Is this normal? - Teacher videotaping kid having a meltdown

[Anonymous]

Yesterday I witnessed a teacher in my daughter's (charter) PS3 classroom videotaping a kid who was having a major major dropoff meltdown. In her defense, she was not in his face (I don't think he knew she was recording the situation) and there was at least one teacher assisting the kid already.

Is this a normal thing for teachers to do? If so, why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yesterday I witnessed a teacher in my daughter's (charter) PS3 classroom videotaping a kid who was having a major major dropoff meltdown. In her defense, she was not in his face (I don't think he knew she was recording the situation) and there was at least one teacher assisting the kid already.

Is this a normal thing for teachers to do? If so, why?

What school was this? Name of school, or it didn't happen.

[Anonymous]

It did happen, but I'm hesitant to name the school here on a public message board. I can send you a private email with the name--what's your email address?

[Anonymous]

I know at my child's charter we had to sign off on consent to videotape for research purposes. If you are at a school that is being studied or researched, then they may have been videotaping how the situation was being handled. It could be they were using it for teacher training. I don't know, but before I jumped to any conclusions I would go back and read the paperwork I signed. I would also simply ask the administration or the teacher why she was videotaping.

Asking anonymous posters on DCUM is an exercise in speculation and end the end, probably not useful for anything other than entertainment purposes.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps the parent requested this to show to a doctor. Having been through this myself I thought I would offer an alternative possibility.

[Anonymous]

OP here - I thought of the alternative explanations and have also emailed the principal to ask. We did sign forms related to photo and videotaping, so I understand there are many possibilities. Since I'm new to the "school" thing, I just don't know what's normal or what to expect moving forward.

[Anonymous]

We came from an out of state public school -- very good public school and they would tape the kids there also. It really helped the teacher to show the principal and parent what exactly was going on in the classroom. Majority of the time the parents think their child would never do something like that.

[Anonymous]

I heard about this happening in my son's DCPS school. There was a child who had severe sometimes violent tantrums. The teacher filmed him - the parents were annoyed.

[Anonymous]

All DCPS PS classrooms use an assessment system called GOLD which includes videotaping children at many points in the year. GOLD uses the widest range imaginable of developmental milestones, so it's possible that the teacher was either videotaping as a regular practice or to benchmark the child's behavior at the earliest point in the year.

[Anonymous]

I had to videotape some of my lessons when I was student teaching in elementary school. The parents had to sign a consent form and if they didn't, their child had to be in the back of the classroom where they were not on tape.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It did happen, but I'm hesitant to name the school here on a public message board. I can send you a private email with the name--what's your email address?

don't let that bum bully you into giving out the name of the school if you are not comfortable doing so. they can think it didn't happen all they want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps the parent requested this to show to a doctor. Having been through this myself I thought I would offer an alternative possibility.

Ditto. Ask the parent and preface that you're a newbie to schooling and weren't concerned for child's safety, just curious. Not everything needs to go to principal or out on the internet. Many times you can learn something from other parents simply by asking respectfully. If I were the filmed child's parent, I'd want to hear feedback from parents who witnessed it.

[Anonymous]

There is no end to the extent of apeshit to which I would ascend. (See, I'm already not making sense.)

Why didn't you ask the teacher on the spot: "Why exactly are you doing that?" If (if, if, if) it turned out she was doing it at the behest of the child's parent(s), okay. Anything short of that and I would have headed directly to the principal's office to rescind whatever waiver I'd inadvertently signed. The idea that the child wasn't aware of the taping in no way takes away from the violation.

If it turned out to be some sort of research, I would report the teacher to whatever ethics review board oversees her work.

Un-f$cking-acceptable.

Children are not objects. This is offensive to that child's dignity. Again, if the parent(s) requested it as part of a broader interest in the child's health, well, that changes everything.

[Anonymous]

Kids with special needs are sometimes videotaped (with parent's consent) to give to the child's doctors or therapists OR for the use of the special ed. team in writing the child's IEP. Make sure the teachers and school know that you do not want YOUR child videotaped, but otherwise, it's one of your business.
--former special ed. teacher

[Anonymous]

Not "one" but "none", of course.