Documentation

Hello everyone,

I once learned a valuable lesson in an embarrassing way.

I was working with some students on a film, back when I taught film production. We were making a film on violence in the schools, and we wanted to show a boy who got in trouble for bringing a weapon to school. We wanted to bring a prop gun to school.

That, in case you didn't know, is a VERY BAD thing to do. I came this close to getting myself arrested. (Imagine two fingers almost touching.) (Also, imagine an exponent after VERY, so that VERY is multiplied by the x power, and x is very great number.) I explained to the administrators in charge, showed them the script, and did everything I could to placate, as well as convince them of the necessity for the prop in light of what we were trying to teach.

This was in the years before Columbine, but there had been some recent campus shootings, and the administration could not afford to allow a prop gun. I wasn't allowed to show any weapons in the video at all, and I was required to document every detail of what happened. "CYB," the administrator taught me. "Cover Your Butt." One might finish the thought: "Cover your butt with documentation."

The valuable lesson I learned (besides, "You can't bring props to school that look like weapons unless you have a special dispensation from top people at the school, in the district, and with the police first--in writing") was "Document."

It is important for you to document

When someone does something in your class, document it. When you call home or send a letter home, document it. If you have to send a student out of class, document it. If something unusual or very odd happens, document it.

The immediate problem is how to keep from getting snowed under by documentation.

I keep a personal journal, and much of my documentation is there. My emails are documentation. If I'm using Easy Grade Pro, it's very easy to double click on a date box next to a student's name and write my documentation in the Note feature that will come up. (Contact me if you want me to show you how to do this.) Your roll book, with all the assignments, is documentation.

The latter is important, legal material. Make sure that whatever grade you give is easily proven through the documentation of your roll book.

Indeed, proper paperwork and documentation is a contractual obligation. Besides covering your butt.

Oh, by the way, without showing any weapons, our film won first place in a national contest, and we were flown to New York City for five days, all expenses paid. Later, in a different climate, with special permission, and under supervision of the school police, we used a prop gun in a school play--fully documented.

Jeff Combe