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Summer breaks as well as summer school have both been around for several decades, so the assertion that having 10 weeks off for a summer vacation doesn't hold water.
The fact that teachers are prohibited from banning ALL electrical devices (not just cellphones) from their classrooms is a blistering indictment of the local politicians and administrators.
I knew I shouldn't have said "low-income children" at all. What I should have said more clearly was "children whose parent(s) are not supportive of education".
There are more single-parent and fragmented households these days. A higher pecentage of the kids in that type of home will perform at a lower standard than the kids across town in the two-parent households.
So generally speaking, kids who are at-risk for whatever reason (and there are more of them than there used to be), would benefit from year-round schooling, whereas kids with involved parents are enriched by summer vacation.
You mean "at risk" then ?
Title 1 spending for these at risk students is near $30 billion per year for supplies, remediation, etc.
and they are still failing.
Summer breaks as well as summer school have both been around for several decades, so the assertion that having 10 weeks off for a summer vacation doesn't hold water.
The fact that teachers are prohibited from banning ALL electrical devices (not just cellphones) from their classrooms is a blistering indictment of the local politicians and administrators.
Everyone's afraid of infringing on someone elses rights. IMO, kids who would rather play with that toy mommy and daddy gave them than listen should be allowed to fail. That is, after all, the natural consequence of their choice to not pay attention. I hate trying to police cell phone use. All I can do is tell them to put it away. I can't really do anything so it just comes back out 5 minutes later.
Everyone's afraid of infringing on someone elses rights. IMO, kids who would rather play with that toy mommy and daddy gave them than listen should be allowed to fail. That is, after all, the natural consequence of their choice to not pay attention. I hate trying to police cell phone use. All I can do is tell them to put it away. I can't really do anything so it just comes back out 5 minutes later.
You can't even confiscate them for the class period? That's awful! How about sending the kids out of your classroom? Detentions for breaking class rules? Can you give a zero for "participation" for that day, and it would impact their final grade?
If you can't do any of those things, then I really have no answers... I would never want to be a teacher under those circumstances.
You can't even confiscate them for the class period? That's awful! How about sending the kids out of your classroom? Detentions for breaking class rules? Can you give a zero for "participation" for that day, and it would impact their final grade?
That might be effective if the kid cares about their final grade. Most of the time kids that are causing the problems really don't care and, honestly, many know they only have to get a D to advance.
You can't even confiscate them for the class period? That's awful! How about sending the kids out of your classroom? Detentions for breaking class rules? Can you give a zero for "participation" for that day, and it would impact their final grade?
If you can't do any of those things, then I really have no answers... I would never want to be a teacher under those circumstances.
I can IF the student hands it to me but they know I can't take it from them if they refuse so most refuse. I once made the mistake grabbing a phone before the student could move it away from me and I was the one reprimanded for taking her property. I don't even ask anymore. Why bother? They just say "I don't even have a phone" or just tell me no.
I don't give participation points. If they're not paying attention, it shows on tests. The problem is, then the parents want to blame me because so many kids did poorly. Well, the problem is so many of them are playing on their phones rather than listening. It's hard to compete with an iphone. So much for technology enhancing education.
That might be effective if the kid cares about their final grade. Most of the time kids that are causing the problems really don't care and, honestly, many know they only have to get a D to advance.
You're correct. Many don't care and those who do will just scream to get a better grade or have their parents do the screaming.
I wish I had one moment on video. It was three years ago. I had a girl who did nothing but text in my class and I just gave up on policing her cell phone use because I was taking way too much class time up with it. I was reviewing for a test and she demanded to know when I taught them something I was reviewing. Before I could say a word, about half the class said in unison "When you were texting".
What gets me is the kids who do this then want to stop class later and have things explained to them again. When I've refused, they go to the principal and tell him I refuse to answer their questions and I get my hand slapped. I've had to repeat the same thing half a dozen times, in the same class perioed, because they weren't listening the first 3, 4 or 5 times I said something. It is very annoying. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to just let them fail the assignment because of their failure to pay attention.
Most won't fail anyway. As you noted, they only need a D to pass and we have to make our classes easy to pass with a D. We get zinged if too many kids fail whether they deserve to or not. I'm failing 6 this quarter and will get my hand slapped but none of them do any work. All six have just stopped trying. I think they expect someone to pass them just for showing up because Lord knows they don't even attempt anything when they get there. The way I have my grading set up, you have to try to fail my class. If you take advantage of free homework points (10% of the grade), redos on quizzes and labs (40% of the grade) you only need to score 40% on the tests and the final to pass the class with a D....and I STILL have kids fail.
You're correct. Many don't care and those who do will just scream to get a better grade or have their parents do the screaming.
I wish I had one moment on video. It was three years ago. I had a girl who did nothing but text in my class and I just gave up on policing her cell phone use because I was taking way too much class time up with it. I was reviewing for a test and she demanded to know when I taught them something I was reviewing. Before I could say a word, about half the class said in unison "When you were texting".
What gets me is the kids who do this then want to stop class later and have things explained to them again. When I've refused, they go to the principal and tell him I refuse to answer their questions and I get my hand slapped. I've had to repeat the same thing half a dozen times, in the same class perioed, because they weren't listening the first 3, 4 or 5 times I said something. It is very annoying. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to just let them fail the assignment because of their failure to pay attention.
Most won't fail anyway. As you noted, they only need a D to pass and we have to make our classes easy to pass with a D. We get zinged if too many kids fail whether they deserve to or not. I'm failing 6 this quarter and will get my hand slapped but none of them do any work. All six have just stopped trying. I think they expect someone to pass them just for showing up because Lord knows they don't even attempt anything when they get there. The way I have my grading set up, you have to try to fail my class. If you take advantage of free homework points (10% of the grade), redos on quizzes and labs (40% of the grade) you only need to score 40% on the tests and the final to pass the class with a D....and I STILL have kids fail.
I swear the inmates are running the assylum.
I bought Camtasia and video the lecture part of my lessons and then upload them to my website. If a kid needs extra instruction, I just direct them there. That works for my honors students, but not many of my regular students can't do that because they do not know all their basic facts and forget division. You don't actually have to buy Camtasia; just find similar videos already out there.
But, honestly, you are probably better off going back into engineering.
I can IF the student hands it to me but they know I can't take it from them if they refuse so most refuse. I once made the mistake grabbing a phone before the student could move it away from me and I was the one reprimanded for taking her property. I don't even ask anymore. Why bother? They just say "I don't even have a phone" or just tell me no.
I don't give participation points. If they're not paying attention, it shows on tests. The problem is, then the parents want to blame me because so many kids did poorly. Well, the problem is so many of them are playing on their phones rather than listening. It's hard to compete with an iphone. So much for technology enhancing education.
Here's how my school deals with this issue:
You ask the student to give you the phone - student then either complies are refuses.
If the student complies, then end of story. You can choose whether you will give the phone back at the end of class or if you want to give it to the dean who will keep it for the rest of the day and (theoretically) impose a form of punishment on the student.
If the student refuses, then you tell the student that you are going to report both their cell phone usage and refusal to give you the phone to his/her dean. The student will then get in trouble twice -- once for using the phone, and once for defiance (failure to follow the directive of a staff member). The phone thing is usually a slap on the wrist. The defiance will get the student in-house suspension right away.
If the student refuses to give you the phone, and then is caught during the same period using it, you can call the dean and have the student removed from your classroom.
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