Any hope to minimize screens?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What if you switched your perspective on this? Is it possible that the students were supposed to be writing an essay, creating a presentation, etc., and were sneaking around and playing video games instead? Does your child have a responsibility to be doing what they are supposed to be doing?

There's a line of thinking that some of these video games are addictive. A small group of parents in MCPS has been tearing their hair out about this for years. Their kids have ADHD and are more susceptible to addictive behaviors. The parents are doing everything they can do (meds, after school sports, consequences at home, requesting teachers to move back to paper). It's one of the reasons that parents of means withdraw their kids to private schools.

So are you saying that these children cannot control their behavior in the presence of computers? And the solution to this is to get rid of computers?

A simpler solution would be to give teachers back the ability to give students consequences for misbehavior. I believe we would see that plenty of kids are actually able to control themselves, when they actually have to face consequences when they don’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher I am planning on going back to pencil and paper assignments for this upcoming school year.

I will as much as possible, but I need up to date textbooks and working copy machines and printers.

And you need copy paper. Hey parents, for teacher appreciation week, give copy paper to your teachers, not bagels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just opted out, no computer use until high school.

How does that work as all tests are on the computer? Map-m and r are adaptable and not paper based. Almost all formative assessments are also on the computers.

[Anonymous]

Programs like GoGuardian and Lightspeed are great for keeping kids off of games and unapproved sites but they basically handcuff teachers to their desks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just opted out, no computer use until high school.

How does that work as all tests are on the computer? Map-m and r are adaptable and not paper based. Almost all formative assessments are also on the computers.

We just don’t do it, very simple.

[Anonymous]

Any screen changes to MS? I heard some schools have cart model and others expect kids to carry computers around all day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just opted out, no computer use until high school.

How??

[Anonymous]

GoGuardian is long gone and Lightspeed is barely used by staff as it is a mess. I suspect MCPS will suddenly declare that due to extremely low implementation that they are going to go with a different vendor.

Beyond that, with an eye towards acknowledging paper shortages and sharp price increases, which are both ongoing, completely going back to paper and pencil may be well impossible.

[Anonymous]

The issue isn't, per se, with chromebooks. (When I was growing up we had weekly computer lab hours with IBM PCjrs, which is dating me quite a bit, where we focused on basic coding skills, typing, and more.) The problem is that MCPS is getting outsmarted by tech-saavy students who usually light-years ahead of most school staff employees.

There should be strict expectations on when and how chromebooks are used, and away from free-time, which usually translates to watching YouTube or playing video games, with appropriate consequences to follow for transgressions.

But, in all of this, teachers need proper guidelines, proper training, etc etc to make thus happen. Half-hearted implementations will always die on the vine, with the result that we will be back to square one.

[Anonymous]

The problem is not that the kids are more tech savvy than the IT staff, the problem is locking everything down without it becoming cumbersome for staff. I’ve worked in corporate where lock down a lot and everytime someone needs access to a tool or site you essentially have to request access. While annoying it’s not as painful because you don’t have everyone trying to use a bunch of random YouTube sites. Also, if they caught on system they aren’t supposed to be on they risk being fired.

You could do the same at school but that would mean limiting what teachers can show without approval and enforcing disicipline with kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher I am planning on going back to pencil and paper assignments for this upcoming school year.

I will as much as possible, but I need up to date textbooks and working copy machines and printers.

And you need copy paper. Hey parents, for teacher appreciation week, give copy paper to your teachers, not bagels.

I would appreciate that. But my own case, please. The same way some of my coworkers take three bagels each and leave nothing for the last lunch period, there won’t be paper left for others if parents just put a case in the office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just opted out, no computer use until high school.

How??

Not possible. Taking assessments like MAP and MCAP requires a computer.

[Anonymous]

Some schools seem better at limiting screens than others. Our DC is at William Tyler Page ES and most in-class work and all homework is on paper or physical workbooks. Chromebook time very limited.

And I heard White Oak MS was one of the first to ban phones before MCPS updated its policies.

I think principals/admin have a lot of discretion on this issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Programs like GoGuardian and Lightspeed are great for keeping kids off of games and unapproved sites but they basically handcuff teachers to their desks

Not necessarily. If the teacher proactively sets the schedule to limit which websites kids can access they don’t have to be chained to their desk

[Anonymous]

There is a big difference in screen addiction between the schools on the cart model versus the schools that let the kids have their Chromebook on their person all day long like a personal device.