Snow Days

[GMDino]

Something a little lighter.

A friend is running for school board in her district.  She shared a story about one school suggesting that rather than have "snow days" students could continue to work on school stuff online.

Now personally I think it's a good idea.  Our district supplies laptops and they use fewer and fewer books.  Some of the teachers are still sticking to their old ways with the outdated textbooks but for the most part everything our son does in online.

This would also keep the school year from stretching further and further into June.

But one of the responses to her post struck me.  A woman said that until the school district started paying for her internet she would oppose the idea.  And I started wondering if that means she doesn't let he children use the internet for homework, research, etc.

Is that part of the problem with education today?  I mean OBVIOUSLY parents who don't take educations seriously would be part of the problem, bit I mean people like this woman who have no problem paying for the internet to stream movies, play games, etc but thinks that if her children use it for their education a couple days out of the year the school should pay her for it.

We have this amazing resource and it gives us the ability to do amazing things and instead we only want entertainment.

Entertainment is great!  I used to read the Weekly World News back in the day and I always called it "candy for my brain".  It was a treat to get me away from whatever I was reading to learn or further educate myself on some topic.  However if that is ALL we want to do we are doomed.

And I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that some people feel that way in general but on this specific topic I was was.  I hope it would be a minority opinion.  

Anyone else?

[*michaelsean*]

First of all, eff them on working snow days unless if becomes double digits or something. That really doesn't happen here very often but maybe where you live it does.

And that lady's response is ridiculous. Kids use the internet to do their homework all of the time. You get communications from the school via email.

[GMDino]

(10-30-2019, 09:37 AM)michaelsean Wrote: First of all, eff them on working snow days unless if becomes double digits or something.  That really doesn't happen here very often but maybe where you live it does.

And that lady's response is ridiculous.  Kids use the internet to do their homework all of the time.  You get communications from the school via email.

It varies from year to year but our district works in a number of "make up days" so if we have a bad winter (we have mountain schools in our district) they will have their Spring break cut short, go to school on Martin Luther King Day, something like that.

One year we had a devastating flood and school started a week or so late and the state waived the number of days so the students were not going to school into the end of June.

I just know if I was still in school I'd rather get some homework to do on a snow day to do at my leisure than have to go a full day later in the year.

Now if they want me to sit in from of the computer for a full "class" that might be harder.

I should add another argument in that thread being made against it is that if the student doesn't have a computer or if the family does not have the internet.  I'd add that slow internet or an outage should be taken into consideration if that is the path the schools decided to follow.

[BmorePat87]

(10-30-2019, 09:22 AM)GMDino Wrote: Something a little lighter.

A friend is running for school board in her district.  She shared a story about one school suggesting that rather than have "snow days" students could continue to work on school stuff online.

Now personally I think it's a good idea.  Our district supplies laptops and they use fewer and fewer books.  Some of the teachers are still sticking to their old ways with the outdated textbooks but for the most part everything our son does in online.

This would also keep the school year from stretching further and further into June.

But one of the responses to her post struck me.  A woman said that until the school district started paying for her internet she would oppose the idea.  And I started wondering if that means she doesn't let he children use the internet for homework, research, etc.

Is that part of the problem with education today?  I mean OBVIOUSLY parents who don't take educations seriously would be part of the problem, bit I mean people like this woman who have no problem paying for the internet to stream movies, play games, etc but thinks that if her children use it for their education a couple days out of the year the school should pay her for it.

We have this amazing resource and it gives us the ability to do amazing things and instead we only want entertainment.

Entertainment is great!  I used to read the Weekly World News back in the day and I always called it "candy for my brain".  It was a treat to get me away from whatever I was reading to learn or further educate myself on some topic.  However if that is ALL we want to do we are doomed.

And I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that some people feel that way in general but on this specific topic I was was.  I hope it would be a minority opinion.  

Anyone else?

You cannot assume that a student actually has internet at their house outside of their smart phone. You also have the issue of teachers being told to create online lessons on a whim. The last thing I want to do is have to pull a lesson out of my ass when I am only going to reteach it when school is back. 

