The giant immersive screens in classrooms

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This morning my 6 yo asked me if she could "watch" a book that she had "watched" in school. We happened to have the actual book at home, but when I read it, she said the "real" book has sound effects.

Is there any chance of getting rid of these giant screens or at least avoiding having kids regularly watch videos under the guise of "reading"?

May very well have been on her Chromebook, not necessarily the Promethean board. Neither is going away.

How is there not more outrage about this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The MCCPTA passed a resolution asking MCPS to do a better job of balancing screen time in 2023: https://www.thesentinel.com/communities/first-parent-led-digital-balance-resolution-in-the-u-s-passed-in-montgomery-county/article_6a1ba696-a9a4-11ed-b5ae-bf5c1ff75c5f.html

MCPS has summarily ignored it. Which tells you how little power the MCCPTA actually wields.

MCCPTA has never "wielded" any power. PTAs have never had any power.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The MCCPTA passed a resolution asking MCPS to do a better job of balancing screen time in 2023: https://www.thesentinel.com/communities/first-parent-led-digital-balance-resolution-in-the-u-s-passed-in-montgomery-county/article_6a1ba696-a9a4-11ed-b5ae-bf5c1ff75c5f.html

MCPS has summarily ignored it. Which tells you how little power the MCCPTA actually wields.

MCCPTA has never "wielded" any power. PTAs have never had any power.

That doesn’t have to be the case. PTAs are supposed to be advocate groups. Instead, they’ve given up their advocacy role in favor being a mouthpiece for MCPS or lapdogs to their principals.

[Anonymous]

The problem is not the interactive boards themselves, they can be very helpful in a variety of ways and it is definitely far more efficient to have content on a slideshow than have the children have to wait while the teacher slowly writes words out on a blackboard or whiteboard. Opposing that seems just reflexively anti-technology to me.

I agree that showing videos of read-aloud books is inferior to actually reading them in person and should be kept to a minimum (but teachers in here have given good reasons for why it makes sense to use them occasionally, and I don't think doing it occasionally is a problem.) Also for everyone saying "you should just pick a different book," I think teachers are often told what books they are supposed to cover based on the curriculum? So if they are told they are supposed to teach a specific book that day and can't access it, they really have limited options besides showing a video of someone reading it...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This morning my 6 yo asked me if she could "watch" a book that she had "watched" in school. We happened to have the actual book at home, but when I read it, she said the "real" book has sound effects.

Is there any chance of getting rid of these giant screens or at least avoiding having kids regularly watch videos under the guise of "reading"?

May very well have been on her Chromebook, not necessarily the Promethean board. Neither is going away.

How is there not more outrage about this?

I don't understand that either - there are a few Facebook groups but nothing has really taken off. My kids complain they are stuck in front of IXL and Lexia all day and my oldest daughter says there is hardly any point to going to her math class as they just watch a video and then do online work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How else can I show the kids banned books?

Troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This morning my 6 yo asked me if she could "watch" a book that she had "watched" in school. We happened to have the actual book at home, but when I read it, she said the "real" book has sound effects.

Is there any chance of getting rid of these giant screens or at least avoiding having kids regularly watch videos under the guise of "reading"?

May very well have been on her Chromebook, not necessarily the Promethean board. Neither is going away.

How is there not more outrage about this?

The new class of Kinder advocates have arrived. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem is not the interactive boards themselves, they can be very helpful in a variety of ways and it is definitely far more efficient to have content on a slideshow than have the children have to wait while the teacher slowly writes words out on a blackboard or whiteboard. Opposing that seems just reflexively anti-technology to me.

I agree that showing videos of read-aloud books is inferior to actually reading them in person and should be kept to a minimum (but teachers in here have given good reasons for why it makes sense to use them occasionally, and I don't think doing it occasionally is a problem.) Also for everyone saying "you should just pick a different book," I think teachers are often told what books they are supposed to cover based on the curriculum? So if they are told they are supposed to teach a specific book that day and can't access it, they really have limited options besides showing a video of someone reading it...

This is not a case of taxpayers not giving enough money for books. This is a case of MCPS spending too much money on screens. You all love to rail about how bad screens are for children but insist on using them in your classroom? Reading scores are at all time lows. It is not better in any way.

[Anonymous]

Screens are "amazing tools" in schools but if you see a child with an I pad at a grocery store you immediately blame all parents for all the behavioral issues in your classrooms? Do you hear how insane and deluded you all sound?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Screens are "amazing tools" in schools but if you see a child with an I pad at a grocery store you immediately blame all parents for all the behavioral issues in your classrooms? Do you hear how insane and deluded you all sound?

Ms T, what’s Mount Everest?

40 years ago— “it’s the highest mountain in the world, in Nepal.” Where’s Nepal? “You’ll have to ask your parents or look it up in the encyclopedia you may or may not have at home”

Today—“Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world, let me show you a photo. And here’s a map of where it is; it’s close to China, let me zoom in. After recess I can show you a video of some people climbing it and the indigenous people who help them.”

That’s why it can be an amazing tool.

[Anonymous]

Trump should ban all screens in classrooms. All computers thrown out. Most administrators fired. Kids get one highly paid high quality teacher and if kids misbehave they get thrown out of public school. It’s time for the Butlerian jihad.

[Anonymous]

^16:56 stop now don't give him more ideas we just can't take any more of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem is not the interactive boards themselves, they can be very helpful in a variety of ways and it is definitely far more efficient to have content on a slideshow than have the children have to wait while the teacher slowly writes words out on a blackboard or whiteboard. Opposing that seems just reflexively anti-technology to me.

I agree that showing videos of read-aloud books is inferior to actually reading them in person and should be kept to a minimum (but teachers in here have given good reasons for why it makes sense to use them occasionally, and I don't think doing it occasionally is a problem.) Also for everyone saying "you should just pick a different book," I think teachers are often told what books they are supposed to cover based on the curriculum? So if they are told they are supposed to teach a specific book that day and can't access it, they really have limited options besides showing a video of someone reading it...

This teacher clearly doesn't remember that seeing the teacher write out the problem helps understanding. It's definitely not the same as seeing a slideshow of the quadratic formula already written out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Screens are "amazing tools" in schools but if you see a child with an I pad at a grocery store you immediately blame all parents for all the behavioral issues in your classrooms? Do you hear how insane and deluded you all sound?

Ms T, what’s Mount Everest?

40 years ago— “it’s the highest mountain in the world, in Nepal.” Where’s Nepal? “You’ll have to ask your parents or look it up in the encyclopedia you may or may not have at home”

Today—“Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world, let me show you a photo. And here’s a map of where it is; it’s close to China, let me zoom in. After recess I can show you a video of some people climbing it and the indigenous people who help them.”

That’s why it can be an amazing tool.

Now take it easy, don't be insulting the fabulous encyclopedia collections many homes had. It was when you waited with excitement to learn something. Now that info can't be here fast enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Screens are "amazing tools" in schools but if you see a child with an I pad at a grocery store you immediately blame all parents for all the behavioral issues in your classrooms? Do you hear how insane and deluded you all sound?

Ms T, what’s Mount Everest?

40 years ago— “it’s the highest mountain in the world, in Nepal.” Where’s Nepal? “You’ll have to ask your parents or look it up in the encyclopedia you may or may not have at home”

Today—“Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world, let me show you a photo. And here’s a map of where it is; it’s close to China, let me zoom in. After recess I can show you a video of some people climbing it and the indigenous people who help them.”

That’s why it can be an amazing tool.

So education has essentially been reduced to googling.