Teachers Should be Championing Class being Recorded. Accessibility Matters

    For years teachers have been begging for parents to get more involved in the education of their children. Teachers are often quoted as saying academic success begins in the home. And they are correct in this. When I started Kindergarten in 1998 it was expected that by the third day of school I would know my mom and dad's names, my home address, and my phone number. If my parents had not worked with me before I started school to know these things I would have failed my first assignment in my entire academic career. And now as parents are taking an interest in the education of their children teachers are complaining that they are not paid enough to deal with this. 

    I agree that a fully qualified teacher does not have a salary that reflects their qualifications. In New York to get a credential you need a master's degree and local districts have just bumped starting pay up to $42,000 per year. A custodian that works all the overtime that is offered would make more than that with their only qualification being never having been arrested for a crime against children or a violent one. 

    Parents are interested in what their children are learning and this is important. If a parent does not know that a student is learning about the Iraq war and is a veteran of the Iraq war this can cause issues. 

    While I think that there should not be debates about critical race theory being taught in schools, especially since this is a philosophical thing that is well beyond the understanding of most people below the college level. And I believe that Covid 19 is real and that precautions should be taken to avoid it, but I believe it is not the schools right to police what a student is wearing and that goes for a mask or shoes that happen to be open toed. 

    Teachers should have their lesson plans available online at least one month before the actual lesson. A teacher that cannot plan at least a month in advance is not a prepared teacher. These lesson plans should be accessible to the student and their parents. Lesson plans must be done anyway and the benefits to this are immense. If a student knows that they will be discussing giraffes in Science class that week they could come in armed with the knowledge that giraffes and humans each have 7 cervical vertebra. Most classes have a participation portion of their grade. And students that don't feel confident are less likely to participate in class. If the lesson is available to them ahead of time, even just an outline of it they will have more confidence. Not only benefitting them in class but allowing them to become lifelong learners. 

    A lot of adults have issues with the math taught in schools because we simply do not use this math in everyday life. If the parent is allowed to see the math lesson ahead of time they could teach it to themself and then help their child if they are struggling with the math. 

    Cameras should be installed in every classroom and every class recorded for several reasons. The first is accessibility. If you record a class and then put closed caption on it and allow students to access it people with hearing issues end up being able to access the material in a equitable way. Then we must consider accountability and liability. If there is a bullying case or a student or teacher gets injured there is no audio and video of the incident which can be used to determine what needs to be done in a court of law.     

    Doing these things will increase parent involvement and it will increase student success in a number of ways. Quantifiably this will be seen with higher test scores. There will also be the long term benefits of making students long term learners.