New Learning

I had a day full of lots of wonderful learning opportunities today!  First I learned that although you follow policy, it is still a good idea to double check some things.  For instance, I used the permission slips sent out at the beginning of the year that grants permission for videotaping students for educational purposes as enough documentation of it being okay to videotape my students for this project.  When I talked to my principal before the taping began, I understood from our conversation that this was okay.  Now that I’m beginning the second part of my research project, there has been a change and I need to go back and inform the parents by phone call or in writing.  This was very confusing and frustrating because I thought we had addressed this fundamental issue of permission with the district form prior to beginning the videotaping part of this project.  This is especially confusing to me because some of my colleagues videotape students (also for educational purposes) and do not get additional permission than what is already covered by the district form.  It makes me wonder if I have to do the extra step because it is for my class instead of for the district.  I don’t know but the lesson learned was twofold: 1.) Email your principal a summary of important conversations (like this one) where important decisions are made and 2.) Don’t assume that a district form grants permission… go the extra step.