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A really interesting reflective post about parents' concerns about screen time and our increasing use of screens as a way to encourage learning. What should schools do when curriculum and instruction conflicts with parenting? No easy answer here. Just posing more questions.

Interesting post, Kerry. I don't have any answers, either. And since I'm not a parent, it's hard for me to imagine how I might feel on the parent side of the issue at this time. It's interesting because in our jigsaw group discussion on chapter 6, we talked about a similar issue. Wagner points out how parents of the innovators he showcased in his book limited screen time, but also set an important distinction between screen time where kids are watching TV and playing video games, often independently, and screen time in classrooms where kids are engaged in collaborative learning projects. I certainly agree that there is a difference, but it makes sense that there should be some balance, or some limit, somewhere. In education it always seems that the pendulum swings from one extreme to the other before settling somewhere in the middle. It will be interesting to see how this issue unfolds. I'd also be curious to hear from the perspectives of the parents in our EBTL2 class, since they are also educators involved in the BYOD initiative and growing world of technology.

So, I'm a parent of a 7th grader and a 3rd grader, and obviously I'm also involved as a teacher at RMHS. We have 1:1 iPads in my LLD English classes but they stay at school. I haven't had any push-back from parents so far about assignments or screen time. I did look at this link, and I looked at the forum as well, and I think as a parent, what was a little concerning about the forum comments, was the lack of empathy and understanding from teachers towards parents. As a parent, I also have concerns about screen time, and I see that there are certainly ways that we can limit recreational screen time. We do as much as we can. But, sometimes if my 7th grader has a project, I might not know much more about it than she is able to communicate to me (sometimes this is a lot, and sometimes it is not much). There have only been a few times when this has happened, but I have tried to set some limit about how much time to spend on the project, my daughter has really fought it, because she's been concerned about not doing a good job, etc. Occasionally new technology or apps take longer for her to master than the intended time for the project or assignment, and so something simple or seemingly quick takes much longer than it should. Situations like this can turn parents off to technology if they don't understand the big picture, or if they don't have any confidence that the teacher understands the big picture. Sometimes we don't give kids enough time in class to "play around" with apps or new approaches before turning them loose to do an assignment independently, and that too, can lead to stressful situations at home where both parent and child don't know how to do the assignment. I think the point is that any change is going to make people uncomfortable, and some folks are going to react more strongly than others. The more we can communicate and explain what's happening, and let parents know that the technology and experimentation is a vital part of the learning proce

I agree with most of what this mother has to say. I like to think that I will feel the same way when I have kids. I'm curious what other parents think...

I definitely agree with the core of what this mother says. I feel that the time that our kids are with us, now, is their training ground for when I'm not there, and it's not fair for me to protect them from taking any "lumps". Sometimes that can mean leaving my 12 year old to manage a situation with her teacher on her own, or resisting making a call or email to the teacher to ask about an assignment that seems too difficult or confusing - this is not anyone in 7th grade! ;) It takes discipline on my part not to jump in to help her, and to let her feel the discomfort of doing something the wrong way or messing up a test because she was so sure that she had studied enough even though I was pretty sure she hadn't. My kids are the center of my world in that I am constantly aware of what's going on for them and constantly monitoring them to make sure all is well; the difference is that most of the time they don't know that I'm paying that kind of attention, because my husband and I work really hard to choose good situations for them where we feel confident to let our kids loose to sort it out (in school, activities, etc.) without jumping in to "save" them all the time.

Wow this was an interesting article. I totally want to share it out on facebook but I try not to be too controversial out there. I had a friend one time that talked about the feminization (if that's a word) of today's male. I guess I'm wondering if kids are not allowed to play rough how will that impact our society later. Will it impact our military.

Some nights I am so tired and don't want to read to my daughters, but I always do anyway. Lately my pre-K-er is pointing out her "sight words" while we read too. I know it is important bonding time for us, but it also makes a big difference for her long term learning. This infographic explains it all.

I love this visual! Whenever parents ask me what they can do at home to help their child, I tell them to read, read, read! Not only is it building their literacy skills, but kids also love being read to. No matter how crazy my class gets, and it gets pretty crazy sometimes, the minute I start reading a good book all my students are quiet and engaged. Whenever it's time to start a new topic or concept I try and find a good book to introduce it to the kids and they always seem to get more from it than I planned!

Great article. I second what Kelly said. We always tell parents to read to their children, no matter how old they are. This is always an interesting conversation with third grade parents as they want their children to read on their own. Then we further explain why reading to them is important and see their "aha" moment.

