Reply to AMA former DCPS teacher

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OK, here is my official screen time response. This is from the OP. I think screens should be banned for kids from K to five. I think we should return to work books with handwriting, phonics, awareness, phonemic awareness, and everything else that goes along with the research that supports our kids in learning how to read and write. [/quote]

As a fellow educator, thank you for your opinion. I couldn't disagree more. There are so many powerful ways to leverage tech in school and minimizing it as screen time doesn't really help acknowledge the fact that tech is prevalent in children's lives[/quote]

Not OP but this is just wrong. Kids can start to use tech in MS and HS. They will get it at home inevitably. The use of technology in elementary class rooms is a net negative. Reliance on EdTech teaches shallow understanding of core concepts that are easily lost between grades because the children have only learned it well enough to perform within gamified tablet games. Meanwhile, the experience of planting a bunch of young kids on 1:1 screens reduces how much children practice being bored, forcing themselves to engage with coursework that might seem too easy OR too difficult, and working with peers to problem solve when needed.

A PP also mentioned how some educators use screens simply pacify kids in transitions or in place of lessons -- the Kidz Bop video as a transitional break or watching musical on a screen in music. This used to drive me insane at our last school (which we left in part for this reason). The music/performance teacher regularly just showed the kids Disney movies during class, even though there are a million wonderful things you can do with young kids in that subject that will be engaging and exciting for kids. Imagine teaching music and performing arts to first graders and instead of planning a lesson where the kids practice being wild animals or learn how to do a vocal cannon, you just put on Frozen and call it a day. It's lazy and disrespectful. I see this sort of screen time in DCPS all the time and it just telegraphs "I am checked out and don't care." It's unacceptable.

Screen use should be as minimal as possible in elementary. There is no rush. So much is lost in overreliance on screens in early grade classrooms.[/quote]

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