School curriculum and tech
Hello, I’m wondering how I can get more involved in advocating for our kids’ education, as in the curriculum and tech in the classroom. My kids attend elementary and middle school in Queens, District 27.
My son is in kindergarten and from the start I didn’t like iReady. I think kids aren’t 100% focused throughout the video explanation and are then lost during the assignment. I’ve heard and understand many teachers like it bc it gives them an idea of where kids’ stand academically but I refuse to use it at home. I help my son with his homework and have multiple workbooks to further help him. I wasn’t surprised to see iready under fire for their data practices.
My daughter started middle school this year and is in ‘honors.’ Almost all her classwork and homework are on Google Classroom. Even reading can be done on the ipad. I definitely see she struggles with fully capturing the plot of books, and think the tech is a huge issue. I strongly encourage her to read physical books. Her writing is also not the best and again think it’s because typing your thoughts is not the same as writing them with pen and paper! Sometimes I think I’m crazy because I think I’m expecting too much from her but I also KNOW I learned more at her age and I wasn’t even in honors! And don’t get me started on her Science class… She recently had a science assignment where she had to watch a 20 minute video. That’s a whole lesson. I was close by when the audio caught my attention because I couldn’t understand the narrator’s thick accent. I asked her, what’s this about and she seriously said ‘I don’t know, I can’t understand him, but it’s assigned hw.’ I couldn’t believe it! I privately messaged the teacher and didn’t hear back. I told my kid to stop the video and mark the assignment as done. Why is the hw to watch this long ass video that our kids’ can’t even understand?? I really want to go straight to the principal but idk if that’s enough. In addition this week was the 8th grade state science test and my daughter told us the 6th graders were going to take a practice 8th grade science test ‘to make sure all other grades were quiet for the 8th graders.’ What??? You’re going to make 6th graders who are already suffering through a shitty science curriculum take a test about topics they probably haven’t even learned yet?! When I reached out to the teacher because I really didn’t believe this was the case, she seriously recommended I keep my daughter at home. That it was above her pay grade, and I agree, to figure out or fight admin’s decision. Oh, and look what happened with systems failing and delaying the recent state math tests- also why are math tests being taken on computers, it’s ridiculous. I think teachers have the students practice how to input their answers more than the actual math skills.
I also think all this tech hurts our kids’ penmanship- I swear my daughter’s handwriting is not as neat as it can be. I love stationery and encourage her to practice writing with a cute journal and stickers... she now even practices cursive which I love and hope to see improvement. This may seem like such a small part of the larger issue but I have fond memories of practicing my handwriting and comparing with friends. I hate to see our kids missing out on this.
If you made it this far, I thank you! The NYT article that came out this week just threw me over the edge after all of this and I think we need to act fast. Does anyone listen to Breaking Ponts? On Thursday, Saagar mentioned that we have great power in influencing school curriculum, let’s use it! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. If anyone has kids in this district and would like to brainstorm together, please message me!