waverly, I hide my son's laptop on the weekends when he brings it home. If he needs it, he will have to ask for it. It's challenging. I can't do anything to control it. There are some ways to block the wifi to it with my internet provider. But it would mess up the Wifi during times it was permitted.
To answer the OPs question, DS got a phone when he finished 6th grade and I think we will do the same for DD who is 4th grade now and doesn't have a phone.
In my district we most definitely do not have the option to say no to the school issued Chromebook and they definitely do not allow personal laptops instead of the school issued chromebooks. During covid and up until this school year they allowed personal laptops, but starting this school that was no longer allowed. Because this way the school has chargers available, they have tech support available for those specific Chromebooks, they have control over what is and isn’t blocked so that you don’t have parents blocking YouTube when lots of teachers are using mainly YouTube videos in their classrooms.
The distractions device aka school issued Chromebook is a huge issue for my youngest. But, it’s required and I can’t do a damn thing about it. Tried seeing if I could add something to his 504 about getting a “dumber” Chromebook that had more limits or something for him and that was a no also.
So, you don't have to sign any contracts- the school will accept any damages/lost/stolen computers as part of doing business? That's not the way it works here at all, and I would be a massive thorn in my entire district's side if they tried this. DS has his own laptop because he's a computer science kid- the school laptops are frankly, insufficient. There are plenty of kids at the MS level who don't have laptops because their parents won't sign the contract (which pushes damage/loss fees on us), and I don't blame those parents one bit.
You are required to buy insurance on the school issued Chromebook for $50 for the year. Can’t opt out of it. They will not allow personal devices any more. You bring in a personal device and you are sent to get a loaner Chromebook that you have to check out with your student id. If you forget or don’t have your Chromebook you have to borrow one with your student id. You are given a certain number of times of being able to do this before you are given detention. It very much not an optional thing.
cmeon, I think we are talking about different things? We can theoretically opt out of the devices coming home, although I don't personally know anyone who has. But it's not possible to opt out of using it at school. For DS, it is extremely difficult for him to focus when there is an open computer directly in front of him during class with access to games and the internet. Unfortunately, almost all of his classes require a computer open directly in front of him.
At home, he only uses it for schoolwork. But in school, the kids have found ways around the settings to find games to play online-- it's the distraction, more than the specifics of what he is accessing, that is making school harder for him.
So to your point, yes we could opt out of financial responsibility by not bringing it home. But for us, since home use is not the problem, it seems unnecessarily cumbersome and expensive to buy a second at-home device for homework just so that we aren't liable for the school's chromebook.
waverly, I love public schools, but fuck districts can be ridiculous to work with. FWIW, my KIDS have both moved our IT team to whitelist previously blocked sites they needed for classes or extracurriculars with their own emails. Is your son cognizant enough of the problem to ask for help himself?
My kids are in 6th grade and 8th grade and they don't have phones. They won't until they are driving, at least, and they will buy them for themselves. Too many problems come from phones with kids.
mrshandy , Our problem was at school, not at home.
cmeon , IT does not know how to do what I had asked. My son is part of the problem not part of the solution.
My point was it is hard for the parent to be strict about device usage when it is a school device used at school. I'll keep talking to my son, but the allure of the screen is hard to resist for him.
cmeon , I think we are talking about different things? We can theoretically opt out of the devices coming home, although I don't personally know anyone who has. But it's not possible to opt out of using it at school. For DS, it is extremely difficult for him to focus when there is an open computer directly in front of him during class with access to games and the internet. Unfortunately, almost all of his classes require a computer open directly in front of him.
At home, he only uses it for schoolwork. But in school, the kids have found ways around the settings to find games to play online-- it's the distraction, more than the specifics of what he is accessing, that is making school harder for him.
So to your point, yes we could opt out of financial responsibility by not bringing it home. But for us, since home use is not the problem, it seems unnecessarily cumbersome and expensive to buy a second at-home device for homework just so that we aren't liable for the school's chromebook.
