Excessive screentime in the classroom

[Anonymous]

The reliance on low-quality Benchmark ebooks boggles the mind. Looks like the staff copywriters with quotas to meet churn these out. Used to do this as a living.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone ever worry about this? Teachers using excessive amounts of YouTube videos, computer games, technology to teach rather than actually directly teaching?

Glad they're being prepared for real-life which is what you'd be complaining about if the opposite were true. In the end you can't please everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work in a school (not a classroom teacher) and I'm appalled at how much screen time they get.

It is INSANITY. As young as early elementary, there is an excessive amount of screen time in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The reliance on low-quality Benchmark ebooks boggles the mind. Looks like the staff copywriters with quotas to meet churn these out. Used to do this as a living.

Agree. It’s terrible. They force the kids to read on Epic, even when some kids are totally fine reading actual books. It’s pretty frustrating, but not much you can do about it.

[Anonymous]

Op here and mcps employee who visits multiple schools. I've seen entire classes taught via video clips. I'm middle aged and old fashioned and prefer class to be direct didactic instruction.

[Anonymous]

I hate it.

[Anonymous]

Please make sure to include the amount of time your child(ren) are on their phones during the instructional use of digital platforms when complaining about screen times. From the time they walk into the building they are all "plugged" in. Airpods, headphones, screens on. Ready to learn

[Anonymous]

This has been an issue even before covid. My kid gave me all the websites and passwords and the time they were on some of the website was really excessive (30 minutes a day for mat "games") and that was just one site per day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please make sure to include the amount of time your child(ren) are on their phones during the instructional use of digital platforms when complaining about screen times. From the time they walk into the building they are all "plugged" in. Airpods, headphones, screens on. Ready to learn

Its different when teachers use videos as their sole teaching vs. actually teaching themselves. You are entirely missing the point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a high school teacher. We have been told that we need to post everything in Canvas (all learning materials and assignments) so that students have full access to them when they are absent. Because of this requirement, I have found that it is much easier to just have my students who are in the classroom access the materials from there. It just takes too much time to duplicate all of that stuff on the copy machine when I have already spent so much time creating my Canvas platform. Because all of the assignments are on Canvas, it then makes it easier to collect most assignments on paper rather than tracking who turns in items online vs. on paper. So even though I do worry about students being online so much, it seems to be the direction MCPS is moving in. I'm not trying to make excuses; I'm just trying to share one of the reasons more and more classrooms (at least in high school) are so reliant on technology.

Good explanation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a high school teacher. We have been told that we need to post everything in Canvas (all learning materials and assignments) so that students have full access to them when they are absent. Because of this requirement, I have found that it is much easier to just have my students who are in the classroom access the materials from there. It just takes too much time to duplicate all of that stuff on the copy machine when I have already spent so much time creating my Canvas platform. Because all of the assignments are on Canvas, it then makes it easier to collect most assignments on paper rather than tracking who turns in items online vs. on paper. So even though I do worry about students being online so much, it seems to be the direction MCPS is moving in. I'm not trying to make excuses; I'm just trying to share one of the reasons more and more classrooms (at least in high school) are so reliant on technology.

Good explanation.

Makes perfect sense. Not sure what the Luddites have against using tools like computers anyway.

[Anonymous]

My kindergartener has watched at least a half dozen movies at her “top ranked” school in classes ranging from art to music. It’s appalling. Like, give the kids some crayons! She regularly comes home with PBS kids videos open on her chrome book, which means she has basically been at school watching TV. It’s so upsetting to me this is happening at school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kindergartener has watched at least a half dozen movies at her “top ranked” school in classes ranging from art to music. It’s appalling. Like, give the kids some crayons! She regularly comes home with PBS kids videos open on her chrome book, which means she has basically been at school watching TV. It’s so upsetting to me this is happening at school.

OMG OMG I can't believe they'd let her watch Elmo!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a high school teacher. We have been told that we need to post everything in Canvas (all learning materials and assignments) so that students have full access to them when they are absent. Because of this requirement, I have found that it is much easier to just have my students who are in the classroom access the materials from there. It just takes too much time to duplicate all of that stuff on the copy machine when I have already spent so much time creating my Canvas platform. Because all of the assignments are on Canvas, it then makes it easier to collect most assignments on paper rather than tracking who turns in items online vs. on paper. So even though I do worry about students being online so much, it seems to be the direction MCPS is moving in. I'm not trying to make excuses; I'm just trying to share one of the reasons more and more classrooms (at least in high school) are so reliant on technology.

Good explanation.

This situation makes sense and I prefer it done this way BUT, its the youtube videos and "educational" games, especially in elementary school that is an issue. Its been far less of an issue in MS. Its silly to make paper copies when its all online.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a high school teacher. We have been told that we need to post everything in Canvas (all learning materials and assignments) so that students have full access to them when they are absent. Because of this requirement, I have found that it is much easier to just have my students who are in the classroom access the materials from there. It just takes too much time to duplicate all of that stuff on the copy machine when I have already spent so much time creating my Canvas platform. Because all of the assignments are on Canvas, it then makes it easier to collect most assignments on paper rather than tracking who turns in items online vs. on paper. So even though I do worry about students being online so much, it seems to be the direction MCPS is moving in. I'm not trying to make excuses; I'm just trying to share one of the reasons more and more classrooms (at least in high school) are so reliant on technology.

Good explanation.

This situation makes sense and I prefer it done this way BUT, its the youtube videos and "educational" games, especially in elementary school that is an issue. Its been far less of an issue in MS. Its silly to make paper copies when its all online.

Personally, I thought XtraMath was an excellent way to hone one's basic arithmetic skills.