DCI: Too much focus on tablets/devices?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To follow up on PP. When I asked at a recent open house if kids could do homework assigments without using the chromebook ( I thought this coulod be a good way to reduce screen time and allow me to supervise homework better) I was told all assignments must be completed via googl classroom. Do you think this might be an area the adminstration maybe willing to allow?

I think it's because Google needs to connect to the internet to work. But can't kids do on paper?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Another article about how powerful a tool technology is, and how we need to limit kid exposure to them (max for any kid, according to this article, is 2 hours/day)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2930601/Are-kids-spending-time-staring-screens-Scary-figures-60-cent-Aussie-school-children-spend-two-hours-day-eyes-fixed-electronic-devices-s-getting-WORSE.html

DCI parent here. Please note: no DCI parent that I know is advocating for less tech for educatin purposes. In the classrooms there is balance. What surprised many parents was that non-classroom times devices - Chromebooks or cells are allowed.

Not yet a DCI parent, but at feeder so may be one day, and I get the concern about the non-classroom access. But what I am also very concerned about is the number of hours IN CLASS that kids would be on their technology daily. Even for educational purposes, it's a ton of time (well more than 2 hrs/day). So none of the current parents are concerned about that at all?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Really? Previous posts from other DCI parents suggest otherwise. You are right in that no poster has suggested a ban on tech but many have raised questions about kids getting distracted during class. Also, I think it is reasonable to continue to ask about the reliance of tech in every class, especially in light of recent research.

Ultimately, every family needs to do what t.hey feel is right for their DC. Based on current information, we will be considering other MS options. Feeling sad because I was so excited about DCI!

Are you at a feeder? How many years before MS for your children? We are in K and PK3 at a feeder and all of the parents I've talked to about this are interested to see what happens but are completely confident that a good compromise will be worked out LONG before our kids get there. I'm so curious about who's actually throwing in the towel on DCI and whether they're really feeder parents.

You do know that parents with kids in 4th and 5th grade also read this forum, right? And that 3 of the feeder schools (maybe 4) have 4th and 5th grade students? This is absolutely a relevant question for some parents NOW. And even though DCI starts in 6th grade, if I'm not mistaken a few schools like BASIS start in 5th so even parents with 4th graders now would need to be thinking about whether they are so concerned about DCI that they might lottery this year for a school like BASIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^Yes, there have been complaints and concerns about technology early on but the administration is listening and is responding. There is much more balance in classrooms and I'm seeing more assignments on paper. They have also acknowledged that reading on a chromebook does not work and are researching e-readers vs. books. Personally, I don't want too much on paper as my kid prefers to type and I see the incredible organizational benefits with Google Classroom.

DCI now has the ability to block games or other non-educational content for kids who needs it. All parents have to do is request.

Where parents I've spoken with have concern is with the non-education times. The school has 2 breaks during the day, Brunch and Lunch. Both times, kids are free to use their chromebooks for games or use their personal devices. DCI wants kids to be able to make choices. However, I think especially at this age, kids are not prepared to make this choice. It’s like soda machines. Schools banded them because they saw that even when kids had a healthy choice they still went for the soda. The *choice* was weighted heavily toward junk food. Same with devices.

Maybe this will change if enough parents say they want tech free times. I think the administration would be up for this. They're still getting their bearings. Let's all try to breathe and work together to make this the great school it can be.

I'm still a few years out from needing to decide whether we lottery for other MSs, and I'm very heartened to hear this. I have to say, this was not my experience at a DCI session when technology was brought up. It felt like the parent who asked was shut down a lot actually, and that there wasn't much space among the founders for questioning the model (including homework on paper). If the founders and administration really are open to considering these concerns, that gives me hope. I was so so excited about DCI and devastated when we really started to understand how much time is spent on technology during the day. I really hope the amount of time can really be significantly cut back, and reading and writing both on chromebooks and books/paper will way more balanced by the time we have to make a decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Really? Previous posts from other DCI parents suggest otherwise. You are right in that no poster has suggested a ban on tech but many have raised questions about kids getting distracted during class. Also, I think it is reasonable to continue to ask about the reliance of tech in every class, especially in light of recent research.

Ultimately, every family needs to do what t.hey feel is right for their DC. Based on current information, we will be considering other MS options. Feeling sad because I was so excited about DCI!

Are you at a feeder? How many years before MS for your children? We are in K and PK3 at a feeder and all of the parents I've talked to about this are interested to see what happens but are completely confident that a good compromise will be worked out LONG before our kids get there. I'm so curious about who's actually throwing in the towel on DCI and whether they're really feeder parents.

You do know that parents with kids in 4th and 5th grade also read this forum, right? And that 3 of the feeder schools (maybe 4) have 4th and 5th grade students? This is absolutely a relevant question for some parents NOW. And even though DCI starts in 6th grade, if I'm not mistaken a few schools like BASIS start in 5th so even parents with 4th graders now would need to be thinking about whether they are so concerned about DCI that they might lottery this year for a school like BASIS.

Of course I'm aware that parents of older kids are here. That's why I asked. Perhaps people like you who are immediately affected need to do a better job of coordinating with other feeder parents to get an audience with DCI admins other than the open houses. To my knowledge, nobody at our feeder, even parents of 4th and 5th graders, has reached out to the greater school community to get parents involved. (I did say I was a parent of younger children, so it's possible that these efforts are happening, but I have not seen any evidence of them at parent meetings or on the listserv.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Really? Previous posts from other DCI parents suggest otherwise. You are right in that no poster has suggested a ban on tech but many have raised questions about kids getting distracted during class. Also, I think it is reasonable to continue to ask about the reliance of tech in every class, especially in light of recent research.