Yeah, they just don't get computers (in school or otherwise) here if parents won't sign the contract- we don't have to buy the insurance (but they strongly recommend it). I can empathize with your son- it's hard for a lot of people, adults included- to concentrate on what they're supposed to do when there's all of this "more fun stuff" right there.
We just have to remind ourselves that a lot of this is still pretty new in public schools- my district has only been 1:1 for 3 (going on 4) years! Kids are still testing the rules, the rules are still being formed. Hopefully some of the distraction problems are solved, because they really are a great tool when used responsibly.
mrshandy , Our problem was at school, not at home.
cmeon , IT does not know how to do what I had asked. My son is part of the problem not part of the solution.
My point was it is hard for the parent to be strict about device usage when it is a school device used at school.
I'm sorry- again, I think a lot of this is just going to have to shake out one way or the other in the next however-long-it-takes. We are having trouble keeping IT people (or like anyone) around, so I definitely believe you- that sucks.
He's still in MS? I hope he finds some classes in HS that are able to pull him in. He'll hopefully have a little more control over the selection (at least for some of them!) at that point.
cmeon, I believe he would love it if all his classes were social studies and geography! I don't think he'll get away with that in HS, but that would definitely be his dream curriculum.
cmeon, I believe he would love it if all his classes were social studies and geography! I don't think he'll get away with that in HS, but that would definitely be his dream curriculum.
Haha, he will still have to get some math and English and science (and a foreign language if a traditional college entrance is important to you all), but I bet he will be blown away by the choices in humanities! If he is open for the challenge, AP World Geography is probably the most common AP class for 9th graders, amd it sounds right up his alley! I will caution you that it's considered a humanities elective here, so he may want to double up (which doesn't sound like it will be a hard sell, lol).
Parents lose their ish when the phones are taken away. I like the idea of having a spot for kids to check their phones in during class but people worry about phones being stolen. And many parents insist their kids must be able to contact them at all times and vice versa.
My son's middle school tried to crack down on phones this year, and at back to school night most classes had something similar to a shoe organizer, with each spot given a number and kids assigned a number for each class so they had a regular spot.
Within the first week, my son reported that a girl got busted for bringing an old phone to put in the organizer and keeping her actual phone with her. Apparently her mom had given her the old one bc she wanted the girl to be able to keep her phone on her.
From what I can tell, most teachers have given up at this point in the year, so I don't think the effort was a success.
Not me. Kids turn their phones into my phone jail every morning and get them back at dismissal. I call parents whose kids don't turn them in when they say "I didn't bring it today" (there are 2-3 who don't have them). They don't even try me anymore and it's nice to not have to worry about it.
This would not go over well in a large public school but it works for us.
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”
My son's middle school tried to crack down on phones this year, and at back to school night most classes had something similar to a shoe organizer, with each spot given a number and kids assigned a number for each class so they had a regular spot.
Within the first week, my son reported that a girl got busted for bringing an old phone to put in the organizer and keeping her actual phone with her. Apparently her mom had given her the old one bc she wanted the girl to be able to keep her phone on her.
From what I can tell, most teachers have given up at this point in the year, so I don't think the effort was a success.
Not me. Kids turn their phones into my phone jail every morning and get them back at dismissal. I call parents whose kids don't turn them in when they say "I didn't bring it today" (there are 2-3 who don't have them). They don't even try me anymore and it's nice to not have to worry about it.
This would not go over well in a large public school but it works for us.
Our public school has very strict phone rules. Like you get one warning and then parents can pay a fine to get it back. I am always surprised that isn’t the case everywhere. But yes…parents need to help out here. 90% of the time kids just don’t need phones in actual school. Lock them down if they are a distraction.
Add our school to the list where you can’t opt out of the technology. They all have Chromebooks in 4th grade and it comes home every night to get charged. They had them in 3rd grade also. As far as I know, YouTube is blocked. Lately DD claims she has math homework on the laptop but I’ve been meaning to write to the teacher regarding this. I would rather she not have more screen at home. I helped her with the homework today. It could have easily been a worksheet but I guess then the teacher or someone would have to grade it.
