Teachers Resigning Like Crazy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county messed up with this 1:1 technology, giving every child a laptop. Kids are now addicted to screens and must use screens at school and for homework. They are now intertwined with school which is the real issue. Schools should collect the laptops and go back to traditional paper and pencil, and regular textbooks. Old school learning. I 100% blames the county.

HS teacher. Completely agree. Even 4-5 years ago when we just had class sets of laptops you could check out for in class essay writing it was better. The devices are a sanctioned distraction. They’re playing games and watching soccer on them. I do not use them in my class. Even for diligent kids, online assignments lack an immediacy and end up being forgotten or done late because when it’s always there, it’s … always there. Lulls the kids into not completing it because the second they close that device the assignment no longer exists. We do all paper and printed texts - the only assignment I do on their devices are their final written summatives so they have word processing tools.

+1. MS teacher and also agree. I wish we could enact "away for the day" for laptops unless they're being used for a specific instructional purpose during a class. The first time you get caught watching You Tube shorts or whatever, your laptop gets turned in to the office and you can pick it up at the end of the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From what I've witnessed kids are behaving better this year than at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year, when middle school students and 9th graders seemed particularly feral. It's just going to take some time given the disruption to learning and development. Parents can't expect teachers to be miracle workers nor can teachers expect parents to have fully compensated for the disruption forced upon them by the public schools. What the teachers can and should do is push back against the refusal of school administrators to discipline students or the imposition of oppressive training and ongoing reporting requirements that interferes with their ability to function effectively in a classroom.

Wow. Thank you for this measured response. That all makes complete and utter sense and you show that there is a way through. Thank you. I hope someone in power will listen to you!

It was a load of nonsense. Sorry, parents, it’s 2023 and kids have been in person for a long damn time. Time to retire the tired pandemic excuse. If your kids went feral during DL, that’s on no one but YOU.

As a teacher I just want to repeat something I mentioned in another thread or earlier than this one, can’t remember: the issue with schools right now is not solely attributable to a 6 month break that happened 3 years ago. That doesn’t hold water anymore, not least of which because the issues perseverate down to kids who weren’t IN school when the pandemic happened. K and 1st are a mess too- those kids were not in school or affected by any online learning.

What is happening is we have an entire k-12 generation who has grown up on handheld screens and lack of real life activity and engagement. Their parents (not all, but the parents who have helped create these issues) parented them by shoving a screen in their hands from toddlerhood. Todays seniors were born in 2005. By 2007-2008 when they were 2/3, their parents had a smartphone with apps and videos. They grew up sitting at dinner tables mindlessly staring at YouTube and shoveling food in their face. They got their verbal language from an app or video. Same with motor skills. My students are in 10th grade and all say they don’t even eat as a family - they all grab a plate and go watch a screen somewhere in the house. This is the norm.

So, right in line with this generation being raised this way, schools concurrently realized oh shit, discipline data looks bad . Let’s just stop disciplining these behaviors and then the bad data goes away. A generation of kids have been raised on terrible reading curriculum so they can’t meaningfully read either. They’ve been raised on screens and have no attention span, few true social skills, lack of reading and writing skills, and parents who don’t know what to do now that they’re too old to just shove in the corner with a phone. So what do the kids do? Cope the only way they know how- shove themselves in a corner to numb out on a screen.

I 100% agree with this. I stopped teaching when I had my first kid and went back 5 years later. Technology changed the game for the worse. Parents openly tell me they can’t get their kid off them or just use them when the kid is bored. If I had a choice I would never use them in my Kindergarten class. (Kids get 20 min/day on Lexia or dreambox)

I’m about DONE with iPads in my kinder class. They are always an issue and it takes so long for some kids to get logged on and I don’t even care anymore that we aren’t meeting Lexia minutes. I am done with iPads

I'm about DONE with behaviors . Behaviors all day every day. Teachers in my building are exhausted with the apathy and disrespect from students and parents.

That too. I thought it was just me but the last few weeks have been rough.

+ a million every teacher I talk to is saying it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From what I've witnessed kids are behaving better this year than at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year, when middle school students and 9th graders seemed particularly feral. It's just going to take some time given the disruption to learning and development. Parents can't expect teachers to be miracle workers nor can teachers expect parents to have fully compensated for the disruption forced upon them by the public schools. What the teachers can and should do is push back against the refusal of school administrators to discipline students or the imposition of oppressive training and ongoing reporting requirements that interferes with their ability to function effectively in a classroom.