Real life skills that I certainly did not learn from school. I think my parents taught me most of them. Others I had to self-teach. The rest I still don't know how to do! Should schools teach these skills? Or should they be parents' responsibility?

The coding caught my eye as we have had a push in the last month or so to expose students to more computer science opportunities. That's a good example of something we should be teaching in school. Teaching any of these concepts in school isn't a bad idea, but what would it replace? Kids could easily practice some of these basic, practical skills within their own families.

Good to know that our business and technology curriculum is relevant. We teach taxes, budgeting, finance, coding, resume building to those who take our electives. I actually had RWPS students come to me this morning asking if it would be viable to teach a business elective on sutainability.

Interesting article on setting guidelines for limiting the amount of time kids spend on a device. Also brings up issue of parents not really knowing how to help their child use the device for educational purposes. My guess is that most parents defer to their children as the experts on their devices and yield to what they want for apps.

Truthful, yet tactful we are with our report card comments. Here is a thought provoking article that describes what we are really trying to say in those comments or during conferences.

I am looking to get my students involved in using Skype to connect with other schools and people in the United States and around the world. In the process of searching for different programs I came across this article about an Australian school that connected with students at a Ugandan refugee camp. "Here & There is aimed at raising awareness around issues facing refugees among Australian schoolchildren, their parents and the wider population. It is purpose-designed to dovetail with the Australian geography curriculum, ensuring participating children attain maximum educational benefit while undertaking this life-changing opportunity to share their thoughts and experiences with children who have very different lives." I would love to get my students involved in something like this so that they can get a deeper understanding of another culture and make connections. I would be interested to hear if anyone has any experince with something like this and could offer suggestions. Thanks!

Hi Chis, I would love to work on this with you - with the iPads you have it should be easy to do.. Let me know when you are planning on doing it.. ~Meg

I have recently had a child placed in my class who is in the foster care system. This child has a background that is unique amongst the children in my class. As the honeymoon phase has worn off, it is apparent that this child's needs are also unique. I have been doing some reading on the subject of kids in foster care, and came across this article. It is a good place to start. I have also been directed towards the book, "Parenting the Hurt Child," by Keck and Kupecky. Although written for adoptive parents, there is valuable information and insight for teachers as well.

Interesting read. I know some parents even at the elementary level that would agree with this as they feel any homework is too much. However, I feel that all school aged children should have some homework as to reinforce skills and then the parents can see what they are doing in school. I remember the days of having sooo much homework in high school, that I would feel sick. I also remember having arguments with my mother that I needed to go to school and she would say, but you can't because you are sick. Having to make up all of that work as well as keep up with everything was daunting. I see this in high school students now...many hours of homework. Not sure how to fix this Race to No Where.

I follow Jerry Blumengarten on Twitter and have had a few Tweet conversations with him. He has great insights about tech integration that change learning, rather than for the sake of tech integration. This page is like his version of a Diigo page for BYOD resourcs. It links to a lot of great BYOD blogs, articles, lesson examples, etc. Cybrary Man's Educational Web Sites The internet catalogue for students, teachers, administrators & parents. Over 20,000 relevant links personally selected by an educator/author with over 30 years of experience.

Thought provoking article that stresses even more that developmentally Kindergarteners are not ready for the curriculum that they face.

Kerry, thanks for sharing this. This article was well worth reading. It makes me sad to think of what we are continuing to do to young kids, and scared for their future. Just thinking back to when I was in kindergarten, I remember lots of time to explore and play in different stations, including building and dress up stations. We did plenty of learning through play, and still all learned to read and make it through school. I'm in the middle school and don't always know exactly what's going on in the lower elementary schools, but it does seem like things are continually being pushed to younger and younger ages. The math that the sixth graders are doing now is similar to what I did in 8th grade algebra. Many of them are not developmentally ready for it, and then feel like failures if they can't get it. At an even younger level, I'm seeing it with my nephew who's 3 1/2 and in preschool. His teacher told my sister-in-law that he's behind because he can't write his name yet. Now she's concerned about it of course, but I'm thinking that's a little premature. And the last thing he needs at this age is someone trying to force him to write his name - he'll already be on a track to hating school..... I'm going to share this article with her. Also, when they talked about learning to read, I loved the quote about kids who learned to read later showed better understanding because they had had time to develop more language at an earlier age.Thanks for sharing.

Another great post - I agree with so much of what this article states, and I hear so many other educators and parents expressing concern about the trend that has been developing in all elementary grades, but especially kindergarten. The question is, if we all agree that it's not working, how do we change it?

