Tweeting taught in Grade 1 class in Windsor

Although technology runs the world and is everywhere, am I the only that does NOT agree with this. At least not at that age...

A teacher in Windsor, Ont., is teaching her first and second grade students to tweet, blog and Skype as part of the elementary curriculum.

Source

I am all for education, but I think technology is making people lazy. When I was a kid in school and I had to research something, I had to get off my bum and get to the library to pick up a book because there was no such thing as google / Wiki / etc etc etc.

I read an article a few weeks back (cant remember where but I will post it when I find it) that the Quebec government wants to remove recess from elementary schools, because that is when the most bullying occurs and because kids only use it to go on YT on their iphones..Yes, I said Iphones at 7yo...Shouldn't they just make a rule forbidding Ipones in "an elementary school" and Idon't know....maybe a little bit of supervision in the schoolyard instead of having all teachers gather around in a circle and chit chat ignoring the kids (I am not generalizing here, I say this because I have seen it many many times with my own eyes). I thinks this would be a better option than to keep kids indoors instead of 30 minutes of fresh air and natural light.

I agree somethings are usefull but things are getting too easy IMO and the quality of education is going downhill and fast because of it. All people wanna do is tweet, add friends on FB, go on YT. whatever happened to playing outside? reading a book?

Am I way off base here? I am 33yo, I don't tweet, rarely even log onto FB, but YT.....guilty as charged....gotta love those cat videos

Any thoughts on this ATS? Should Ipads be incorporated into classrooms at elementary schools. Note that I have nothing against this at a higher age. I am talking about 6-7 yo using Ipads instead of learning to read/write like they should.

No I am not n favor of this. It's OK to use tech as a tool for schoolwork but social networking should be for older people. Kids have to learn to interact. If this trend continues the next generations may not see people as, well, people. Desensitizing us from one another.

^ Thread ending comment.

reply to post by intrepid


Exactly my point.

People's nicknames will now be their usernames...

reply to post by Teye22


Personally I think they should focus on teaching the kids face to face communication before teaching them how to skype or tweet.

It's shocking how many people stutter or struggle with face to face communication these days and it's only getting worse with time from my experience.

That being said teaching the safe and proper use of technology should be a early part of education with the world we live in, just not until the young one's have learned to converse properly and with manners, I meet far to many school leavers who cannot even do that.

It's barmy I tell ya

reply to post by Teye22


that's funny, i dunno about skype, but i'm sure twitter has a similar age policy to facebook, meaning grade 1 and 2 students can't legally create an account.

If i had kids, i'd want them to understand and be able to use technology. That said... the internet is full of perverts and kids that young simply can't understand that, or how to protect themselves.

This is a massive, massive fail on the teachers part.

There would probably be some really good tweets though.
Insightful thought can come from children.

Hopefully they're being taught Internet safety too
And that they're not spending too much time on this, although it does get them reading, and spelling....

Maybe an education in these things will help prevent kids going to the wrong places or getting themselves into trouble by making remarks they may well regret in the future. Whether that be on Facebook or twitter. Kids are going to come into contact with these kind is sites eventually, maybe some lessons in online etiquette arnt such a bad idea. Vlogs and blogs can also provide a creative out put for youngsters that may not be best at interacting with other kids.

So the kids are taught to be twits before they have wits. Ahhh.... Modern technology. What won't it bring us next?

I can't help but think the Reading, Writing and Arithmetic are a tad more important than how to tweet a short note about who is dating who or what teacher sucks. Teach them the skills that form the ability to MAKE the next twitter....not simply how to be a consumer. One without the other makes for a population with really odd priorities, IMO.

Originally posted by intrepid
No I am not n favor of this. It's OK to use tech as a tool for schoolwork but social networking should be for older people. Kids have to learn to interact. If this trend continues the next generations may not see people as, well, people. Desensitizing us from one another.

Even if you're right in theory, or me or whoever thinks like that, its a pointless and futile attempt to halt the technological advances and the role of all those things in today's societies including in the lives of children growing up.

I dont agree with it also, but its a mistake to try to stop it, or to deny it. Might as well accept it and find a way to inform ourselves and learn how to use them to better intruct our children so they get to know all the nooks and cranies to use all those tools properly and safely.

Basically its like having guns at home. Its better that you actually teach the kids all about safety on how to properly handle those guns than to hide them and them have them finding those guns by themselves and who knows what may happen.

I'm all for "education".

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
So the kids are taught to be twits before they have wits. Ahhh.... Modern technology. What won't it bring us next?

I can't help but think the Reading, Writing and Arithmetic are a tad more important than how to tweet a short note about who is dating who or what teacher sucks. Teach them the skills that form the ability to MAKE the next twitter....not simply how to be a consumer. One without the other makes for a population with really odd priorities, IMO.

