That’s the exact opposite of what a good 1-to-1 laptop program should be.
I hear the same thing all the time – “kids just goof off when you give them laptops.”
The other day, I was standing with a colleague in a place of learning (let’s leave names out of it…).
There were some kids on computers, doing the usual computer stuff (e-mail, surfing, chat, etc). Then there were some kids sitting around a table doing the usual kids stuff (chatting, scribbling, flipping through magazines).
My colleague says something like “why can’t those kids (on the computers) be more responsible and behave themselves like the other kids (not on the computers)?”
Of course, I started my “play by play” on the kids not on the computers. “You mean those three girls in that chat room there? Look at them, all chatting to each other, that shouldn’t be allowed! Woah, is this why we teach them to read? So they can just flip through mindless magazines? These kids are basically surfing mindless websites, except those websites are paper-based. Hey, I think that one just sent an instant message to another one. Oh, some other kid is sitting at the table and joining the chat room.”
I think I made my point – that kids act on computers in the same way they act without computers. You need to have expectations and rules. I agree with that, but you also need to be consistent.
BigThumb, I’m sure your school wouldn’t allow students to sit around a table and chat with each other without computers, so why should they allow them to do so with computers?
Needless to say, they certainly aren’t allowed to scribble notes on a piece of paper, are they? That’s the same rule that’s being applied on the computers.
As for youtube – your students aren’t allowed to watch TV, so why should they be allowed to watch TV on their computers?
They’re not allowed to make or listen to music without computers, so why should you let them listen to music on computers?
Get the point?
The people making your rules are on another planet.