My son's class had to merge with another the other day becaise his teacher was running late. In the morning that teacher collects all the cell phones. It was a grade or two above his. When my son told the boy collecting them that he didn't have one he said, "How do you not have a phone? You're 12!!". My son said, "I don't have one because I'm 12!" LOL
Yeah, the COVID years (which is definitely NOT A THING here anymore) were weird for everyone. I am just blown away by the idea that public schools out there are sending kids home with computers- and parents are either not being made responsible for them financially- or they just all politely accept that they are?
I won't deny that it would be pretty rough to go through a day in HS without a computer, but my MSer could definitely get by without one. State testing has to be done on school issued devices, but that's really the only requirement (and schools have a few for that purpose).
We’re required to use school-provided chromebooks at school, and individually owned laptops aren’t allowed on the district Wi-Fi, so students can’t bring their own tech. We have a mandatory $20 insurance policy for each child that we have to buy each year, and it covers repairs, replacement, loss, theft, etc.
Add our school to the list where you can’t opt out of the technology. They all have Chromebooks in 4th grade and it comes home every night to get charged. They had them in 3rd grade also. As far as I know, YouTube is blocked. Lately DD claims she has math homework on the laptop but I’ve been meaning to write to the teacher regarding this. I would rather she not have more screen at home. I helped her with the homework today. It could have easily been a worksheet but I guess then the teacher or someone would have to grade it.
or the teacher has to find a time to make extra copies, or the teacher is tired of dealing with kids losing their homework and parents complaining, or the copier was down, or the teacher is encouraged to use the technology provided by the district, or the teacher just has way more work to fit into a finite amount of time than can actually be accomplished. This doesn't even get into the valid arguments that homework should be practice and not for a grade, particularly in elementary school, so therefore shouldn't be actually graded which means that auto-grading for feedback on how the child idd overall is sufficient. But, sure, let's imply that it's just laziness.
We aren't going to have anyone to teach our kids at this rate.
Add our school to the list where you can’t opt out of the technology. They all have Chromebooks in 4th grade and it comes home every night to get charged. They had them in 3rd grade also. As far as I know, YouTube is blocked. Lately DD claims she has math homework on the laptop but I’ve been meaning to write to the teacher regarding this. I would rather she not have more screen at home. I helped her with the homework today. It could have easily been a worksheet but I guess then the teacher or someone would have to grade it.
or the teacher has to find a time to make extra copies, or the teacher is tired of dealing with kids losing their homework and parents complaining, or the copier was down, or the teacher is encouraged to use the technology provided by the district, or the teacher just has way more work to fit into a finite amount of time than can actually be accomplished. This doesn't even get into the valid arguments that homework should be practice and not for a grade, particularly in elementary school, so therefore shouldn't be actually graded which means that auto-grading for feedback on how the child idd overall is sufficient. But, sure, let's imply that it's just laziness.
We aren't going to have anyone to teach our kids at this rate.
Serious questions - are workbooks not a thing anymore? The math stuff that DD was doing on the laptop was the same stuff we used to do in our district "loaned" math workbooks or problems out of our textbooks that we had to complete in our notebooks back in the day.
I didn't say anyone was lazy. I was thinking along the lines that the computer will instantly give feedback if the answer is right/wrong whereas solving the math problems on paper means that someone has to review the pages later. When I wrote "grade it" I meant that someone has to review the paper and mark the incorrect answers which I have seen the teacher return pages like this to DD so it's not like it isn't done in her class. I don't mean actual grades because her school doesn't give grades which is a whole different topic I don't exactly understand but I've just decided I will ignore it for now and see what happens in middle school.
or the teacher has to find a time to make extra copies, or the teacher is tired of dealing with kids losing their homework and parents complaining, or the copier was down, or the teacher is encouraged to use the technology provided by the district, or the teacher just has way more work to fit into a finite amount of time than can actually be accomplished. This doesn't even get into the valid arguments that homework should be practice and not for a grade, particularly in elementary school, so therefore shouldn't be actually graded which means that auto-grading for feedback on how the child idd overall is sufficient. But, sure, let's imply that it's just laziness.
