Too many screens in schools? No textbooks?

[Anonymous]

The other argument for getting rid of textbooks is that textbooks are too expensive. However, with the amount of money spent on software licenses, laptops and other hardware, they could easily afford textbooks.

Ironically, FCPS does not have an ad-free subscription to YouTube. So when your kids' teacher shows a video, the kids sit through several ads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids have ADHD, and they struggle with books. The screens better hold their attention.

How are you missing the correlation, here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After touring my child's new FCPS elementary school earlier this summer, I was shocked to learn just how much screens are used (and actual textbooks are not) for learning. The admin who gave me the tour said it's much more engaging that way (meaning students are engaging more with each other and in the lesson rather than "buried in their own textbooks") but this doesn't ring true to me. There is research that shows kids don't absorb content as well when learning from screens as opposed to books, too. I am not 100% anti-screens, I get the world we live in, but any parents or teachers have thoughts/feedback about this?

I supplemented heavily, then finally reached my breaking point and pulled them over to private.

Some schools are better than others, though. Fox Mill, especially their Japanese Immersion program, seemed to have kids glued to the screen less than our base did. And when they were doing videos, at least they were more likely to be Japanese.

[Anonymous]

Some parents have drank the Koolaid sold by the tech-ed companies and seem in favor of it. More to the point though I think schools got a lot of money at some point for tech and it could only be spent on that. Now they are hooked. The websites also facilitate the mixed ability classes that are all the rage now rather than ability grouped ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is such a twilight zone about this. The public school families I know IRL are just as concerned about screen use as OP and PP, and most would go private if they could find an affordable non-religious option. Yet posters on here are like “I have a $3m HHI and prefer public schools”

I know people who have switched but say that post-covid, the privates also rely on tech too much and don't do textbooks.

The only ones I know who have low screens are Montessori or Catholic, but I would love to hear about other options!

I’m the high school teacher who posted above.

I work in a Catholic school, and we (as a school) have decided to limit technology use. Students still carry their laptops, but they only come out for activities that require them. For example, I’ll allow the use for online database searching but not for other things (paragraph / essay writing, reading text selections).

We get positive feedback from the students, who say they are more alert in class when technology is put away. (I have one or two who are allowed to keep laptops out due to accommodations.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After touring my child's new FCPS elementary school earlier this summer, I was shocked to learn just how much screens are used (and actual textbooks are not) for learning. The admin who gave me the tour said it's much more engaging that way (meaning students are engaging more with each other and in the lesson rather than "buried in their own textbooks") but this doesn't ring true to me. There is research that shows kids don't absorb content as well when learning from screens as opposed to books, too. I am not 100% anti-screens, I get the world we live in, but any parents or teachers have thoughts/feedback about this?

Yes, and I'd read they even absorb less from books than hand written manuscripts. Can we please return to the dark ages?

[Anonymous]

Pretty much all schools rely on screens now, and I think that has been driven by both the reliance on screens in our culture and the shift to technology based assessments. It was a profound shift as soon as the SOLs went online.

Only us dinosaur teachers of 20+ years remember how effective non-tech-based teaching could be. It’s going to be very difficult to transition away from tech at this point, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pretty much all schools rely on screens now, and I think that has been driven by both the reliance on screens in our culture and the shift to technology based assessments. It was a profound shift as soon as the SOLs went online.

Only us dinosaur teachers of 20+ years remember how effective non-tech-based teaching could be. It’s going to be very difficult to transition away from tech at this point, unfortunately.

But it's possible. Please don't give up.

Expensive private schools - that were the first to adopt tech - have transitioned away from it because they see the results of not using tech. My niece recently graduated from high school in Cupertino (around the corner from Apple!) and she had textbooks because parents in the Silicon Valley also see that tech in schools is harmful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pretty much all schools rely on screens now, and I think that has been driven by both the reliance on screens in our culture and the shift to technology based assessments. It was a profound shift as soon as the SOLs went online.

Only us dinosaur teachers of 20+ years remember how effective non-tech-based teaching could be. It’s going to be very difficult to transition away from tech at this point, unfortunately.

But it's possible. Please don't give up.

Expensive private schools - that were the first to adopt tech - have transitioned away from it because they see the results of not using tech. My niece recently graduated from high school in Cupertino (around the corner from Apple!) and she had textbooks because parents in the Silicon Valley also see that tech in schools is harmful.

It may be harder for public schools to pivot back. The systems are bigger, and decisions are often made at a central office and not in individual schools. There are tech contracts and a lot of $$ spent on technology.

[Anonymous]

Our private still uses printed textbooks. No distractions. No student doing something on a Chromebook. Works well.

As PP noted, many studies have shown students learn more and better with paper textbooks and with paper/pencil compare with computers. Gatehouse got sold on the electronics and bought the marketing story.

[Anonymous]

I resist must education games at home unless we’re traveling. It’s informed by teaching. Textbook instruction is more effective. I can’t afford private, so we find the best public we could and crossed our fingers. At least in my high-performing public, the parents I meet aren’t giving kids phones in elementary. My friends in lower-performing schools say the whole class has phones by fourth.

[Anonymous]

It’s because teachers don’t know how or can’t teach anymore. Either their classroom is bananas with behavioral problems so teacher checks out and lets them play dumb education games or the teacher never really learned how to teach without relying on technology as a crutch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s because teachers don’t know how or can’t teach anymore. Either their classroom is bananas with behavioral problems so teacher checks out and lets them play dumb education games or the teacher never really learned how to teach without relying on technology as a crutch.

One of the ways my principal rates me annually is my use of technology. I BS a lot of it because I know less technology is better, but I can’t not use the frequent required technology based projects and assessments that the team will look at in our weekly data meetings. If I didn’t need the paycheck and retirement, I might fight it more, but my previous efforts to do so led to insane criticism from admin and a lot of extra evaluations.

If you want teachers to use less technology, make your complaints known to the district and school board. We are cogs in their wheels.

[Anonymous]

My ES kid said they are allowed to play with Chromebooks after they finish worksheets. Then I see the worksheet and it's all wrong. She just rushed through it so she can play with the Chromebook.

[Anonymous]

Principals have a lot of control over this - different schools have different policies toward Games - like Lexia and Prodigy. Our last elementary school (we recently moved within FCPS) required kids to have 30 minutes of Lexia per day. Lexia is boring, repetitive and very gamey. In 30 minutes, kids could write an essay, do a worksheet, learn something. I'm hoping in our next school they don't have the same requirement.