Wow. Thank you for this measured response. That all makes complete and utter sense and you show that there is a way through. Thank you. I hope someone in power will listen to you!

It was a load of nonsense. Sorry, parents, it’s 2023 and kids have been in person for a long damn time. Time to retire the tired pandemic excuse. If your kids went feral during DL, that’s on no one but YOU.

As a teacher I just want to repeat something I mentioned in another thread or earlier than this one, can’t remember: the issue with schools right now is not solely attributable to a 6 month break that happened 3 years ago. That doesn’t hold water anymore, not least of which because the issues perseverate down to kids who weren’t IN school when the pandemic happened. K and 1st are a mess too- those kids were not in school or affected by any online learning.

What is happening is we have an entire k-12 generation who has grown up on handheld screens and lack of real life activity and engagement. Their parents (not all, but the parents who have helped create these issues) parented them by shoving a screen in their hands from toddlerhood. Todays seniors were born in 2005. By 2007-2008 when they were 2/3, their parents had a smartphone with apps and videos. They grew up sitting at dinner tables mindlessly staring at YouTube and shoveling food in their face. They got their verbal language from an app or video. Same with motor skills. My students are in 10th grade and all say they don’t even eat as a family - they all grab a plate and go watch a screen somewhere in the house. This is the norm.

So, right in line with this generation being raised this way, schools concurrently realized oh shit, discipline data looks bad . Let’s just stop disciplining these behaviors and then the bad data goes away. A generation of kids have been raised on terrible reading curriculum so they can’t meaningfully read either. They’ve been raised on screens and have no attention span, few true social skills, lack of reading and writing skills, and parents who don’t know what to do now that they’re too old to just shove in the corner with a phone. So what do the kids do? Cope the only way they know how- shove themselves in a corner to numb out on a screen.

I 100% agree with this. I stopped teaching when I had my first kid and went back 5 years later. Technology changed the game for the worse. Parents openly tell me they can’t get their kid off them or just use them when the kid is bored. If I had a choice I would never use them in my Kindergarten class. (Kids get 20 min/day on Lexia or dreambox)

I’m about DONE with iPads in my kinder class. They are always an issue and it takes so long for some kids to get logged on and I don’t even care anymore that we aren’t meeting Lexia minutes. I am done with iPads

I'm about DONE with behaviors . Behaviors all day every day. Teachers in my building are exhausted with the apathy and disrespect from students and parents.

That too. I thought it was just me but the last few weeks have been rough.

+ a million every teacher I talk to is saying it.

Yep, I’m taking a day off this week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC didn’t have phones until HS. They rec’d school ipad in 6th. Now they tell me all kids do on their school ipad are games instead of listening to teachers.

We have absolutely created this mess.

I remember subbing a few years ago in a team taught class right after they'd started giving out laptops to every kid. Students were seated at stations with 4 desks facing one another and the teacher asked me to walk around the class and monitor the students' screens as she taught. A large number of the kids were playing video games and would switch screens the moment I approached, but often not fast enough to prevent me from seeing what they had just been up to. Telling them to shut off the game and focus was useless--they'd start over the moment I walked away.

Of course now the laptops don't even matter. They're all on their phones all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just had coffee with a teacher colleague from years back. Her teacher spouse just put in his 2 weeks notice at his fancy private school because he's had it. My friend is teaching too and she's also looking for something else. I posted something on facebook the other day about how I'd recently quit and within a week's time I had 4 teachers from my neighborhood parents' group reaching out to me asking how I was able to find a different job and how they are looking too. Not new teachers, these are people with 10-25 years in. It's stunning.

Yep. I'm a newbie but I'm seeing it in EVERY ONE of the old timers I regularly deal with in my department--they've all said in the very recent past (some of them many times) that they wish they could get out, or they can't wait for retirement, or maybe they'll win the lottery, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From what I've witnessed kids are behaving better this year than at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year, when middle school students and 9th graders seemed particularly feral. It's just going to take some time given the disruption to learning and development. Parents can't expect teachers to be miracle workers nor can teachers expect parents to have fully compensated for the disruption forced upon them by the public schools. What the teachers can and should do is push back against the refusal of school administrators to discipline students or the imposition of oppressive training and ongoing reporting requirements that interferes with their ability to function effectively in a classroom.

Wow. Thank you for this measured response. That all makes complete and utter sense and you show that there is a way through. Thank you. I hope someone in power will listen to you!