We aren't going to have anyone to teach our kids at this rate.
Serious questions - are workbooks not a thing anymore? The math stuff that DD was doing on the laptop was the same stuff we used to do in our district "loaned" math workbooks or problems out of our textbooks that we had to complete in our notebooks back in the day.
I didn't say anyone was lazy. I was thinking along the lines that the computer will instantly give feedback if the answer is right/wrong whereas solving the math problems on paper means that someone has to review the pages later. When I wrote "grade it" I meant that someone has to review the paper and mark the incorrect answers which I have seen the teacher return pages like this to DD so it's not like it isn't done in her class. I don't mean actual grades because her school doesn't give grades which is a whole different topic I don't exactly understand but I've just decided I will ignore it for now and see what happens in middle school.
You can differentiate math with websites. Lots of them take the data (you got this right) and make the rest of the problems harder or easier accordingly.
Technology is what it is. Stop complaining about teachers! You have control over the technology your kid uses at home. If they are messing around watching YouTube on their chromebook instead of doing homework, we as parents should be regulating this, even though it means sitting next to them the whole time.
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”
or the teacher has to find a time to make extra copies, or the teacher is tired of dealing with kids losing their homework and parents complaining, or the copier was down, or the teacher is encouraged to use the technology provided by the district, or the teacher just has way more work to fit into a finite amount of time than can actually be accomplished. This doesn't even get into the valid arguments that homework should be practice and not for a grade, particularly in elementary school, so therefore shouldn't be actually graded which means that auto-grading for feedback on how the child idd overall is sufficient. But, sure, let's imply that it's just laziness.
We aren't going to have anyone to teach our kids at this rate.
Serious questions - are workbooks not a thing anymore? The math stuff that DD was doing on the laptop was the same stuff we used to do in our district "loaned" math workbooks or problems out of our textbooks that we had to complete in our notebooks back in the day.
I didn't say anyone was lazy. I was thinking along the lines that the computer will instantly give feedback if the answer is right/wrong whereas solving the math problems on paper means that someone has to review the pages later. When I wrote "grade it" I meant that someone has to review the paper and mark the incorrect answers which I have seen the teacher return pages like this to DD so it's not like it isn't done in her class. I don't mean actual grades because her school doesn't give grades which is a whole different topic I don't exactly understand but I've just decided I will ignore it for now and see what happens in middle school.
You absolutely implied it. Your response here doesn't square up at all with what you wrote so I'm calling BS on that walk back attempt.
Of course workbooks are not a thing anymore. The cost and resource use is astronomical. Nobody is hoarding workbooks. This is the resource they have to give your child that is provided by you, the taxpayer.
Serious questions - are workbooks not a thing anymore? The math stuff that DD was doing on the laptop was the same stuff we used to do in our district "loaned" math workbooks or problems out of our textbooks that we had to complete in our notebooks back in the day.
I didn't say anyone was lazy. I was thinking along the lines that the computer will instantly give feedback if the answer is right/wrong whereas solving the math problems on paper means that someone has to review the pages later. When I wrote "grade it" I meant that someone has to review the paper and mark the incorrect answers which I have seen the teacher return pages like this to DD so it's not like it isn't done in her class. I don't mean actual grades because her school doesn't give grades which is a whole different topic I don't exactly understand but I've just decided I will ignore it for now and see what happens in middle school.
You absolutely implied it. Your response here doesn't square up at all with what you wrote so I'm calling BS on that walk back attempt.
Of course workbooks are not a thing anymore. The cost and resource use is astronomical. Nobody is hoarding workbooks. This is the resource they have to give your child that is provided by you, the taxpayer.