Ultimately, every family needs to do what t.hey feel is right for their DC. Based on current information, we will be considering other MS options. Feeling sad because I was so excited about DCI!

Are you at a feeder? How many years before MS for your children? We are in K and PK3 at a feeder and all of the parents I've talked to about this are interested to see what happens but are completely confident that a good compromise will be worked out LONG before our kids get there. I'm so curious about who's actually throwing in the towel on DCI and whether they're really feeder parents.

You do know that parents with kids in 4th and 5th grade also read this forum, right? And that 3 of the feeder schools (maybe 4) have 4th and 5th grade students? This is absolutely a relevant question for some parents NOW. And even though DCI starts in 6th grade, if I'm not mistaken a few schools like BASIS start in 5th so even parents with 4th graders now would need to be thinking about whether they are so concerned about DCI that they might lottery this year for a school like BASIS.

Of course I'm aware that parents of older kids are here. That's why I asked. Perhaps people like you who are immediately affected need to do a better job of coordinating with other feeder parents to get an audience with DCI admins other than the open houses. To my knowledge, nobody at our feeder, even parents of 4th and 5th graders, has reached out to the greater school community to get parents involved. (I did say I was a parent of younger children, so it's possible that these efforts are happening, but I have not seen any evidence of them at parent meetings or on the listserv.)

I'm PP, and that's a good point. I know in my case, I'm still trying to wrap my head around what the actual situation is, because it's hard to try to rally others when I'm not totally positive that the problem I perceive is really the problem. But we're obviously running out of time (or for those going for 6th grade, already have haven't we?) for the lottery so it's true that any reaching out to similarly situation parents needs to be done ASAP. I really don't want to be seen as stirring up trouble when maybe the Admins are more open than what I have seen, so for me I wanted to try a bit more direct engagement myself of the DCI staff before I feel like I know what I would be saying to parents at my feeder. But time is running out for this year's lottery for sure.

[Anonymous]

^^I know it's not standard practice for MS but given that this model is so different/cutting edge what have you can parents go visit and see for themselves? Or is DCI doing shadow days? That would probably be telling.

[Anonymous]

DCI is offering shadow days for feeder school kids to visit as a group (eg a DC bilingual day, a LAMB day etc). But for YY and LAMB the visits are happening after the lottery date. They can't/won't move them up - already tried.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^I know it's not standard practice for MS but given that this model is so different/cutting edge what have you can parents go visit and see for themselves? Or is DCI doing shadow days? That would probably be telling.

1:1 technology programs are not "so different" or "cutting edge". They are quite common these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^I know it's not standard practice for MS but given that this model is so different/cutting edge what have you can parents go visit and see for themselves? Or is DCI doing shadow days? That would probably be telling.

1:1 technology programs are not "so different" or "cutting edge". They are quite common these days.

Please don't try to pick a fight. I'll rephrase: Given that the model is so different than what many kids are experiencing in their EL...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^I know it's not standard practice for MS but given that this model is so different/cutting edge what have you can parents go visit and see for themselves? Or is DCI doing shadow days? That would probably be telling.

1:1 technology programs are not "so different" or "cutting edge". They are quite common these days.

Please don't try to pick a fight. I'll rephrase: Given that the model is so different than what many kids are experiencing in their EL...

Every middle school is different from elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Really? Previous posts from other DCI parents suggest otherwise. You are right in that no poster has suggested a ban on tech but many have raised questions about kids getting distracted during class. Also, I think it is reasonable to continue to ask about the reliance of tech in every class, especially in light of recent research.

Ultimately, every family needs to do what t.hey feel is right for their DC. Based on current information, we will be considering other MS options. Feeling sad because I was so excited about DCI!

Are you at a feeder? How many years before MS for your children? We are in K and PK3 at a feeder and all of the parents I've talked to about this are interested to see what happens but are completely confident that a good compromise will be worked out LONG before our kids get there. I'm so curious about who's actually throwing in the towel on DCI and whether they're really feeder parents.

I wanted to go all the way with DCI, at the very least completion of eighth grade. My kid is currently in fourth grade feeder YY and we are playing the lottery now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^I know it's not standard practice for MS but given that this model is so different/cutting edge what have you can parents go visit and see for themselves? Or is DCI doing shadow days? That would probably be telling.

1:1 technology programs are not "so different" or "cutting edge". They are quite common these days.

Please don't try to pick a fight. I'll rephrase: Given that the model is so different than what many kids are experiencing in their EL...

Every middle school is different from elementary school.

And Basis and Latin offer shadow days before the Lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^I know it's not standard practice for MS but given that this model is so different/cutting edge what have you can parents go visit and see for themselves? Or is DCI doing shadow days? That would probably be telling.

1:1 technology programs are not "so different" or "cutting edge". They are quite common these days.

Please don't try to pick a fight. I'll rephrase: Given that the model is so different than what many kids are experiencing in their EL...

Every middle school is different from elementary school.

And Basis and Latin offer shadow days before the Lottery.

Then why say "it's not standard practice", or talk about the program being "so different" or "cutting edge"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCI is offering shadow days for feeder school kids to visit as a group (eg a DC bilingual day, a LAMB day etc). But for YY and LAMB the visits are happening after the lottery date. They can't/won't move them up - already tried.

I was referring to this.