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Just as kids used to hang out in parks, bowling alleys, and malls, they are now hanging out online. Instead of talking, they're often texting or interacting via their social-networking profiles. While these activities can be time-wasting, they can also be productive, helping kids define their identities, reinforce offline social relationships and express themselves in a variety of ways.

Parents who try to secretly monitor their kids' online activities are wasting their time and should use an approach that builds trust and allows for conversation, says a psychologist who has studied texting, social networking and other online pursuits.

"Your job then is to learn and to assess, and to now use your parent radar to see if there might be any problems."

The Why Every topic, every bit of learning has content that can be Googled, and we don't want teachers wasting precious enquiry time lecturing that content. We want students, instead, to be using class time to collaborate and debate around the questions that are Not Googleable, the rich higher order thinking

The policy should be, "No time-wasting, rote, repetitive tasks will be assigned that lack clear instructional or learning purposes."

reflect a considered school policy and not simply be up to each individual teacher to carry out according to his or own theory of student learning