No. You are clearly sensitive to this subject so you assumed an intent that wasn’t there. I’m not walking anything back because I insinuated nothing.
As a parent I am lost on how my kid learns in school. I know that she is learning because she appears to be more knowledgeable as the past 3 years have gone by in public school. I remember receiving an email about 2 years ago from a higher up asking parents how they felt about all these different computer programs the kids use and a survey to go along with it. I had to write back and reply “you assumed everyone knows what these programs are. I have no idea what any of these things are.” It is even more confusing to me because DD attended 2 years of private school for K and 1. There was funding from the townships for books and some other educational things they have to provide for every student in the state. She had actual books and workbooks and paper homework, paid for by someone’s taxes. Then she goes to public school and it’s 180 degrees totally different.
There is no point for me to complain to the school about anything because I know teachers already have a lot going on and it’s not going to change anything. But I can wonder about math on a laptop versus a worksheet on here and get an explanation from other posters without get shredded because I’m not up to date on modern education techniques.
Students in our district must use district issued Chromebook’s starting in 6th grade. In K-5 there is a variety of computer and pencil/paper work. By 4th grade all tests are online. This is to get them used to it because by 6th grade 75% of what they do is online. Math homework packets are on paper. Science labs are hands on and done on paper. Otherwise? Work to be turned in is all computer based. It’s fine. I didn’t love it at first but have come around to it. It’s 2023. Technology is here to stay. Got to learn to manage it.
As far as workbooks goes DD used them in elementary because her district wasn’t 1:1. They did a lot of learning sites like IXL to supplement. In junior high nope they aren’t a thing. No need.
Post by minniemouse on Feb 7, 2023 21:24:41 GMT -5
sent my 8th grader has a school issued Chromebook. She still gets paper worksheets/packets for some classes. Which she completes in pencil, then takes a picture of it with the Chromebook camera and uploads it to turn it in. This is the required method for these classes.. Best of both worlds 😂 I have no complaints, it works fine. I do wish they wouldn’t make the homework due at midnight (versus the next day in class) but it is what it is.
Post by ilikedonuts on Feb 7, 2023 22:27:11 GMT -5
My 3rd grader has all paper homework. 90% of my 5th grader’s homework is online (but they don’t sent chromebooks home). Both immediately start working on it when they get picked up at dismissal. I feel like either way is totally fine and the teachers pick what they like best.
Phone jails/turning them in to the homeroom teacher when you walk in is interesting. The kids in my 5th grader’s class would 1000% find a way to steal other kids’ phones.
To those of you with district issued Chromebooks- but really, everyone whose children access tech- are you concerned about data privacy? I know my family goes in a little extra hard on this- but everyone should at least have some questions.
We're really not anti-tech, and we're not anti-tech in education. I just don't *trust* tech to protect private data- particularly when the tech was built by a company that exists to sell user data to third parties. We use Google products, but we can control their privacy settings- can you control your child's school issued device settings?
This isn't a drag on schools or their staff, but I really don't suggest trusting that they give a crap about your child's digital footprints. My kids are *still* being prompted to use personally identifiable information in education apps purchased by their schools (a battle they've bravely fought for almost a decade now). My large district can't keep an IT department even half staffed, and that's probably better than many districts have it.
Post by fancynewbeesly on Feb 8, 2023 6:26:58 GMT -5
My daughters district is 1 to 1. Once you hit 7th grade you start bringing the chromebook home. Sixth grade it stays in class with you. Honestly she doesn’t have that much homework.
English is the most and she gets a vocabulary packet a week to complete and a book report a month. Both paper and pencil. Science tends to be computer based. Math is a mix. Spanish is a mix. And she usually doesn’t do anything at home for social studies.
To those of you with district issued Chromebooks- but really, everyone whose children access tech- are you concerned about data privacy? I know my family goes in a little extra hard on this- but everyone should at least have some questions.
We're really not anti-tech, and we're not anti-tech in education. I just don't *trust* tech to protect private data- particularly when the tech was built by a company that exists to sell user data to third parties. We use Google products, but we can control their privacy settings- can you control your child's school issued device settings?
