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I don't like Channel One, but have no problem with "fun facts" in history books. The fluffy stuff is history, too, especially if a good teacher can relate it back to larger historical issues.
I don't like textbooks in general, and think that a good teacher needs to be proactive about supplementing the textbook portion of the curriculum with other things.
The problem is that much of learning is fluffy stuff. Why should the history of M&M's keep coming up throughout the lesson. Sounds like to me that the company has found a free way to advertise, advertise, advertise their product to a targeted group.
The problem is that much of learning is fluffy stuff. Why should the history of M&M's keep coming up throughout the lesson. Sounds like to me that the company has found a free way to advertise, advertise, advertise their product to a targeted group.
I was meaning that if the teachers keep bringing it up through out the lesson or day.
I was thinking about that...how much to they put into the teachers books that teach the teacher how to keep bringing up through out the day? Think about how much those textbook companies make....money from the companies that are advertising their products in them and money from the districts who purchase their books. Anything that they actually write off as a company as expense is really no expense to them. I think I need a career change. Or, if I were a teacher, I would refuse to teach it....unless the company paid me personally to advertise for them.
Another thought that bothered me about "fun facts" is that why does learning have public school learning have to be so boring that you would have to add "fun facts" to lighten it up? Our kids have a blast learning and they don't have the "fluff" in there.
Well, and count me in among the anti-fluff and anti-Channel crowd here. Although it's not a top ten reason among the many reasons we chose to homeschool our child, avoidance of materialism and product-placement-as-history-fun-fact sure doesn't act as an encouraging reason to patronize the public schools.
The other, very obvious statement I have to make -- which was made earlier and more eloquently by JPS-teacher -- is that the Channel One folks are not altruists. Of course the program works or they wouldn't keep doing it. For every family that may say "no" in their house, there are obviously enough families who say "yes" -- and might I add, as a parent, that hearing "CanIhavethiscanihavethiscanihavethis" nine times -- or fifty -- would not increase my peace of mind or benefit my relationship with my child. It would introduce unhappiness and ill feelings whether I said no or yes. Does my kid still occasionally have a case of the "canihaves"? Oh, heck yeah. Sure. However, I have every confidence that daily exposure to Channel One would only make the situation worse.
Well, and count me in among the anti-fluff and anti-Channel crowd here. Although it's not a top ten reason among the many reasons we chose to homeschool our child, avoidance of materialism and product-placement-as-history-fun-fact sure doesn't act as an encouraging reason to patronize the public schools.
The other, very obvious statement I have to make -- which was made earlier and more eloquently by JPS-teacher -- is that the Channel One folks are not altruists. Of course the program works or they wouldn't keep doing it. For every family that may say "no" in their house, there are obviously enough families who say "yes" -- and might I add, as a parent, that hearing "CanIhavethiscanihavethiscanihavethis" nine times -- or fifty -- would not increase my peace of mind or benefit my relationship with my child. It would introduce unhappiness and ill feelings whether I said no or yes. Does my kid still occasionally have a case of the "canihaves"? Oh, heck yeah. Sure. However, I have every confidence that daily exposure to Channel One would only make the situation worse.
Gotta spread the love before I can rep you again! I have one (the five year old) who is currently learning about advertisement. "Mom? Do you have a pair of those pants? They are only $39.99!" "Mom, we do not have THAT toy in our house. See, it doesn't make a mess." As I did with our daughter...."Sweetheart, I really wish I could get that for you but it is cheap crap. If I bought that for you, it would break and you would be sad. That is why the toys you have don't break, because we do not buy them off the TV." "MOM! LOOK! You can wash your car with a shammy!" "Doesn't that sound like more work? Why wounldn't you just go to the car wash?"
Our daughter went through that stage and we just kept on the, "This is an advertisement sweetheart. It is made to try and MAKE people buy their products but most of it is crap, unhealthy, or otherwise a waste of money."
Gotta spread the love before I can rep you again! I have one (the five year old) who is currently learning about advertisement. "Mom? Do you have a pair of those pants? They are only $39.99!" "Mom, we do not have THAT toy in our house. See, it doesn't make a mess." As I did with our daughter...."Sweetheart, I really wish I could get that for you but it is cheap crap. If I bought that for you, it would break and you would be sad. That is why the toys you have don't break, because we do not buy them off the TV." "MOM! LOOK! You can wash your car with a shammy!" "Doesn't that sound like more work? Why wounldn't you just go to the car wash?"
Our daughter went through that stage and we just kept on the, "This is an advertisement sweetheart. It is made to try and MAKE people buy their products but most of it is crap, unhealthy, or otherwise a waste of money."
*nods*
We have a mantra in our house, especially around the Christmas season: "We don't buy things that they sell on TV." My kids have asked for ShamWows, those stupid toothpaste squeezers, and pixel dots. No thanks!
