Fourth Graders and Phones

[mrsGreeko]

Feb 8, 2023 10:37:55 GMT -5 pugz said:

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.

My kids (I have one elementary, one middle schooler, and one high schooler and all have mentioned this independently of each other) have said more than once that the teachers don’t teach anymore, they just do YouTube videos. Obviously that is an extreme generalization that isn’t true, but that’s their childlike perception of school in this day and age so YouTube seems fairly ubiquitous in school. I don’t think the schools likely can or want to block YouTube because it’s being used fairly often in many classes. It’s a frustrating thing as a parent and I’m sure as a teacher as well.

Teachers don’t come at me. I know teachers are still teaching and I know there can be a lot of really good stuff on YouTube that is really well done and absolutely has a place in the classroom. I find it interesting my kids’ perception for sure. Just speaking to why I don’t think schools can or will block YouTube though.

[redheadk]

Feb 8, 2023 0:12:56 GMT -5 cmeon said:

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.

We don't have district issued Chromebooks but our district still uses a lot of tech since that is pretty much how curriculum is accessed past about 2nd grade. Yes, we are definitely worried about it. This (cybersecurity, data privacy, data management) is DH's sphere except his company generally declines to even bid for work with school districts because they are such a mess. Underfunded, understaffed, the staff is under qualified, and school districts are prime targets. For example, our district is searching for a director of cybersecurity for a salary of $95,000. Nobody who is qualified for that position will accept that pay, it is so far out of line with industry norms. 

Our district didn't even have backup servers off site until 5 years ago, as an example. We also are one of the last big districts that isn't one-to-one so, for now, DD can use a parent-provided device. Obviously that comes with its own issues.

[redheadk]

Feb 8, 2023 11:07:29 GMT -5 mrsGreeko said:

Feb 8, 2023 10:37:55 GMT -5 pugz said:

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.

My kids (I have one elementary, one middle schooler, and one high schooler and all have mentioned this independently of each other) have said more than once that the teachers don’t teach anymore, they just do YouTube videos. Obviously that is an extreme generalization that isn’t true, but that’s their childlike perception of school in this day and age so YouTube seems fairly ubiquitous in school. I don’t think the schools likely can or want to block YouTube because it’s being used fairly often in many classes. It’s a frustrating thing as a parent and I’m sure as a teacher as well.

Teachers don’t come at me. I know teachers are still teaching and I know there can be a lot of really good stuff on YouTube that is really well done and absolutely has a place in the classroom. I find it interesting my kids’ perception for sure. Just speaking to why I don’t think schools can or will block YouTube though.

I am under no illusion that every teacher is a great teacher so it's hard to say about your child's particular teacher. You are right that a child's perception is often not the full picture but I think it's also wise to look at education more broadly at this point. WHY are teachers utilizing these YT lessons so much? I feel like it's a combination of factors: the push for highly differentiated instruction + not enough assistance in the classroom to actually pull that off, not enough time to plan or prepare lessons, dramatic increase in data collection, increased pressure on testing, with a push from admin to standardize instruction across classrooms. The thing is, planning and prepping quality lessons takes TIME and teachers don't have enough of it. It is also tough to do while dealing with increasingly disruptive behaviors from students. Combine this with parents not adequately supporting their kids at home, the increase in mental health struggles amongst all parties, additional responsibilities placed on teachers, and a serious lack of respect towards teachers from parents/society, and this is where we are.

I'm not saying it's a good thing. But, to me, poorly used technology and an over reliance on technology in the classroom are symptoms of a bigger problem, not the root of the problem.

[jg183]

yes my kids have our very old phones. we start them off using wifi only until they show us how responsible they are then add them to the family plan so I can find them when they are in the neighborhood. My one son has special needs and uses it to watch shows while riding the bus.

[lo]

Feb 8, 2023 0:12:56 GMT -5 cmeon said:

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.

NY is pretty strict about this and we have a law called Edlaw 2D which is all about protecting student data and privacy. Each website we use has to sign a contract that they are EdLaw 2D compliant or we are not allowed to use them.

Dealing with dickwad know it all parents is the worst part of being a teacher. I would love a parent to tell me to nut up or put on my big girl panties to my face.

[cmeon]

Feb 9, 2023 19:31:51 GMT -5 lo said:

Feb 8, 2023 0:12:56 GMT -5 cmeon said:

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.

NY is pretty strict about this and we have a law called Edlaw 2D which is all about protecting student data and privacy. Each website we use has to sign a contract that they are EdLaw 2D compliant or we are not allowed to use them.

Dealing with dickwad know it all parents is the worst part of being a teacher. I would love a parent to tell me to nut up or put on my big girl panties to my face.

