How can we advocate against Ed tech in elementary in dcps?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you need to focus on the curriculum and ineffectiveness of “Ed tech” as opposed to portraying the image of a precious Montessori mom who believes that even one episode of Teletubbies will pollute her child’s brain.

The issue is not a teacher putting a dance video on the smart screen - that is actually probably a fun and good use of screens. The actual issue is that the screen/algorithm based instructional methods replacing paper *do not work.* Even more of an alarm bell should sound when the school starts telling you that the instruction will be “self paced” with your child on a device.

So the upshot is - no, you cannot act like an entitled parent and cry that your baby is being “exposed to screens.” Because computers are obviously here to stay in the world. You need to focus on how Ed tech has replaced books and paper based education despite being catastrophically less effective - particularly in math.

This is a gross misrepresentation of what most people want. And sure if it’s the equivalent to 3-15 minutes a day sure.

But sometimes the books are read on the screen, all the morning meeting songs are on the screen, the movement breaks, whole group lessons,etc. -it can add up to 30-60 minutes easily.

To not take this seriously is to discredit the vast amount of research coming out. My generation (gen z) is the first one said to be less capable than the previous generations in terms of executive functioning skills and the like. It will only get worse.

I’m not advocating for Montessori or Waldorf -especially since both have ties to eugenics or forest school. Please don’t use reductive arguments.

I simply don’t think it’s appropriate for classrooms with children 3-5 years old to be made to have laptop carts with iPads in them. Especially when it’s not developmentally appropriate or necessary.

1) I doubt you are actually in the classroom every day to know how much time is on screens
2) Using your granola-mom standards as the basis for your advocacy is not going to work. Screens are not actually toxic to children. This is just like when granola moms try to organize against baloney sandwiches and yoplait (check the archives).
3) there IS a BIG problem with screens, and that is with their use to deliver computerized/algorithmic curriculums that have poor results. THIS is what you need to have your eye on - how is your school delivering phonics and math instruction? Not the YouTube dancing video.

Haha. I made sure to NOT mention that I AM a PK teacher/coach. I hate to burst your bubble but I have seen this in plenty of classrooms.

Why did you ignore my mentioning of laptop carts in every ECE classroom? This is easily verifiable by the Ed spec of schools that are modernizing.

It’s also not just about what is currently happening, it’s what’s coming as well. DCPS isn’t giving us all iPads for nothing.

The fact that you are bashing moms because you think they are not experts and just overly sensitive is telling.

What do you let your young child have 3+ hours of screen time a day and you feel guilty?

And please stop moving the goalpost like people are just saying ‘a screen in general’ it’s not helpful to the conversation.

Hmm maybe you are the psycho PK3 teacher my kid had.

Maybe you can answer my question about phonics and math instruction though because that is the one that actually matters, not your weird thing about laptop carts.

This is the last time I will answer you since you are clearly not interested in an intelligent conversation. As for your boring question -through free and guided play. My students are all ‘ahead.’

Oh guess what I didn’t use? Some run of the mill app. I feel sorry for your child’s previous teachers, you are clearly can’t understand basic neuroscience or child development.

You want to teach phonics and math through “free and guided play”? OK then!

DP but you are talking to a PK teacher. Free and guided play is absolutely how a lot of kids start to learn letters and letter sounds, counting, shapes, colors, etc., as 3 and 4 year olds.

Do you want preschoolers drilling multiplication tables on an iPad? WTF?

Let’s be real. At PK most kids are still figuring out how to not pee in their pants. Academics, computer or otherwise, should be the least of your worries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you need to focus on the curriculum and ineffectiveness of “Ed tech” as opposed to portraying the image of a precious Montessori mom who believes that even one episode of Teletubbies will pollute her child’s brain.

The issue is not a teacher putting a dance video on the smart screen - that is actually probably a fun and good use of screens. The actual issue is that the screen/algorithm based instructional methods replacing paper *do not work.* Even more of an alarm bell should sound when the school starts telling you that the instruction will be “self paced” with your child on a device.

So the upshot is - no, you cannot act like an entitled parent and cry that your baby is being “exposed to screens.” Because computers are obviously here to stay in the world. You need to focus on how Ed tech has replaced books and paper based education despite being catastrophically less effective - particularly in math.

This is a gross misrepresentation of what most people want. And sure if it’s the equivalent to 3-15 minutes a day sure.

But sometimes the books are read on the screen, all the morning meeting songs are on the screen, the movement breaks, whole group lessons,etc. -it can add up to 30-60 minutes easily.

To not take this seriously is to discredit the vast amount of research coming out. My generation (gen z) is the first one said to be less capable than the previous generations in terms of executive functioning skills and the like. It will only get worse.

