Requesting no/low tech options for kids—FCPS teachers, what is possible?

[Anonymous]

What schools are you at that your kids aren't writing? My second grader brings home *stacks* of handwritten work. There's handwritten work for every subject - tons of physical writing journals, "published" stories that go through multiple handwritten drafts, math worksheets that have to show all the work, and lots of science and social studies worksheets. So. Much. Paper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tech is throughout every class in elementary

This has been our experience. Even more so for second child going through elementary school. Almost no physical writing for second child. It’s really bad.

This is ridiculous. No handwriting.

True for my second grader also. She's on the small side. Do you know how hard typing on a full-sized keyboard with tiny hands is?

There's an appropriate age to learn to type - 4th-6th grade seems good - but FCPS doesn't actually teach typing. They just point you at Typing Club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What schools are you at that your kids aren't writing? My second grader brings home *stacks* of handwritten work. There's handwritten work for every subject - tons of physical writing journals, "published" stories that go through multiple handwritten drafts, math worksheets that have to show all the work, and lots of science and social studies worksheets. So. Much. Paper.

I'm jealous. I had that for one of 3 kids, and the teacher who was like that moved out of state before my second kid could have her. The other teachers are enamored of the slide decks they used during virtual school, so they still use them.

[Anonymous]

My dc's school is still using those terrible slides Gatehouse sent out during Covid .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m concerned about the overuse of tech in schools and esp FCPS. I’m not totally opposed to Lexia and st math but not a fan of all of the apps my kid gets out on otherwise. If I asked teachers if they could have my kid only do the book box instead on myon, tumblebooks, starfall, etc would that work?

As the grade levels advance, I know even more is done on computers, and I’m concerned given the benefits of handwriting for neural development and learning. Is there any way I can ask teachers to have my kids do more by hand and then just turn it in? Or other ways people have navigated this?

For hw, could we print and hand in in person? I’d be happy to volunteer to grade his work!

Any stories of people who were able to secure non or reduced tech options for their kids would be appreciated. [/quote

+1 well said and kudos to you for voicing this widespread concern

[Anonymous]

Please name schools where kids don't do handwriting and are overexposed to screen.
Mine is SVES, every year she brings a lot of writing. They have lots of projects where they write, construct from materials, draw etc.
I don't like st math and myon. Cause with st math sometimes she doesn't understand what is the task and cannot complete it. With myon somehow she chose scary stories and had nightmares after. Too much freedom in choosing things to listen without guidance. But it's life and those experiences teach us smth else, like when and how to ask for help.

[Anonymous]

My kids were on the laptops all day at Bull Run ES. Their handwriting is appalling. They never learned to type or write in cursive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids were on the laptops all day at Bull Run ES. Their handwriting is appalling. They never learned to type or write in cursive.

Nobody writes in cursive anymore. They don’t need it.

[Anonymous]

So, you need to balance it because tech is used in college and in the workplace. My kids did plenty of writing on paper and reading actual books in FCPS — to include my current middle schooler — but they also used tech for repetition (e.g., math), taking notes, and for most textbooks. Most of the textbooks for my current college students are online, as are their notes and the teachers’ presentations. My DD will purchase hard copy books for English because she prefers them to online books.

[Anonymous]

Whatever they're doing at school you need to supplement at home. No school can do it all...see what they are getting in the classroom and what your kid needs more of and help them at home. For us that's handwriting practice, editing their writing, and geography (they get next to none of that at school). But OK, we can handle it. We also have our kid read physical books every night before going to sleep. Not rocket science. Many parents want teachers to somehow do it all during the school day, but we need to be aware and help a bit at home...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please name schools where kids don't do handwriting and are overexposed to screen.
Mine is SVES, every year she brings a lot of writing. They have lots of projects where they write, construct from materials, draw etc.
I don't like st math and myon. Cause with st math sometimes she doesn't understand what is the task and cannot complete it. With myon somehow she chose scary stories and had nightmares after. Too much freedom in choosing things to listen without guidance. But it's life and those experiences teach us smth else, like when and how to ask for help.

Navy ES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, you need to balance it because tech is used in college and in the workplace. My kids did plenty of writing on paper and reading actual books in FCPS — to include my current middle schooler — but they also used tech for repetition (e.g., math), taking notes, and for most textbooks. Most of the textbooks for my current college students are online, as are their notes and the teachers’ presentations. My DD will purchase hard copy books for English because she prefers them to online books.

Kids have lots of teach at home. They don’t need it in school too. Yes college is mostly on the computer and high school is a good time to introduce the laptops one on one. We aren’t talking about high school though. We are talking about the fundamental years of k-8. Students do not need electronics in school. Kids were smarter back in the day because we used books, pencil and paper. When we learned to type and do research, we had to visit the computer lab twice a week. We still learned to type, research, etc. we didn’t have programs like Lexia teaching our kids. We had teachers that taught.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, you need to balance it because tech is used in college and in the workplace. My kids did plenty of writing on paper and reading actual books in FCPS — to include my current middle schooler — but they also used tech for repetition (e.g., math), taking notes, and for most textbooks. Most of the textbooks for my current college students are online, as are their notes and the teachers’ presentations. My DD will purchase hard copy books for English because she prefers them to online books.

Kids have lots of teach at home. They don’t need it in school too. Yes college is mostly on the computer and high school is a good time to introduce the laptops one on one. We aren’t talking about high school though. We are talking about the fundamental years of k-8. Students do not need electronics in school. Kids were smarter back in the day because we used books, pencil and paper. When we learned to type and do research, we had to visit the computer lab twice a week. We still learned to type, research, etc. we didn’t have programs like Lexia teaching our kids. We had teachers that taught.

The tech is because of the broken model of heterogeneous classes. When we were kids and the teacher taught mainly it was common to group classes so a teacher was not trying to teach to widely different ability levels. Unless you fix that it will be hard to fix the tech use.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, you need to balance it because tech is used in college and in the workplace. My kids did plenty of writing on paper and reading actual books in FCPS — to include my current middle schooler — but they also used tech for repetition (e.g., math), taking notes, and for most textbooks. Most of the textbooks for my current college students are online, as are their notes and the teachers’ presentations. My DD will purchase hard copy books for English because she prefers them to online books.

Kids have lots of teach at home. They don’t need it in school too. Yes college is mostly on the computer and high school is a good time to introduce the laptops one on one. We aren’t talking about high school though. We are talking about the fundamental years of k-8. Students do not need electronics in school. Kids were smarter back in the day because we used books, pencil and paper. When we learned to type and do research, we had to visit the computer lab twice a week. We still learned to type, research, etc. we didn’t have programs like Lexia teaching our kids. We had teachers that taught.

The tech is because of the broken model of heterogeneous classes. When we were kids and the teacher taught mainly it was common to group classes so a teacher was not trying to teach to widely different ability levels. Unless you fix that it will be hard to fix the tech use.

The tech is not because of heterogeneous classes. Tech was brought on to distinguish the “good” schools from the “bad.” Then it was in full explosion, rightfully so, due to Covid and online teaching. We are not online teaching anymore so why do the students still have access to laptops? Do you (you meaning the people), know how much money gets tossed from the county and state for these computers? It’s a lot! Yet my students do not have textbooks one on one to use. However, if they break a laptop, same day, they get a new one. However, I completely agree with you that classes need to go back to being separated by academic abilities. That’s a whole other thread that I can go on and on about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dc's school is still using those terrible slides Gatehouse sent out during Covid .

Well, that is the material our employer encourages us to use.