It was a load of nonsense. Sorry, parents, it’s 2023 and kids have been in person for a long damn time. Time to retire the tired pandemic excuse. If your kids went feral during DL, that’s on no one but YOU.

As a teacher I just want to repeat something I mentioned in another thread or earlier than this one, can’t remember: the issue with schools right now is not solely attributable to a 6 month break that happened 3 years ago. That doesn’t hold water anymore, not least of which because the issues perseverate down to kids who weren’t IN school when the pandemic happened. K and 1st are a mess too- those kids were not in school or affected by any online learning.

What is happening is we have an entire k-12 generation who has grown up on handheld screens and lack of real life activity and engagement. Their parents (not all, but the parents who have helped create these issues) parented them by shoving a screen in their hands from toddlerhood. Todays seniors were born in 2005. By 2007-2008 when they were 2/3, their parents had a smartphone with apps and videos. They grew up sitting at dinner tables mindlessly staring at YouTube and shoveling food in their face. They got their verbal language from an app or video. Same with motor skills. My students are in 10th grade and all say they don’t even eat as a family - they all grab a plate and go watch a screen somewhere in the house. This is the norm.

So, right in line with this generation being raised this way, schools concurrently realized oh shit, discipline data looks bad . Let’s just stop disciplining these behaviors and then the bad data goes away. A generation of kids have been raised on terrible reading curriculum so they can’t meaningfully read either. They’ve been raised on screens and have no attention span, few true social skills, lack of reading and writing skills, and parents who don’t know what to do now that they’re too old to just shove in the corner with a phone. So what do the kids do? Cope the only way they know how- shove themselves in a corner to numb out on a screen.

I 100% agree with this. I stopped teaching when I had my first kid and went back 5 years later. Technology changed the game for the worse. Parents openly tell me they can’t get their kid off them or just use them when the kid is bored. If I had a choice I would never use them in my Kindergarten class. (Kids get 20 min/day on Lexia or dreambox)

I’m about DONE with iPads in my kinder class. They are always an issue and it takes so long for some kids to get logged on and I don’t even care anymore that we aren’t meeting Lexia minutes. I am done with iPads

I'm about DONE with behaviors . Behaviors all day every day. Teachers in my building are exhausted with the apathy and disrespect from students and parents.

That too. I thought it was just me but the last few weeks have been rough.

+ a million every teacher I talk to is saying it.

Yep, I’m taking a day off this week.

Same here. I just need a break. I worked all weekend just to be ready for Monday. The work week hasn’t even started yet and I’m exhausted. I’m not sure where I’m going to find the energy to deal with behaviors if I don’t have a day off to look forward to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From what I've witnessed kids are behaving better this year than at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year, when middle school students and 9th graders seemed particularly feral. It's just going to take some time given the disruption to learning and development. Parents can't expect teachers to be miracle workers nor can teachers expect parents to have fully compensated for the disruption forced upon them by the public schools. What the teachers can and should do is push back against the refusal of school administrators to discipline students or the imposition of oppressive training and ongoing reporting requirements that interferes with their ability to function effectively in a classroom.

Wow. Thank you for this measured response. That all makes complete and utter sense and you show that there is a way through. Thank you. I hope someone in power will listen to you!

It was a load of nonsense. Sorry, parents, it’s 2023 and kids have been in person for a long damn time. Time to retire the tired pandemic excuse. If your kids went feral during DL, that’s on no one but YOU.

As a teacher I just want to repeat something I mentioned in another thread or earlier than this one, can’t remember: the issue with schools right now is not solely attributable to a 6 month break that happened 3 years ago. That doesn’t hold water anymore, not least of which because the issues perseverate down to kids who weren’t IN school when the pandemic happened. K and 1st are a mess too- those kids were not in school or affected by any online learning.

What is happening is we have an entire k-12 generation who has grown up on handheld screens and lack of real life activity and engagement. Their parents (not all, but the parents who have helped create these issues) parented them by shoving a screen in their hands from toddlerhood. Todays seniors were born in 2005. By 2007-2008 when they were 2/3, their parents had a smartphone with apps and videos. They grew up sitting at dinner tables mindlessly staring at YouTube and shoveling food in their face. They got their verbal language from an app or video. Same with motor skills. My students are in 10th grade and all say they don’t even eat as a family - they all grab a plate and go watch a screen somewhere in the house. This is the norm.

