So I’m reading A
one-eyed look at classroom life: Using new technologies to enrich
classroom-based research by Johnson, Sullivan and Williams when one of
their research questions hit me like a ton of bricks. In short, they question
whether or not what is being recorded via video in a classroom setting has any
value because it is not genuine. Because students change from their normal
behavior as a reaction to the presence of the camera, how can a teacher
accurately gauge how well their instruction was during that session? Although
the authors merely suggested the question, I take it a step further. I can
imagine little Johnny, normally a demon, putting on his halo because the camera
could serve as evidence of his daily behavior. Then there’s little Suzy who
usually seeks positive attention but who, today, is waving her hands wildly to
answer every question so that she can prove how much of a teacher’s pet she
really is. And we can’t forget little Sara who is just starting to break out of
her shell and participate in class. Would the camera make her slink back into
the shadows and hide?
Thank goodness, then, for The Handbook of Classroom Management. In it, there is a section
written by Hickey and Schaffer that suggests that teachers need not worry so
much about how student’s react when being filmed—at least after the third or
fourth time. According to these authors,
students acclimate quickly to being filmed; thus, while a teacher may not trust
the results recorded the first few times, he/she would soon find the children
acting true to form.
Phew—dissertation saved.
