Seattle Schools Community Forum

The American Academy of Pediatrics  says it is hard to measure screen time because of the number of ways kids can be looking at one (beyond the tv). They also point out that, especially during the school year, kids could be reading a book (on a Kindle) or doing homework (on a computer). They recommend 2 hours a day for kids 3-18 for "entertainment screen time." You define "entertainment." The average 8-10 year old spends almost 8 hours a day on screen time with older kids spending up to 11 hours a day. About 75 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds own cell phones, and nearly all teenagers use text messaging. - See more at: https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/pages/managing-media-we-need-a-plan.aspx#sthash.iJk8MHo5.dpuf The question the AAP asks is - what is screen time displacing? Physical activity? Actual interaction with family and friends? Two things that seem to stand out are 1) parents, heal thyself and 2) just say no.

From the Stranger Slog : The Mercer Island School District will kick off its "One to One" iPad initiative next month by distributing free iPads to all 10th and 11th graders. The iPads will be used by students for the remainder of the year, returned for the summer, and then redistributed in September. Say what you want about the economic disparity that allows districts like Mercer Island to hand out iPads while other districts struggle to pay for more basic needs, but I'm guessing that this technology will be the norm in schools, not the exception, by the end of the decade. The advantages over traditional textbooks are too obvious and numerous to list. This is the future. But there's one huge advantage that might not be so obvious about this inevitable shift away from print and toward digital: It breaks the power of the Texas Board of Education to dictate what is and is not in our nation's textbooks. Because Texas is one of the largest buyers of...

From The Daily Tech: The Unified School District in San Diego, California is receiving nearly 26,000 iPads as soon as this fall. The school district's commitment has been labeled the largest iPad deployment in K-12 schools in the United States. The students will likely be using iBooks , which is an application that provides students with textbooks on the iPad as well as new study options like note-taking. Students can also use this app as well as others for writing and math without having to carry several heavy books to class. Overall, iBooks offers a more interactive learning experience that the district hopes will engage students. They will be using them in 5th and 8th grades and some high school classes, about 340 classrooms.   How did they afford this? The answer is Proposition S funding, which was passed in 2008 and offered money for classroom technology. Each iPad was purchased at $370 a piece (sic). FYI, that per iPad cost is only $30 less than r...

 Thanks to Mirmac 1 for this update. The Daily Kos had a story about one woman's story about Apple's program to have customers donate old iPads to TFA teachers.  Her story of getting passed around at Apple corporate reminds me of my efforts to figure this out.  From the story: After being passed around on the phone from one corporate office to another, I finally asked Jerry in marketing if Apple knew that Teach for America recruits weren't really teachers -- that their claim of "Teach for America takes well-trained teachers—referred to as "corps  members"— was completely false, and that the campaign was deceptive.  I said it would be great if Apple  were offering donated iPads to real teachers, but the company is misleading donors when it tells them their donation will go to a Teach for America "teacher." The marketing guy then said this.  "We paint with a broad brush when we use the term teacher ."  He said he considered hi...

As I previously reported, I called Apple and TFA about this iPad partnership.  Apple was very nice but said they knew nothing about it and to ask TFA.   TFA didn't return either of my phone calls or my e-mail.  I can't find any other info via Google, either. They want people to donate but they don't want people, even those donating the iPad, to know where it will go.  What is a big question is if TFA is giving the iPad to a school where a TFA recruit is assigned or to the TFA recruit? Because thenwhat happens when the TFA recruit leaves the school?  Does he/she leave the iPad behind?  Take it? I'd be troubled to know that I donated an iPad to a TFA recruit and not a needy classroom.  Which leads to the question of why Apple wouldn't eliminate the middleman (TFA) and just donate to needy schools in the cities where Apple stores are created.  A quick phone call to a district "Could you use some donated iPads in your classroom?"  and ...

For some reason, Apple is having a campaign where you can "donate" your old iPad to Apple and Apple in turn will give it to TFA who will give it (hopefully) to a TFA recruit in a high-needs school who knows how to use it for a class lesson.  (That was a mouthful.)  Now Apple's media line is they really have no info on this program so ask TFA.  Naturally, mum's the word over at TFA.  So if this is such a great idea, why isn't anyone talking about it? My read is that there's a TFA alum/tribble up the foodchain over at Apple who believes this is a great idea.  (It's got lots o'problems starting with how can you be sure it goes to a high-needs classroom?  What if that TFA recruit leaves?  Where does the iPad go then?  And, why wouldn't Apple eliminate the middle-man (TFA) and just tell people to donate their iPad to their nearest school district?) But hey, let's ask the man himself - Steve Jobs.   The rumor is that he does indeed answe...

Teach for America and Walmart - it kind of says it all, no?

From our IT head, Jim Ratchford, comes news of grant via Title IID of about $105k for  classroom technology.  In the past, the money had been used for their Educational Technologist Program (for teachers) but the money was reduced so they decided to go a different route - mobile technology. All schools were invited to apply for mobile computing devices (a cart of them) for a pilot program.  The carts will have iPods (Touch) and iPads for use in the classroom during the 2011-2012 school year.  After the selection, school teams will receive professional development about their use during the summer and during the school year.   The iPad carts will have a laptop with 15 iPads and the iPod carts will have a laptop and 30 iPod Touch devices.    There were 50 applications.   The winning proposals came from: iPod: Denny Middle School Sand Point Elementary Alki Elementary iPad: North Beach Elementary Pathfinder K-8 Orca K-8 Lowell Element...

Not a big crowd for the School Board meeting last week but traffic was lousy and it's the end of the school year.

Good 2010 education news roundup at The Washington Post blog, The Answer Sheet. I suspect many of you have read most of these articles but it is good to have them all in one place. (Thanks to Dorothy Neville for this link.) From the NY Times, an article about the popularity of buying iPads for use in schools. Fad or not? If this is of great use, wouldn't a smart phone do the same thing but more cheaply? As part of a pilot program, Roslyn High School on Long Island handed out 47 iPads on Dec. 20 to the students and teachers in two humanities classes. The school district hopes to provide iPads eventually to all 1,100 of its students. The iPads cost $750 apiece, and they are to be used in class and at home during the school year to replace textbooks , allow students to correspond with teachers and turn in papers and homework assignments, and preserve a record of student work in digital portfolios. Pro and Con: “There is very little evidence that kids lea...