So, right in line with this generation being raised this way, schools concurrently realized oh shit, discipline data looks bad . Let’s just stop disciplining these behaviors and then the bad data goes away. A generation of kids have been raised on terrible reading curriculum so they can’t meaningfully read either. They’ve been raised on screens and have no attention span, few true social skills, lack of reading and writing skills, and parents who don’t know what to do now that they’re too old to just shove in the corner with a phone. So what do the kids do? Cope the only way they know how- shove themselves in a corner to numb out on a screen.

Interesting. If you think that all of these problems were caused by screens and bad parents, that makes the decision to close schools and prohibit normal childhood activities even more morally reprehensible.

No, listen to us. This was a problem before lockdown

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From what I've witnessed kids are behaving better this year than at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year, when middle school students and 9th graders seemed particularly feral. It's just going to take some time given the disruption to learning and development. Parents can't expect teachers to be miracle workers nor can teachers expect parents to have fully compensated for the disruption forced upon them by the public schools. What the teachers can and should do is push back against the refusal of school administrators to discipline students or the imposition of oppressive training and ongoing reporting requirements that interferes with their ability to function effectively in a classroom.

Wow. Thank you for this measured response. That all makes complete and utter sense and you show that there is a way through. Thank you. I hope someone in power will listen to you!

It was a load of nonsense. Sorry, parents, it’s 2023 and kids have been in person for a long damn time. Time to retire the tired pandemic excuse. If your kids went feral during DL, that’s on no one but YOU.

As a teacher I just want to repeat something I mentioned in another thread or earlier than this one, can’t remember: the issue with schools right now is not solely attributable to a 6 month break that happened 3 years ago. That doesn’t hold water anymore, not least of which because the issues perseverate down to kids who weren’t IN school when the pandemic happened. K and 1st are a mess too- those kids were not in school or affected by any online learning.

What is happening is we have an entire k-12 generation who has grown up on handheld screens and lack of real life activity and engagement. Their parents (not all, but the parents who have helped create these issues) parented them by shoving a screen in their hands from toddlerhood. Todays seniors were born in 2005. By 2007-2008 when they were 2/3, their parents had a smartphone with apps and videos. They grew up sitting at dinner tables mindlessly staring at YouTube and shoveling food in their face. They got their verbal language from an app or video. Same with motor skills. My students are in 10th grade and all say they don’t even eat as a family - they all grab a plate and go watch a screen somewhere in the house. This is the norm.

So, right in line with this generation being raised this way, schools concurrently realized oh shit, discipline data looks bad . Let’s just stop disciplining these behaviors and then the bad data goes away. A generation of kids have been raised on terrible reading curriculum so they can’t meaningfully read either. They’ve been raised on screens and have no attention span, few true social skills, lack of reading and writing skills, and parents who don’t know what to do now that they’re too old to just shove in the corner with a phone. So what do the kids do? Cope the only way they know how- shove themselves in a corner to numb out on a screen.

Interesting. If you think that all of these problems were caused by screens and bad parents, that makes the decision to close schools and prohibit normal childhood activities even more morally reprehensible.

No, listen to us. This was a problem before lockdown

+1

Closing schools for so long had serious consequences. It’s also true that things have been bad for decades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county messed up with this 1:1 technology, giving every child a laptop. Kids are now addicted to screens and must use screens at school and for homework. They are now intertwined with school which is the real issue. Schools should collect the laptops and go back to traditional paper and pencil, and regular textbooks. Old school learning. I 100% blames the county.

HS teacher. Completely agree. Even 4-5 years ago when we just had class sets of laptops you could check out for in class essay writing it was better. The devices are a sanctioned distraction. They’re playing games and watching soccer on them. I do not use them in my class. Even for diligent kids, online assignments lack an immediacy and end up being forgotten or done late because when it’s always there, it’s … always there. Lulls the kids into not completing it because the second they close that device the assignment no longer exists. We do all paper and printed texts - the only assignment I do on their devices are their final written summatives so they have word processing tools.

+1. MS teacher and also agree. I wish we could enact "away for the day" for laptops unless they're being used for a specific instructional purpose during a class. The first time you get caught watching You Tube shorts or whatever, your laptop gets turned in to the office and you can pick it up at the end of the day.