I’m not advocating for Montessori or Waldorf -especially since both have ties to eugenics or forest school. Please don’t use reductive arguments.

I simply don’t think it’s appropriate for classrooms with children 3-5 years old to be made to have laptop carts with iPads in them. Especially when it’s not developmentally appropriate or necessary.

1) I doubt you are actually in the classroom every day to know how much time is on screens
2) Using your granola-mom standards as the basis for your advocacy is not going to work. Screens are not actually toxic to children. This is just like when granola moms try to organize against baloney sandwiches and yoplait (check the archives).
3) there IS a BIG problem with screens, and that is with their use to deliver computerized/algorithmic curriculums that have poor results. THIS is what you need to have your eye on - how is your school delivering phonics and math instruction? Not the YouTube dancing video.

Haha. I made sure to NOT mention that I AM a PK teacher/coach. I hate to burst your bubble but I have seen this in plenty of classrooms.

Why did you ignore my mentioning of laptop carts in every ECE classroom? This is easily verifiable by the Ed spec of schools that are modernizing.

It’s also not just about what is currently happening, it’s what’s coming as well. DCPS isn’t giving us all iPads for nothing.

The fact that you are bashing moms because you think they are not experts and just overly sensitive is telling.

What do you let your young child have 3+ hours of screen time a day and you feel guilty?

And please stop moving the goalpost like people are just saying ‘a screen in general’ it’s not helpful to the conversation.

Hmm maybe you are the psycho PK3 teacher my kid had.

Maybe you can answer my question about phonics and math instruction though because that is the one that actually matters, not your weird thing about laptop carts.

This is the last time I will answer you since you are clearly not interested in an intelligent conversation. As for your boring question -through free and guided play. My students are all ‘ahead.’

Oh guess what I didn’t use? Some run of the mill app. I feel sorry for your child’s previous teachers, you are clearly can’t understand basic neuroscience or child development.

You want to teach phonics and math through “free and guided play”? OK then!

DP but you are talking to a PK teacher. Free and guided play is absolutely how a lot of kids start to learn letters and letter sounds, counting, shapes, colors, etc., as 3 and 4 year olds.

Do you want preschoolers drilling multiplication tables on an iPad? WTF?

If you look back at my post, the point is, I don’t think catastrophizing over the presence of iPad carts or showing a dance video is really helpful. What is helpful is yes, looking to see how phonics and math are taught, and no, I don’t think that should be via iPad.

But making fun of a PK teacher for using free and guided play to teach is weirdly unproductive since that's actually an evidenced-based method for teaching at that grade level. The PP is complaining about the presence of ed tech in her PK classrooms, which she views as an unnecessary distraction from age-appropriate learning. This is a valid point, and does not deserve to be mocked. She's not catastrophizing, she's literally just describing her experience and sharing her professional recommendation for how to handle tech in PK classrooms.

I think you need to take a break from this thread.

[Anonymous]

What I want is for kids to learn life skills. At this point, people need to know enough math to ask AI the right question, and to have a sense if the answer is wildly off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I want is for kids to learn life skills. At this point, people need to know enough math to ask AI the right question, and to have a sense if the answer is wildly off.

OMG

[Anonymous]

I’d like to know why there are so many people who study education and have evidence based methods, etc, yet US education is generally terrible.

[Anonymous]

All this talk about math and yet most of this country has zero financial sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I want is for kids to learn life skills. At this point, people need to know enough math to ask AI the right question, and to have a sense if the answer is wildly off.

Let's stop teaching them how to read, too -- they can just hear an AI influencer explain it over TikTok!


My main struggle is that these public school kids are going to be left behind -- there is a widening rift between schools that still teach fundamental skills rigorously and those that hand it off to dubious Ed Tech companies. People who know how to learn and think and write, versus those who just know how to consume. Parents should be very, very worried.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you need to focus on the curriculum and ineffectiveness of “Ed tech” as opposed to portraying the image of a precious Montessori mom who believes that even one episode of Teletubbies will pollute her child’s brain.

The issue is not a teacher putting a dance video on the smart screen - that is actually probably a fun and good use of screens. The actual issue is that the screen/algorithm based instructional methods replacing paper *do not work.* Even more of an alarm bell should sound when the school starts telling you that the instruction will be “self paced” with your child on a device.

So the upshot is - no, you cannot act like an entitled parent and cry that your baby is being “exposed to screens.” Because computers are obviously here to stay in the world. You need to focus on how Ed tech has replaced books and paper based education despite being catastrophically less effective - particularly in math.