That's FANTASTIC! We really need federal legislation protecting children (something with a lot more teeth than COPPA), I'm fairly confident that my state misappropriates student information and uses it in all sorts of ugly ways, so I'm not holding my breath for us to catch up.

And ugh, this parent hates those parents, too. Nut up. LOL

[mpm]

Feb 8, 2023 0:12:56 GMT -5 cmeon said:

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.

YES. Schools are light years behind in privacy policies. I caught heat with our school’s PTO for pointing out that their biggest fundraiser was run through a third party company that required providing full names and DOBs of all kids without disclosing their privacy policy or any terms of service. And every school on our district uses them.

[redheadk]

Feb 9, 2023 19:31:51 GMT -5 lo said:

Feb 8, 2023 0:12:56 GMT -5 cmeon said:

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.

NY is pretty strict about this and we have a law called Edlaw 2D which is all about protecting student data and privacy. Each website we use has to sign a contract that they are EdLaw 2D compliant or we are not allowed to use them.

Dealing with dickwad know it all parents is the worst part of being a teacher. I would love a parent to tell me to nut up or put on my big girl panties to my face.

The same parents who are such dicks over every little things are going to be shocked at all the problems they'll have when little Johnny has a revolving door of subs instead of a Teacher of Record for the year. 

Frankly, the pay isn't the reason teachers are quitting. It's the ridiculous expectations, the vast amount of essentially meaningless extra work, kids allowed to act atrociously with zero consequence at home (and no consequence at school), and dickwad parents telling teachers to nut up for the pay that makes teachers quit. And I don't think we will ever be able to reach a number that will get as many teachers as we really need to sign on for that. We don't have a teacher shortage. We have a shortage of teachers who are willing to put up with this. I know a lot of successful, certified, experienced teachers who have left the profession and refuse to go back. None left under bad terms, most were popular, requested teachers. They are done.

[fancynewbeesly]

We were literally talking about this in the staff room at work. In 3-7 years many teachers will be retiring (if they can make it that long). They already are working on a plan B to leave the profession. And no one is coming into the profession. We can’t get subs….much less teachers.

I have no clue what our district or the state will do to solve the problem. Besides putting 35-40 kids in a class. Or overburdening teachers this the others leaving early.

[lo]

Feb 10, 2023 11:56:02 GMT -5 redheadk said:

Feb 9, 2023 19:31:51 GMT -5 lo said:

NY is pretty strict about this and we have a law called Edlaw 2D which is all about protecting student data and privacy. Each website we use has to sign a contract that they are EdLaw 2D compliant or we are not allowed to use them.

Dealing with dickwad know it all parents is the worst part of being a teacher. I would love a parent to tell me to nut up or put on my big girl panties to my face.

The same parents who are such dicks over every little things are going to be shocked at all the problems they'll have when little Johnny has a revolving door of subs instead of a Teacher of Record for the year. 

Frankly, the pay isn't the reason teachers are quitting. It's the ridiculous expectations, the vast amount of essentially meaningless extra work, kids allowed to act atrociously with zero consequence at home (and no consequence at school), and dickwad parents telling teachers to nut up for the pay that makes teachers quit. And I don't think we will ever be able to reach a number that will get as many teachers as we really need to sign on for that. We don't have a teacher shortage. We have a shortage of teachers who are willing to put up with this. I know a lot of successful, certified, experienced teachers who have left the profession and refuse to go back. None left under bad terms, most were popular, requested teachers. They are done.

Yes, I totally agree with everything you wrote. I’m happy with my pay and it’s actually one of the things keeping me around, lol. “Kids allowed to act atrociously with zero consequence at home (and school)”, now yes, I relate to that on a deep level. I could rattle off a list of things that happened just this week and everyone but us (teachers) would be shocked.

[erbear]

Feb 7, 2023 22:27:11 GMT -5 ilikedonuts said:

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.

Mine is labeled with names and I unlock it at the end of the day and stand there. No one has stolen a phone.

[erbear]

Feb 9, 2023 19:31:51 GMT -5 lo said:

Feb 8, 2023 0:12:56 GMT -5 cmeon said:

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.

NY is pretty strict about this and we have a law called Edlaw 2D which is all about protecting student data and privacy. Each website we use has to sign a contract that they are EdLaw 2D compliant or we are not allowed to use them.

Dealing with dickwad know it all parents is the worst part of being a teacher. I would love a parent to tell me to nut up or put on my big girl panties to my face.

They never do. They just bitch about it on the internet because they know they’re being unreasonable deep down 😂😂😂

[namasteak]

My 3rd grader just got a GABB watch and we plan for him to use it for a few years before moving to their phone.