By using iPads and this technology everyday, they will be more fluent in the language that will teach them to make the next twitter or Facebook or YouTube. From the article, I wouldn't say they are creating new consumers but tech savvy youngsters using technology to learn and share what they are learning.

reply to post by FraternitasSaturni


You make a good point there. I must agree that education is the key. I still think it should be up to the parents though...not the schools.

If they learn and work on Ipads in class....for example....If I can't afford one...how will I be able to maintain my child's ongoing development on this device, because I doubt that the school will allow kids to bring those home for homework, or else a lot of the devices will end up missing or broken.

And guess who would have to pay for the replacement in this event....the parents of course.

It's like buying a laptop for a 4 year old....what would you expect! They arent as carefull as adults are with electronics and they dont reallize how fragile they are....

lets not forget that Kids will be kids right!?!

Well, it's not like they're using it to tweet idiotic things with idiotic hashtags. They aren't using it to follow Ke$ha or Kim Kardashian either... If you visit the @MrsWideensClass twitter account where the students tweet, you'll see it's just very basic educational stuff.

According to the source:

Her students tweet using the handle @MrsWideensClass. Kids write the tweets, Wideen approves them. "I do look at them before they go out and make sure it’s appropriate," Wideen said.

They solve math problems with a class in Singapore using the hash tag #mathstories.

It's not like the kids are alone in a room with an iPad for hours on end, completely missing out on face-to-face interactions. They are in a classroom with all their classmates sharing in the project.

What needs to stop is kids being zombies on their devices at recess and all other times... AND parents buying their children iPads and smartphones and letting them use it freely all the time. For crying out loud, nowadays if you go to a family restaurant and take a good look around, all you see are families where nearly all of them are on their devices...

Technology is advancing and the world changes at a quicker pace exponentially as time goes by, I believe kids need to be taught the basics of these techs, but we shouldn't let them get so engrossed into them.

If they learn and work on Ipads in class....for example....If I can't afford one...how will I be able to maintain my child's ongoing development on this device, because I doubt that the school will allow kids to bring those home for homework, or else a lot of the devices will end up missing or broken.

reply to post by Teye22


My son's 28 now. 20 years ago, a computer was required for proper homework completion.
The children needed to all have the same resources available.
Most people had a computer in the home.
If one wasn't available in the home for use, they needed to go to a friend's house, or the library.
This is the same, just with newer tech.

reply to post by Teye22


YET we wonder WHY our children and younger generations are becoming DUMBER!!!

How is this a required skill in life? Teach them some math!!

Twitter? My lord what are we coming to????

reply to post by Dominar

Well, it's not like they're using it to tweet idiotic things with idiotic hashtags.

It's used for something not idiotic?

Sorry that made me laugh.....There is nothing smart about tweeting someone where you are right now or what you are doing at the moment.....

#Imanidiot

Originally posted by Chrisfishenstein
reply to post by Teye22

 

YET we wonder WHY our children and younger generations are becoming DUMBER!!!

How is this a required skill in life? Teach them some math!!

Twitter? My lord what are we coming to????

Fully agree... I can understand the people that think its ok ,like it was posted a little higher, that they spell and read on these....but I dont see where this will help their handwriting skills..

Originally posted by woodwardjnr

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
So the kids are taught to be twits before they have wits. Ahhh.... Modern technology. What won't it bring us next?

I can't help but think the Reading, Writing and Arithmetic are a tad more important than how to tweet a short note about who is dating who or what teacher sucks. Teach them the skills that form the ability to MAKE the next twitter....not simply how to be a consumer. One without the other makes for a population with really odd priorities, IMO.

By using iPads and this technology everyday, they will be more fluent in the language that will teach them to make the next twitter or Facebook or YouTube. From the article, I wouldn't say they are creating new consumers but tech savvy youngsters using technology to learn and share what they are learning.

That is the same approach I see in college, with very mixed results. Personally in math, as one area? I've ditched their computer based stuff for the good old fashioned pen to paper. My work improved dramatically for the learning stage of the topic. I guess mileage varies by experience.

Someone else mentioned handwriting and I think it's sad to mention that cursive writing as a thing to teach has been abandoned in favor of printing and keyboard skills.

God help this nation in a technological disaster. They'd better spend fortunes on defending against a repeat Carrington Event. If one happens, we'll lose 75 IQ points on average, across the board and in less than 24 hours. Much of the rest of the world won't suffer the same, making the outcome worse here.

There is such a thing as TOO much obsession with technology, IMO. When it replaces traditional work? Yup. That's the line where I see it.

they don't really have a choice but to use skype or twitter which are corporations.