This is a gross misrepresentation of what most people want. And sure if it’s the equivalent to 3-15 minutes a day sure.

But sometimes the books are read on the screen, all the morning meeting songs are on the screen, the movement breaks, whole group lessons,etc. -it can add up to 30-60 minutes easily.

To not take this seriously is to discredit the vast amount of research coming out. My generation (gen z) is the first one said to be less capable than the previous generations in terms of executive functioning skills and the like. It will only get worse.

I’m not advocating for Montessori or Waldorf -especially since both have ties to eugenics or forest school. Please don’t use reductive arguments.

I simply don’t think it’s appropriate for classrooms with children 3-5 years old to be made to have laptop carts with iPads in them. Especially when it’s not developmentally appropriate or necessary.

1) I doubt you are actually in the classroom every day to know how much time is on screens
2) Using your granola-mom standards as the basis for your advocacy is not going to work. Screens are not actually toxic to children. This is just like when granola moms try to organize against baloney sandwiches and yoplait (check the archives).
3) there IS a BIG problem with screens, and that is with their use to deliver computerized/algorithmic curriculums that have poor results. THIS is what you need to have your eye on - how is your school delivering phonics and math instruction? Not the YouTube dancing video.

Haha. I made sure to NOT mention that I AM a PK teacher/coach. I hate to burst your bubble but I have seen this in plenty of classrooms.

Why did you ignore my mentioning of laptop carts in every ECE classroom? This is easily verifiable by the Ed spec of schools that are modernizing.

It’s also not just about what is currently happening, it’s what’s coming as well. DCPS isn’t giving us all iPads for nothing.

The fact that you are bashing moms because you think they are not experts and just overly sensitive is telling.

What do you let your young child have 3+ hours of screen time a day and you feel guilty?

And please stop moving the goalpost like people are just saying ‘a screen in general’ it’s not helpful to the conversation.

Hmm maybe you are the psycho PK3 teacher my kid had.

Maybe you can answer my question about phonics and math instruction though because that is the one that actually matters, not your weird thing about laptop carts.

This is the last time I will answer you since you are clearly not interested in an intelligent conversation. As for your boring question -through free and guided play. My students are all ‘ahead.’

Oh guess what I didn’t use? Some run of the mill app. I feel sorry for your child’s previous teachers, you are clearly can’t understand basic neuroscience or child development.

You want to teach phonics and math through “free and guided play”? OK then!

DP but you are talking to a PK teacher. Free and guided play is absolutely how a lot of kids start to learn letters and letter sounds, counting, shapes, colors, etc., as 3 and 4 year olds.

Do you want preschoolers drilling multiplication tables on an iPad? WTF?

If you look back at my post, the point is, I don’t think catastrophizing over the presence of iPad carts or showing a dance video is really helpful. What is helpful is yes, looking to see how phonics and math are taught, and no, I don’t think that should be via iPad.

But making fun of a PK teacher for using free and guided play to teach is weirdly unproductive since that's actually an evidenced-based method for teaching at that grade level. The PP is complaining about the presence of ed tech in her PK classrooms, which she views as an unnecessary distraction from age-appropriate learning. This is a valid point, and does not deserve to be mocked. She's not catastrophizing, she's literally just describing her experience and sharing her professional recommendation for how to handle tech in PK classrooms.

I think you need to take a break from this thread.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: A huge problem is also that the tech often doesn't work, so teacher will wind up spending time playing IT instead of teaching. They don't want that, the kids don't want it, I don't know why anyone would defend a situation in which teachers are spending hours of instructional time helping kids log on.

^ Strong case. And sadly, I recently saw a version of this during an open house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I want is for kids to learn life skills. At this point, people need to know enough math to ask AI the right question, and to have a sense if the answer is wildly off.

Let's stop teaching them how to read, too -- they can just hear an AI influencer explain it over TikTok!


My main struggle is that these public school kids are going to be left behind -- there is a widening rift between schools that still teach fundamental skills rigorously and those that hand it off to dubious Ed Tech companies. People who know how to learn and think and write, versus those who just know how to consume. Parents should be very, very worried.

Bingo.

- signed, ex- Ed Tech professional who was supposedly on a mission to help bring more opportunities to "disadvantaged" kids (emphasis on "ex")

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The easiest thing to do is leave DCPS for a lower tech school. Then you’ll find parents who want the same things you do.

Not easy, unless you can afford private or are able to move. Yes there are some lower tech charters but some of them have other glaring problems and no one is guaranteed a spot at those that are strong academically.

If enough parents with kids enrolled in DCPS want lower tech in schools, the schools should be responsive to that, especially when there absolutely are experts recommending less tech.