We have a mantra in our house, especially around the Christmas season: "We don't buy things that they sell on TV." My kids have asked for ShamWows, those stupid toothpaste squeezers, and pixel dots. No thanks!
*laughing* I think about this....a kid who would says "LETS GET IT!" to everything on TV. I makes me wonder, is this the mentality of those who keep these commercials going. Something tells me if someone has an "As Seen On TV" product in their home, there are many, many more. Adults with the impulsive control, reasoning, and impressionableness of a child.
The problem is that much of learning is fluffy stuff. Why should the history of M&M's keep coming up throughout the lesson. Sounds like to me that the company has found a free way to advertise, advertise, advertise their product to a targeted group.
Well, as a former history teacher some of that fluff makes history real for kids. It is a very difficult subject to make fun for most kids. It is also hard for kids to relate to something that happened 300 years ago. Having a fun timeline to follow keeps things real. I used to spend a lot of time relating content to ages of people around them--this happened in your lifetime, this happened when your parents were teenagers, this happened when your grandparents were teenagers. It gave them a more concrete way to put history where it belonged. If you said that your grandparents were born around the time M&M's were invented and the stock market crash happened about that same time (I have no idea when M/M's came to be, just using this as an example) kids GOT it vs saying in the late 1920's.... .
I remember one time we were talking about the Vietnam War and the kids were starting that glassy eye "this is boring look" and I asked them when were most of your born--most of the kids had been born in the early 70's. Once they put 2 and 2 together the subject became real to them.
I guess I just was able to teach my own kids what advertising was and how it was used at a very young age. I also figured out that when they said "I want that" they really meant that it was kind of cool-not that they really wanted me to buy it. I could tell their interest in something pretty easily-varying from that's cool to I REALLY, REALLY want that. The bigger deal you make out of something like that, the more they are going to push you. As for the "we don't buy anything that they sell on tv, that is just silly. Of course you buy things that they sell on tv all the time? How are you going to explain that you won't buy the ShamWow but you will buy Tide Laundry Detergent?? You are also passing up a GREAT learning experience by not buying the ShamWow and letting them learn that just because it looks cool on TV doesn't mean it is. Oh, and just an FYI-that car windshield wand that they are advertising on TV is AWESOME!!
Well, as a former history teacher some of that fluff makes history real for kids. It is a very difficult subject to make fun for most kids. It is also hard for kids to relate to something that happened 300 years ago. Having a fun timeline to follow keeps things real. I used to spend a lot of time relating content to ages of people around them--this happened in your lifetime, this happened when your parents were teenagers, this happened when your grandparents were teenagers. It gave them a more concrete way to put history where it belonged. If you said that your grandparents were born around the time M&M's were invented and the stock market crash happened about that same time (I have no idea when M/M's came to be, just using this as an example) kids GOT it vs saying in the late 1920's.... .
I remember one time we were talking about the Vietnam War and the kids were starting that glassy eye "this is boring look" and I asked them when were most of your born--most of the kids had been born in the early 70's. Once they put 2 and 2 together the subject became real to them.
I guess I just was able to teach my own kids what advertising was and how it was used at a very young age. I also figured out that when they said "I want that" they really meant that it was kind of cool-not that they really wanted me to buy it. I could tell their interest in something pretty easily-varying from that's cool to I REALLY, REALLY want that. The bigger deal you make out of something like that, the more they are going to push you. As for the "we don't buy anything that they sell on tv, that is just silly. Of course you buy things that they sell on tv all the time? How are you going to explain that you won't buy the ShamWow but you will buy Tide Laundry Detergent?? You are also passing up a GREAT learning experience by not buying the ShamWow and letting them learn that just because it looks cool on TV doesn't mean it is. Oh, and just an FYI-that car windshield wand that they are advertising on TV is AWESOME!!
I use M & M's to teach radioactive decay. Maybe the history teacher and I should do a thematic unit .
I use M & M's to teach radioactive decay. Maybe the history teacher and I should do a thematic unit .
We could invite the math teacher too-my kids did an M/M math unit once .
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Or, if I were a teacher, I would refuse to teach it....unless the company paid me personally to advertise for them. 
Gotta spread the love before I can rep you again! I have one (the five year old) who is currently learning about advertisement. "Mom? Do you have a pair of those pants? They are only $39.99!" "Mom, we do not have THAT toy in our house. See, it doesn't make a mess." As I did with our daughter...."Sweetheart, I really wish I could get that for you but it is cheap crap. If I bought that for you, it would break and you would be sad. That is why the toys you have don't break, because we do not buy them off the TV." "MOM! LOOK! You can wash your car with a shammy!" "Doesn't that sound like more work? Why wounldn't you just go to the car wash?" 
