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Unblocking YouTube has caused a classroom management nightmare in my classroom
Filed Under Blogging in and out of the Classroom, Computers In The Classroom, motivating students, positive climate, Special Education, The way I see it | 5 Comments
Image via CrunchBase
What’s that old adage “Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it”. I’ve been wishing the school would unblock YouTube so I could use it freely in my classroom. A couple of days ago my wish came true, and my nightmare began. LOL
I’ve been complaining for a long time about the fact that the school board was blocking YouTube. What a pain, I thought. There are so many educational videos on YouTube that I wanted to use in my classroom. I do use SchoolTube but not everything is on it. I’ve been downloading YouTube videos at home, converting them and then loading them onto my netbook so I can show them at school. What a pain. As if I didn’t already have enough to do. Oh yes, a password was available for my use, but I would have to go and ask an administrator for it in person. He would write it down a a slip of paper, and I was left with the impression that I was supposed to guard it with my life. The password would change periodically, so I would have to go find an administrator and ask for the new password. Let me tell you, I hated that. It felt demeaning. Recently, the board made the password available on line so I didn’t have to go find an administrator to give it to me. That was much better. Then just a couple of days ago, my students discovered that YouTube was no longer blocked. The school had unblocked You tube. The kids were ecstatic.
My teaching practice is information computer technology rich. I use information computer technology to teach, my students use it to learn and to demonstrate their learning. Now that my students can access YouTube freely, I’m constantly having to redirect them away from YouTube and back to their assignments. It is so frustrating. I’m not sure exactly what I’m going to do. I think I’m going to have class meetings tomorrow with my students and have them come up with a policy about watching You Tube in class. I’m sure we can figure it out. Got any ideas you might share with my classes?
Here’s a link to another post I wrote about YouTube in my classroom that talks about a strategy I found that works.
Mar
23
Some parents are so scared of doing the wrong thing they over-manage their children and make them fragile or push them to the limit so they burnout.
Filed Under "At-risk" students, Behaviour Management, Dealing With Stress, motivating students, positive climate, Special Education, The way I see it | 3 Comments
Teacups and crispies- two new terms coined by college officials in California to describe kids of anxious parents who over-manage their kids because they’re scared that their parenting skills are inadequate and therefore their kids will suffer by missing the boat. Parents who over-protect their children are creating fragile “teacups” who shatter and cannot fend for themselves; parents who push their kids too hard are creating “crispies” that burn out and cannot reach their potential either- just what these anxious parents hoped to avoid by their over-management ( MacVean, M.). ”Teacups” and “crispies” come in all ages- even college age.
I’ve had ”teacups”and “crispies” in my classes. If you’re a teacher, you’ve probably had them in your classes too. Last semester a student told me that his Mom considers a mark of 78% a fail and dreaded taking his mid term report home. A colleague told me a father of one of her students actually made a point of arguing about the loss of one- half percent on his child’s test. I had a student whose mom overprotected him by insisting he come home for lunch everyday even though he was in grade 11 and wanted to stay at school with friends. She would also visit the school during the day to check and see that he was O.K. His Mom was driving him crazy.
These over anxious moms, it’s mostly moms, don’t limit their over-management to school. They do things like test for radon in the home, provide lists of food their children can’t have when going to visit friends. They carry their kids backpacks, lunch boxes, and class projects to school. It seems to me that most kids get driven to school now or drive themselves to school; hardly any kids seem to walk to school. Walking to school is a great opportunity to get some exercise. Parents are afraid of predators, fear that kids are having oral sex at bar mitzvah parties, or that there are only 10 colleges worth going to( Mogel as cited in MacVean, 2011). One school even had red washcloths so that if students got cut, they would be protected from the sight of blood (Mogel as cited in MacVean, 2011 ). Oh my goodness!
Mar
6
What my at-risk high school students told me they expect from teachers
Filed Under "At-risk" students, Behaviour Management, Engaging Assignments and Activities for Students, questions teachers need to ask, Special Education | 3 Comments
Image by grantlairdjr via Flickr
Last week, I decided to ask my students what they expected from teachers. I told them that teachers are always telling students what they expect from them. Now, I wanted to hear what students expect from their teachers. I ask them to tell me in a paragraph what they expect and why. This is some of what they told me. I expect teachers to
- not abuse their power and order me around like they control my life;
- respect my personal life and not to bug me on things that are none of their business;
- not to yell at me because that just makes me made and I won’t listen;
- not to talk about themselves all the time and show off they’re smarter than us because I find it discouraging;
- not to treat us like we don’t know anything;
- have respect for all students no matter what they have done;
- to be able to hear both sides of the story and respect them;
- to be equally fair to all students;
- try to help every student to make him or her have the best results in class;
- give me less homework because it is hard to do it by myself if I cannot ask the teacher;
- more free time in class to do homework;
- give less homework because it is boring and takes away from time with family and friends;
- let us eat in class because sometimes kids are hungry in class and can’t stay awake in class;
- not give us homework before the holidays;
- let us listen to music while working in class;
- let us watch videos in class and not have to write about them;
- to want me to pass my classes;
- to be helpful, respectful, and fun to be around.
One student was philosophical about student expectations . He wrote “what can you do it’s life”.
After reading their paragraphs it stuck me how students and teachers have similar expectations. Teachers want students to respect them; students want teachers to respect them. I expected more of them to tell me they didn’t want homework. Some did tell me that, but it was because they didn’t have anyone at home that could help them with homework. Some students told me they want less writing. Maybe teachers could have their students demonstrate their learning orally more often. I’ll be honest, I want to do this more often, and I’m not sure why I don’t. I’ll have to think about that one. Any ideas about an easy way to evaluate learning orally?
I was delighted that my students felt safe enough in my classroom to actually tell me these things. I work hard to develop an inviting classroom, but I always think there’s room for improvement. My students are great teachers, and they tell me what my next steps need to be.
I encourage you to ask your students what they expect from teachers. I teach high school kids who are academically at-risk. It would be interesting to hear what students who are not academically at-risk expect from their teachers. Is it the same, or is it different?
Mar
1
Students think cell phones have no place in the classroom
Filed Under Behaviour Management, Computers In The Classroom, Evaluation, Web 2.0 tools and technologies | 12 Comments
Image by yisris via Flickr
Seventy-two percent of the 2600 students who took part in a survey sponsored by the Ontario Students’ Trustee Association students agreed cell phones should not be used as an educational tool in the classroom because they are such a distraction. I agree whole heartedly with these students. Cell phones are a distraction.
I’ll admit, I was quite surprised by the results of the survey. I thought since cell phones now are really micro computers that can access the internet, students would argue cell phones could be a valuable learning tool in the classroom. I guess students might still feel cell phones could be valuable learning tools in the classroom but realize the distraction factor is too great and would thwart learning instead of fostering it.
The distractability factor of cell phones in the classroom does concern me and my colleagues. But, that’s only one of the concerns we have about cell phones in the classroom. We’re more concerned about the fact that students can use cell phones to cheat on tests and exams. For example, my students who take my math class in period one could text answers to students who take my other math class in period four. Students in period one could also take pictures of the test using their phones and share them with their peers who write the math test later in the day. I already create two versions of every quiz and test I give and distribute these two versions strategically to try to minimize any cheating. I spend far too much time and energy monitoring my students to prevent cheating when they write quizzes and tests. I wish there was some easy way to completely disable cell phones so that they wouldn’t even turn on in classrooms during quizzes and tests.
Any suggestions?
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