At a minimum we should be looking specifically at Ed Tech contracts and asking if they truly serve our interests.

Thank you for this response. Sensible.

The "if you don't like it, got somewhere else" attitude of some others on this board just comes off as mean and/or lazy. We should want for public schools to be better, bit by bit. For the kids AND for the teachers. Maybe spend a little time talking to experienced DCPS teachers who are also parents – it's clarifying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I want is for kids to learn life skills. At this point, people need to know enough math to ask AI the right question, and to have a sense if the answer is wildly off.

Sounds like an Alpha School admin

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you need to focus on the curriculum and ineffectiveness of “Ed tech” as opposed to portraying the image of a precious Montessori mom who believes that even one episode of Teletubbies will pollute her child’s brain.

The issue is not a teacher putting a dance video on the smart screen - that is actually probably a fun and good use of screens. The actual issue is that the screen/algorithm based instructional methods replacing paper *do not work.* Even more of an alarm bell should sound when the school starts telling you that the instruction will be “self paced” with your child on a device.

So the upshot is - no, you cannot act like an entitled parent and cry that your baby is being “exposed to screens.” Because computers are obviously here to stay in the world. You need to focus on how Ed tech has replaced books and paper based education despite being catastrophically less effective - particularly in math.

This is a gross misrepresentation of what most people want. And sure if it’s the equivalent to 3-15 minutes a day sure.

But sometimes the books are read on the screen, all the morning meeting songs are on the screen, the movement breaks, whole group lessons,etc. -it can add up to 30-60 minutes easily.

To not take this seriously is to discredit the vast amount of research coming out. My generation (gen z) is the first one said to be less capable than the previous generations in terms of executive functioning skills and the like. It will only get worse.

I’m not advocating for Montessori or Waldorf -especially since both have ties to eugenics or forest school. Please don’t use reductive arguments.

I simply don’t think it’s appropriate for classrooms with children 3-5 years old to be made to have laptop carts with iPads in them. Especially when it’s not developmentally appropriate or necessary.

1) I doubt you are actually in the classroom every day to know how much time is on screens
2) Using your granola-mom standards as the basis for your advocacy is not going to work. Screens are not actually toxic to children. This is just like when granola moms try to organize against baloney sandwiches and yoplait (check the archives).
3) there IS a BIG problem with screens, and that is with their use to deliver computerized/algorithmic curriculums that have poor results. THIS is what you need to have your eye on - how is your school delivering phonics and math instruction? Not the YouTube dancing video.

Haha. I made sure to NOT mention that I AM a PK teacher/coach. I hate to burst your bubble but I have seen this in plenty of classrooms.

Why did you ignore my mentioning of laptop carts in every ECE classroom? This is easily verifiable by the Ed spec of schools that are modernizing.

It’s also not just about what is currently happening, it’s what’s coming as well. DCPS isn’t giving us all iPads for nothing.

The fact that you are bashing moms because you think they are not experts and just overly sensitive is telling.

What do you let your young child have 3+ hours of screen time a day and you feel guilty?

And please stop moving the goalpost like people are just saying ‘a screen in general’ it’s not helpful to the conversation.

Hmm maybe you are the psycho PK3 teacher my kid had.

Maybe you can answer my question about phonics and math instruction though because that is the one that actually matters, not your weird thing about laptop carts.

This is the last time I will answer you since you are clearly not interested in an intelligent conversation. As for your boring question -through free and guided play. My students are all ‘ahead.’

Oh guess what I didn’t use? Some run of the mill app. I feel sorry for your child’s previous teachers, you are clearly can’t understand basic neuroscience or child development.

You want to teach phonics and math through “free and guided play”? OK then!

DP but you are talking to a PK teacher. Free and guided play is absolutely how a lot of kids start to learn letters and letter sounds, counting, shapes, colors, etc., as 3 and 4 year olds.

Do you want preschoolers drilling multiplication tables on an iPad? WTF?

If you look back at my post, the point is, I don’t think catastrophizing over the presence of iPad carts or showing a dance video is really helpful. What is helpful is yes, looking to see how phonics and math are taught, and no, I don’t think that should be via iPad.

But making fun of a PK teacher for using free and guided play to teach is weirdly unproductive since that's actually an evidenced-based method for teaching at that grade level. The PP is complaining about the presence of ed tech in her PK classrooms, which she views as an unnecessary distraction from age-appropriate learning. This is a valid point, and does not deserve to be mocked. She's not catastrophizing, she's literally just describing her experience and sharing her professional recommendation for how to handle tech in PK classrooms.

I think you need to take a break from this thread.

