But when I read material like this, I worry. Anything an educator says taken out of context can be portrayed as something entirely different. Anything a student says taken out of context can be protrayed as something different. And I’m not referring to just moments captured on a cell phone’s video, as this statement can be applied to a written referral that are most teacher’s best ammunition in dealing with discipline issues.

I have always remembered that whatever is written on one of the school referral forms is considered a legal document, and as it is written, it would do the educator well to remember that it might be used as a legal document. When I have used these forms myself, I have always tried to make sure it was written without anger, bias, or emotion, but rather just written as a statement of facts. It is very difficult to write a referral in the heat of the moment and accomplish this.

But now bring video into the mix. This year alone I have seen first hand incidences where students are making videos at school using their phones. But the student handbook clearly states that:

…all phones must be “off” and put away, and if they are out they will be confiscated.

This statement is almost an acceptance on the school’s part that students have phones and to ban them completely is one rule that cannot be enforced. But now I wonder if we will revisit this statement. Should I set up my video camera and external drive somewhere in my teaching context to protect myself? This is a frightening thought indeed.

I am reminded though of a statement I said to students in my first formal class/orientation. In introducing myself to students at the beginning of school (b/c I’m new this year at my school) I brought in my iPod to use in a “get to know me” type activity. I shared with students what you could find, including songs, pictures, podcasts, and audiobooks. Some of my podcasts were video, and this opened a discussion on how to make videos. It was then that I realized many of my students clearly understood they had the ability right in their pocket to make a video and post it online. So I made sure to have this conversation with each class in orientation, stating with a witness (a classroom teacher or my library technical assistant) that I do not give anyone permission to make a video of me and post it without specific written permission from me. Did I cover myself? I don’t know.

Back to my wonder about taping my classes…is that legal? When doing National Board Certification, I had to have written consent forms from parents to make videos of my classes.

Does it matter? The seven videos on the Dangerously Irrelevant site yesterday certainly were not made with any kind of consent, and it is painfully obvious that the damage has been done, whether teachers or students were right or wrong. Scott wants to know–Should students be punished or applauded for filming and posting these?

If I had to say now, I would side with punishing them since I’m pretty sure a lot of the footage stems from a biased or one-sided point of view. The public is not being told the whole story here, which is how I began this post. And as long as school handbooks indicate that cell phones are not to be on and in service in the classroom, then it must stay punishable.

What good will come out of these videos I watched today? Each time I see my students after school with their cell phones snuggly fitted up against their ears, I will do a quick self reflection of my actions that day, and briefly wonder if I’ll be a YouTube one-hit wonder. Yet another filter to think through as I plan, choose my activities for instruction, or talk formally or informally with kids each day. I do realize the phones will not go away, which really makes me WANT to utilize surveillance in my instruction. It scares me to think I may have to justify my actions with video of my own, even if it is not legally gained. Can you say “conspiracy theory”?

Attribution:

Image: ‘0:13‘
www.flickr.com/photos/49503102897@N01/79294926

Teachers, Several of you have inquired about cameras to purchase for Christmas.

VIDEO:

The flip cameras offer fine video quality for small home projects or taping kids in class, but not for LONGER projects. They are reasonably priced too, ranging from $125-$160. If you are considering one, I would ask the sales person to demonstrate getting video off the camera and judging the quality for your self. You might not be so impressed when you see the quality—I like to call it YouTube quality. But it’s decent enough.

There are many brands and types of video camera. I myself have been questioning whether a “hard drive” camera was a worthy investment. This website will talk about all the various types of cameras available to help you make a knowledgeable decision (even though it appears to be an instructional type site.) I confirmed what I had heard a good while back about the hard drive cameras, in that the video is not in a format that most “editors” can handle, and so must be converted first, which may degrade the quality of the film. If you don’t intend to edit any video, this is a fine purchase. These cameras have upwards of 30 to fifty gigabytes, and you will pay a pretty penny for them, anywhere from $450-$1000.

If I were buying a video camera, I would purchase one that takes mini-dv tapes. They are the least expensive for the QUALITY you get. The video file is in a format that can be recognized by most video editors, including the industry standard Apple program Final Cut Pro all the way down to the freebie on your Windows XP workstation (Windows Movie Maker) (NOTE: ALL the school videos shown on the news program have been created here at school with Windows moviemaker—and they were taped using a Sony mini-dv camera.) Yes, you’ll have to buy mini-dv tapes, but for the quality and considering most of us are “novice” videographers, you will be pleased as punch with this or other similar video cameras.

Another note about the mini-dv cameras—they will take still photos too, but check to make sure you are getting 3mp or higher. 2mp or less will not offer the quality to print out.

STILL PICTURE CAMERAS:

Still Image cameras—most of us want a point and shoot camera, as we are not necessarily interested in professional cameras that have lots of bells and whistles. There are many of these in the stores right now too. If you are considering a santa gift in the guise of a digital camera, Santa should look for this:

1) optical/digital zoom: You want the optical zoom to be higher than 3X. I typically disregard how high the digital zoom is, since all it does is crop and pixellate pictures—they will print out looking fuzzy and unfocused—that’s what the digital zoom does. Also, if you plan to use the digital zoom, get a tripod, because it is virtually impossible to be still enough to take pictures using digital zoom—no matter how still you think you are, camera shake will effect the pix –remember you breathe, therefore the camera will detect even this slightest movement.

2) Pixels. Get at least 3 –and in the stores right now, you almost cannot find a digital camera that does not at least have 5 megapixels. 3MP will print out great 8X10 pictures to frame and display. Also know that downloading the pictures from these cameras will require lots of memory, and you can absolutely fill up your harddrive with useless photos you will never use. Consider JUST downloading the ones that are good enough, or get an external drive (there are 160GB external harddrives for as low as $79, and they resemble an ipod. Small, portable. Cool.

3) LCD Display – if you have older eyes, you will want a fairly large LCD display. Many people don’t even look through the viewfinder anymore, but instead rely on the LCD Display to frame up a shot. You want menus to have readability too, so having a bigger LCD screen will help.

4) Memory cards. Cameras have almost stopped making the smaller ones, and lately the smallest I’ve seen is 512 mb, which translates to roughly 400 average pictures. WOW. (Remember you can fill up your harddrive—can anyone spell c-r-a-s-h?) Most memory cards available are now upwards of 1-2gb. 1600 pictures. Don’t forget you could crash your computer b/c you want to keep all those photos. If you like all your photos, get an external drive. Save pix to it.

If you want a quick and dirty tutorial on using your video camera or still camera, I don’t profess to know all, but I can offer some tips that will make you happier with your final product. Let me know.

Image Attributions:

Image: ‘untitled‘
www.flickr.com/photos/51035715376@N01/270680726

Image: ‘Anyone Have a Flip Video Camera?‘
www.flickr.com/photos/99291169@N00/2120710374

Image: ‘WD-H43 .7x wide angle lens‘
www.flickr.com/photos/86533050@N00/1342274233