This isn't a drag on schools or their staff, but I really don't suggest trusting that they give a crap about your child's digital footprints. My kids are *still* being prompted to use personally identifiable information in education apps purchased by their schools (a battle they've bravely fought for almost a decade now). My large district can't keep an IT department even half staffed, and that's probably better than many districts have it.
No. I'm not really worried about it. Other than her name there is no personal information anywhere. They have been going over digital safety since Kindergarten and know for things like online math games you never sign up using your real name. They access most everything from an online learning system and you have to enter your username (which is a set of random numbers) and a password (that is also not anything identifying and one they choose) to log in. I can't see how it's any different from me logging on to say, Amazon.
I'm also not sure how a computer from home would help? The Chromebooks they use are heavily locked down. They can access You Tube for school assignments but zero social media sites. It all has to be district approved.
As far as date privacy in general goes I assume once you put it on the internet it is there forever. That is the message DD has gotten forever, too.
To those of you with district issued Chromebooks- but really, everyone whose children access tech- are you concerned about data privacy? I know my family goes in a little extra hard on this- but everyone should at least have some questions.
We're really not anti-tech, and we're not anti-tech in education. I just don't *trust* tech to protect private data- particularly when the tech was built by a company that exists to sell user data to third parties. We use Google products, but we can control their privacy settings- can you control your child's school issued device settings?
This isn't a drag on schools or their staff, but I really don't suggest trusting that they give a crap about your child's digital footprints. My kids are *still* being prompted to use personally identifiable information in education apps purchased by their schools (a battle they've bravely fought for almost a decade now). My large district can't keep an IT department even half staffed, and that's probably better than many districts have it.
I don't think DD had to use any identifiable info that she signed up for by herself. The district gave her an email and that is what she uses to access Google classroom. I think there are class log ins for the apps (?), like iReady?
The Chromebook has limited functionality. Can't use YouTube, can't use social media. You can access Google and I've wondered if you can just google anything you want or if that is also a limited function version of Google (I may be making that up).
Or at least I think that's how all of this works. I'll have to confirm with her tonight.
To those of you with district issued Chromebooks- but really, everyone whose children access tech- are you concerned about data privacy? I know my family goes in a little extra hard on this- but everyone should at least have some questions.
We're really not anti-tech, and we're not anti-tech in education. I just don't *trust* tech to protect private data- particularly when the tech was built by a company that exists to sell user data to third parties. We use Google products, but we can control their privacy settings- can you control your child's school issued device settings?
This isn't a drag on schools or their staff, but I really don't suggest trusting that they give a crap about your child's digital footprints. My kids are *still* being prompted to use personally identifiable information in education apps purchased by their schools (a battle they've bravely fought for almost a decade now). My large district can't keep an IT department even half staffed, and that's probably better than many districts have it.
They talk about their digital footprint at least weekly in library/tech. DD knows that what goes out into the internet is on the internet forever. Their chromebooks are maintained by by the school, but the accounts and programs they use don’t require much personal info at this point (I’ve tried to set up at home profiles of a few). She knows that when she sets up an account for herself at home she should give the minimum info needed and frequently changes her name or birthday to 1/1/year. Some of that is us, but I know her librarian is also helping. Edit I’m more concerned about her kindle and the games she wants to download on our extra phone.
Our district went 1 to 1 with technology for middle and high school several years ago but during COVID went 1 to 1 in elementary school. Elementary has ipads, middle school has a samsung tablet, and high school has laptops. Some years my kid got to leave her ipad at school to charge, loved that. This year it comes home and while they do their assignments on paper, they take pictures of the work and turn them in electronically. It seems like a good balance for me. I don't let mine play games on her school device. I'm curious what the internet restricts will be on the middle school devices.
In some districts I know you can reach out to the school and ask them to block certain websites like youtube. I realize youtube can have educational value but I wish schools just blocked it automatically.