She was being snide about how much better she is than other teachers that, gasp, show their kids a video. And weirdly fixated on the cart. Her concerns have very little to do with the needs of older kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there any parents out there interested in organizing around tech use in MS? My kid is already mid-elementary so while I totally support any effort to get tech out of younger grades (solidarity), I'm also looking down the pike to MS and would love to see more focus on physical books. Also if there are parents on here with experiences in DCPS MS regarding tech, what can you share? Our IB is Stuart-Hobson, which I'm enthusiastic about, but I've also heard from neighbor kids that it's a lot of chrome book use.

Are you at L-T? If so, I’d consider joining the book club for the Anxious Generation (grab your copy of the book at Solid State). I think there are a bunch of 3rd-5th grade parents in that group who are likely headed to SH and would be interested in that conversation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you need to focus on the curriculum and ineffectiveness of “Ed tech” as opposed to portraying the image of a precious Montessori mom who believes that even one episode of Teletubbies will pollute her child’s brain.

The issue is not a teacher putting a dance video on the smart screen - that is actually probably a fun and good use of screens. The actual issue is that the screen/algorithm based instructional methods replacing paper *do not work.* Even more of an alarm bell should sound when the school starts telling you that the instruction will be “self paced” with your child on a device.

So the upshot is - no, you cannot act like an entitled parent and cry that your baby is being “exposed to screens.” Because computers are obviously here to stay in the world. You need to focus on how Ed tech has replaced books and paper based education despite being catastrophically less effective - particularly in math.

This is a gross misrepresentation of what most people want. And sure if it’s the equivalent to 3-15 minutes a day sure.

But sometimes the books are read on the screen, all the morning meeting songs are on the screen, the movement breaks, whole group lessons,etc. -it can add up to 30-60 minutes easily.

To not take this seriously is to discredit the vast amount of research coming out. My generation (gen z) is the first one said to be less capable than the previous generations in terms of executive functioning skills and the like. It will only get worse.

I’m not advocating for Montessori or Waldorf -especially since both have ties to eugenics or forest school. Please don’t use reductive arguments.

I simply don’t think it’s appropriate for classrooms with children 3-5 years old to be made to have laptop carts with iPads in them. Especially when it’s not developmentally appropriate or necessary.

1) I doubt you are actually in the classroom every day to know how much time is on screens
2) Using your granola-mom standards as the basis for your advocacy is not going to work. Screens are not actually toxic to children. This is just like when granola moms try to organize against baloney sandwiches and yoplait (check the archives).
3) there IS a BIG problem with screens, and that is with their use to deliver computerized/algorithmic curriculums that have poor results. THIS is what you need to have your eye on - how is your school delivering phonics and math instruction? Not the YouTube dancing video.

Haha. I made sure to NOT mention that I AM a PK teacher/coach. I hate to burst your bubble but I have seen this in plenty of classrooms.

Why did you ignore my mentioning of laptop carts in every ECE classroom? This is easily verifiable by the Ed spec of schools that are modernizing.

It’s also not just about what is currently happening, it’s what’s coming as well. DCPS isn’t giving us all iPads for nothing.

The fact that you are bashing moms because you think they are not experts and just overly sensitive is telling.

What do you let your young child have 3+ hours of screen time a day and you feel guilty?

And please stop moving the goalpost like people are just saying ‘a screen in general’ it’s not helpful to the conversation.

Hmm maybe you are the psycho PK3 teacher my kid had.

Maybe you can answer my question about phonics and math instruction though because that is the one that actually matters, not your weird thing about laptop carts.

This is the last time I will answer you since you are clearly not interested in an intelligent conversation. As for your boring question -through free and guided play. My students are all ‘ahead.’

Oh guess what I didn’t use? Some run of the mill app. I feel sorry for your child’s previous teachers, you are clearly can’t understand basic neuroscience or child development.

You want to teach phonics and math through “free and guided play”? OK then!

DP but you are talking to a PK teacher. Free and guided play is absolutely how a lot of kids start to learn letters and letter sounds, counting, shapes, colors, etc., as 3 and 4 year olds.

Do you want preschoolers drilling multiplication tables on an iPad? WTF?

Let’s be real. At PK most kids are still figuring out how to not pee in their pants. Academics, computer or otherwise, should be the least of your worries.

*A different Pre-K teacher and mom to a little one here.

“They’re just learning not to pee their pants” is exactly the point: Their brains are still developing basic executive function, emotional regulation, and motor skills. Flooding them with screens and formal instruction can actually interfere with that development. They need play, movement, and human interaction - not iPads and worksheets.

I think the worry is for all children but especially those at title 1 schools. DCPS tends to push screens and formal instruction to pre-k at these schools the most.