How do I (a parent) advocate for this to be a policy? I have a MSer with ADHD, and the kid spends half his day watching YouTube shorts. He's completely addicted. I've run out of punishments (I've taken away the phone he had for a short 3 months, I've pulled him out of clubs and other activities, etc.), and I now sit beside him the entire time he's doing homework on his school laptop. He's allowed no screen time at all at home (not even family tv time), thanks to the YouTube shorts addiction. But when I ask his teachers if they can eliminate the use of the laptop at school and just print assignments, they say no, too many assignments are set up on the computer (NoRedInk, Google slideshows, eHallPass, etc.) It's having such a bad effect on our family relationship and I'm at my wits' end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The county messed up with this 1:1 technology, giving every child a laptop. Kids are now addicted to screens and must use screens at school and for homework. They are now intertwined with school which is the real issue. Schools should collect the laptops and go back to traditional paper and pencil, and regular textbooks. Old school learning. I 100% blames the county.

No, it’s the hours and hours at home on screens that “are the real issue.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From what I've witnessed kids are behaving better this year than at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year, when middle school students and 9th graders seemed particularly feral. It's just going to take some time given the disruption to learning and development. Parents can't expect teachers to be miracle workers nor can teachers expect parents to have fully compensated for the disruption forced upon them by the public schools. What the teachers can and should do is push back against the refusal of school administrators to discipline students or the imposition of oppressive training and ongoing reporting requirements that interferes with their ability to function effectively in a classroom.

Wow. Thank you for this measured response. That all makes complete and utter sense and you show that there is a way through. Thank you. I hope someone in power will listen to you!

It was a load of nonsense. Sorry, parents, it’s 2023 and kids have been in person for a long damn time. Time to retire the tired pandemic excuse. If your kids went feral during DL, that’s on no one but YOU.

As a teacher I just want to repeat something I mentioned in another thread or earlier than this one, can’t remember: the issue with schools right now is not solely attributable to a 6 month break that happened 3 years ago. That doesn’t hold water anymore, not least of which because the issues perseverate down to kids who weren’t IN school when the pandemic happened. K and 1st are a mess too- those kids were not in school or affected by any online learning.

What is happening is we have an entire k-12 generation who has grown up on handheld screens and lack of real life activity and engagement. Their parents (not all, but the parents who have helped create these issues) parented them by shoving a screen in their hands from toddlerhood. Todays seniors were born in 2005. By 2007-2008 when they were 2/3, their parents had a smartphone with apps and videos. They grew up sitting at dinner tables mindlessly staring at YouTube and shoveling food in their face. They got their verbal language from an app or video. Same with motor skills. My students are in 10th grade and all say they don’t even eat as a family - they all grab a plate and go watch a screen somewhere in the house. This is the norm.

So, right in line with this generation being raised this way, schools concurrently realized oh shit, discipline data looks bad . Let’s just stop disciplining these behaviors and then the bad data goes away. A generation of kids have been raised on terrible reading curriculum so they can’t meaningfully read either. They’ve been raised on screens and have no attention span, few true social skills, lack of reading and writing skills, and parents who don’t know what to do now that they’re too old to just shove in the corner with a phone. So what do the kids do? Cope the only way they know how- shove themselves in a corner to numb out on a screen.

Interesting. If you think that all of these problems were caused by screens and bad parents, that makes the decision to close schools and prohibit normal childhood activities even more morally reprehensible.

Yawn. It’s. 2023. This excuse is oooooover.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From what I've witnessed kids are behaving better this year than at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year, when middle school students and 9th graders seemed particularly feral. It's just going to take some time given the disruption to learning and development. Parents can't expect teachers to be miracle workers nor can teachers expect parents to have fully compensated for the disruption forced upon them by the public schools. What the teachers can and should do is push back against the refusal of school administrators to discipline students or the imposition of oppressive training and ongoing reporting requirements that interferes with their ability to function effectively in a classroom.

Wow. Thank you for this measured response. That all makes complete and utter sense and you show that there is a way through. Thank you. I hope someone in power will listen to you!

It was a load of nonsense. Sorry, parents, it’s 2023 and kids have been in person for a long damn time. Time to retire the tired pandemic excuse. If your kids went feral during DL, that’s on no one but YOU.

As a teacher I just want to repeat something I mentioned in another thread or earlier than this one, can’t remember: the issue with schools right now is not solely attributable to a 6 month break that happened 3 years ago. That doesn’t hold water anymore, not least of which because the issues perseverate down to kids who weren’t IN school when the pandemic happened. K and 1st are a mess too- those kids were not in school or affected by any online learning.