Great evidence for the potential for taking visual notes.

I have a few students who are doing this! Mixing visual media with their notes in Evernote, Penultimate, Skitch, Google Drive, etc. They included images of European Romantic art with their analysis of scholarly article excerpts today. Seriously, their notebooks are amazing and Ovenell-Carter takes it to even another level. Can't wait to see what they're doing in a year or two once more students are coming to school with their own tablets instead of having to rely on ours. Next question: How do we convince parents of the value of this kind of note-taking and that putting a tablet in their child's hand will change the way they think about education?

I love these notes and took pictures in sessions at MassCue to jog my own brain. How do we encourage young ones to keep doing this as they grow in their learning in school. I watch the early childhood group already doing this naturally. I wonder when my own children will do this.

This is a real and current issue. I assign homework. I believe it helps me assess that students have mentally digested what happened in class through their reflections, and helps my students prepare for class when we are operating in a flipped capacity. Tough issue with people who feel strongly on all sides. This is one teacher's perspective.

I was going to stay out of this because it is such a hot button issue, but in the end, I decided to comment. I think we all know there is no easy answer. I have a daughter in high school here in Reading who does 7-8 hours of homework per night and spends at least half her weekend, every weekend, studying and doing more homework. It has become a real issue for my daughter and my family. It is September, and to say she is burnt out is an understatement. More balance is needed. An hour and a half to two hours of homework in each class per night equals 7 or so hours minimum every night after attending school for 6 1/2 hours each day. This normally means getting to bed well after midnight each night, and up again by six the next morning to do it all again. She is exhausted. It's not mentally or physically healthy for anyone, let alone an adolescent. This is just my perspective as a teacher and the parent of a high schooler. I am not against homework, and have always instilled a strong work ethic in my kids, but the time and stamina needed to complete the pure volume of homework, study for tests, complete individual and group projects, day in and day out, is not sustainable.

Thanks for posting your perspective, Jan. Indeed, 7 hours of homework after a full day of school sounds staggering. There are other articles at the Atlantics website in which teachers argue against assigning any homework at all (see http://m.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/09/should-i-stop-assigning-homework/279803/). Both perspectives are interesting and both talk about what their research shows. I think 7 hours a night is too much. I think assigning mere "worksheets" is not helpful. I posted this because I have been considering my own practice. I don't think it has to be 2 hours a night or nothing, though. There is no easy answer.

I started using Vine late last year to post videos of our students doing great things. (Reading to first graders, working together at field day, encouraging one another during a Smart Board review game, etc.) This Edutopia blog post gives TONS of links to really great ideas for using Vine with kids as a way to assess their understanding. Some of them are really funny and insightful. I know there is some nasty stuff out there on Vine and Instagram, but if we teachers don't show kids how to use these social media outlets in a positive way, who will? Right? I think I might give some of these ideas a shot.

Thanks, Kerry. I haven't used Vine before, though I've seen it used. I'm definitely interested in trying it out this year. It's amazing how creative some people can be in six seconds! Taylor and I recently started using Instagram to post what's going on in our classrooms. We are loving it so far. It's something that the kids are on anyway, so the interest is there. They love going on to "like" pictures of themselves and their peers, and even "like" the picture Taylor posts of the homework board! It's also a fast and easy way to keep parents informed about what's going on in the classroom on a daily basis. I also love that even though we're only in October, it's a photo log of the many things that we've done already this year. I look forward to giving the video capabilities a try.

The "Motherlode" blog in the NY Times always fascinates me and the youth sport culture in suburban communities intrigues me as well. Full disclosure-both of my children have played youth sports! I am so glad that I am not a kid today-between seeing every party and gathering that I am not invited to online to the competitive sports programs that are such a part of our community's culture-I am glad that my childhood was different.

Is it wrong if I agree with all of the points in this article? If you substituted orchestra or chorus or theater for sports in this would this still be an issue?

George Couros is a MUST follow on Twitter. I really like this post he wrote. It covers new v. experiences teachers, tech integration, parents, and "listening to the nay-sayer". It's a good (and quick) read.

Loved #3, the demographics of our cohort is proof of the debunking of that assumption. My colleague PB and I are two of the oldest teachers at our school and we, along with our team members, are considered leaders in tech integration. I agree it is all about mindset, not age.

I agree with you, John. I went to MassCue on Thursday and noticed that the majority of the teachers there were veteran teachers. I think that years of experience give teachers the necessary understanding and confidence it takes to create change. Veteran teachers in our school also see and value the great ideas of newer teachers and work with them to make teaching better for all students.