to bring my own video device to class for the students to use for various tasks. I would also definitely use it for parent teacher conferences. I love that idea!