What is happening is we have an entire k-12 generation who has grown up on handheld screens and lack of real life activity and engagement. Their parents (not all, but the parents who have helped create these issues) parented them by shoving a screen in their hands from toddlerhood. Todays seniors were born in 2005. By 2007-2008 when they were 2/3, their parents had a smartphone with apps and videos. They grew up sitting at dinner tables mindlessly staring at YouTube and shoveling food in their face. They got their verbal language from an app or video. Same with motor skills. My students are in 10th grade and all say they don’t even eat as a family - they all grab a plate and go watch a screen somewhere in the house. This is the norm.

So, right in line with this generation being raised this way, schools concurrently realized oh shit, discipline data looks bad . Let’s just stop disciplining these behaviors and then the bad data goes away. A generation of kids have been raised on terrible reading curriculum so they can’t meaningfully read either. They’ve been raised on screens and have no attention span, few true social skills, lack of reading and writing skills, and parents who don’t know what to do now that they’re too old to just shove in the corner with a phone. So what do the kids do? Cope the only way they know how- shove themselves in a corner to numb out on a screen.

Interesting. If you think that all of these problems were caused by screens and bad parents, that makes the decision to close schools and prohibit normal childhood activities even more morally reprehensible.

Yawn. It’s. 2023. This excuse is oooooover.

If your kid is still struggling, then get a tutor and/or therapist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county messed up with this 1:1 technology, giving every child a laptop. Kids are now addicted to screens and must use screens at school and for homework. They are now intertwined with school which is the real issue. Schools should collect the laptops and go back to traditional paper and pencil, and regular textbooks. Old school learning. I 100% blames the county.

No, it’s the hours and hours at home on screens that “are the real issue.”

Right. If kids are "addicted to screens" it's not because they are using them during some class time. I had kids obsessed with video games, phones, etc long before we were regularly using personal technology in school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county messed up with this 1:1 technology, giving every child a laptop. Kids are now addicted to screens and must use screens at school and for homework. They are now intertwined with school which is the real issue. Schools should collect the laptops and go back to traditional paper and pencil, and regular textbooks. Old school learning. I 100% blames the county.

No, it’s the hours and hours at home on screens that “are the real issue.”

Right. If kids are "addicted to screens" it's not because they are using them during some class time. I had kids obsessed with video games, phones, etc long before we were regularly using personal technology in school.

According to the Keyboard Karens here, it’s all the fault of teachers for not fully engaging all 28 kids for 90 minutes that’s causing them to be addicted to their phones. Phones that, I might add, these kids can’t possibly live without because Mommy might need to check in on them for some reason that can’t be handled via the school office. It’s because a teacher took a couple days off due to illness or to care for a sick child— 15 years of development out the window because Johnny had a sub for 2 days.

Everything is unicorn farts at home- it’s all teachers fault!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county messed up with this 1:1 technology, giving every child a laptop. Kids are now addicted to screens and must use screens at school and for homework. They are now intertwined with school which is the real issue. Schools should collect the laptops and go back to traditional paper and pencil, and regular textbooks. Old school learning. I 100% blames the county.

HS teacher. Completely agree. Even 4-5 years ago when we just had class sets of laptops you could check out for in class essay writing it was better. The devices are a sanctioned distraction. They’re playing games and watching soccer on them. I do not use them in my class. Even for diligent kids, online assignments lack an immediacy and end up being forgotten or done late because when it’s always there, it’s … always there. Lulls the kids into not completing it because the second they close that device the assignment no longer exists. We do all paper and printed texts - the only assignment I do on their devices are their final written summatives so they have word processing tools.

+1. MS teacher and also agree. I wish we could enact "away for the day" for laptops unless they're being used for a specific instructional purpose during a class. The first time you get caught watching You Tube shorts or whatever, your laptop gets turned in to the office and you can pick it up at the end of the day.

How do I (a parent) advocate for this to be a policy? I have a MSer with ADHD, and the kid spends half his day watching YouTube shorts. He's completely addicted. I've run out of punishments (I've taken away the phone he had for a short 3 months, I've pulled him out of clubs and other activities, etc.), and I now sit beside him the entire time he's doing homework on his school laptop. He's allowed no screen time at all at home (not even family tv time), thanks to the YouTube shorts addiction. But when I ask his teachers if they can eliminate the use of the laptop at school and just print assignments, they say no, too many assignments are set up on the computer (NoRedInk, Google slideshows, eHallPass, etc.) It's having such a bad effect on our family relationship and I'm at my wits' end.

FCPS is not interested in making this a policy. Most of the material (especially in MS and HS) given to teachers is meant to be used online.