Many of our counties have rule against homework teaching new concepts.

[GMDino]

(10-30-2019, 09:57 AM)BmorePat87 Wrote: You cannot assume that a student actually has internet at their house outside of their smart phone. You also have the issue of teachers being told to create online lessons on a whim. The last thing I want to do is have to pull a lesson out of my ass when I am only going to reteach it when school is back. 

Many of our counties have rule against homework teaching new concepts.

I was hoping you'd jump in to give an educators perspective.

Obviously there are all sorts of nuances to how a rule like this would be written and enforced, I was more on the "the school better pay for my internet if my kids are gonna use it to learn" angle.  

But going off your post:  What if that was put in as part of the curriculum?  Some sort of plan that if there are days that fall within the rule there is a set program for the teacher to present to the student.  It could be as easy as (based on the grade level) a reading that would be discussed in the next class or a group of questions/problems based on what was taught in the first nine weeks as a refresher.  

To me it doesn't have to be a full class that continues to teach new things to move everyone forward but something to ease the pressure of the makeup days.

[Au165]

Yea, the running assumption here that kids have access to the internet at home is the issue. Some may have it, other may have it sporadically as their parents can and can't afford to pay it month to month, some may just not have it at all. You can't say they could just go to the library here as the context is the idea of a snow day meaning the roads must be too bad to go to the library if they are too bad to go to school.

What about internet service providers who still meter home data? The community member who mentioned the school paying for it now does have a legit argument.

[GMDino]

(10-30-2019, 10:06 AM)Au165 Wrote: Yea, the running assumption here that kids have access to the internet at home is the issue. Some may have it, other may have it sporadically as their parents can and can't afford to pay it month to month, some may just not have it at all. You can't say they could just go to the library here as the context is the idea of a snow day meaning the roads must be too bad to go to the library if they are too bad to go to school.

What about internet service providers who still meter home data? The community member who mentioned the school paying for it now does have a legit argument.

Valid point!

I suppose this kind of plan would have to be area specific and perhaps with no "penalties" for not participating for such a reason.

I still wonder if she wanted the district to pay for her internet when the kids did homework though...because she has the internet but doesn't think her kids should use it for school if required to.

[Au165]

(10-30-2019, 10:20 AM)GMDino Wrote: I still wonder if she wanted the district to pay for her internet when the kids did homework though...because she has the internet but doesn't think her kids should use it for school if required to.

It's possible, and it may just be her way of simply saying it's an overreach by schools which I do agree with to some extent. We are being told kids are addicted to screens and spending too much time in front of screens, but we are now forcing them to be on screens to do a required activity like school work. One could argue they'd be on screens anyways, however that is just sidestepping the fact that now a government entity is requiring it. 

I personally despise homework and am against anything that is pushing kids to do more work away from school. I think the issue is our inefficient way of teaching children not that they need to do more work while they are away from school. My favorite are the big projects that teachers assign over breaks as if they want to make sure that kids can't escape the stress even over a designated break.

[GMDino]

(10-30-2019, 10:31 AM)Au165 Wrote: It's possible, and it may just be her way of simply saying it's an overreach by schools which I do agree with to some extent. We are being told kids are addicted to screens and spending too much time in front of screens, but we are now forcing them to be on screens to do a required activity like school work. One could argue they'd be on screens anyways, however that is just sidestepping the fact that now a government entity is requiring it. 

I personally despise homework and am against anything that is pushing kids to do more work away from school. I think the issue is our inefficient way of teaching children not that they need to do more work while they are away from school. My favorite are the big projects that teachers assign over breaks as if they want to make sure that kids can't escape the stress even over a designated break.

To the bold: I mostly agree.  Homework can be used to reinforce what was taught during the day.  Too much and those large project do create more stress than good IMHO.  I agree with you on that.

As to making them use the screen time for good and not just entertainment Id maintain that would be a good thing.

As an aside to that we were on vacation in Virginia a few years ago and took the family through an aquarium there.  I stopped to read a sign about the submarine studies they had my wife was calling back for me to hurry up.  I told her I was reading something and that it was interesting.  She replied that she didn't want to learn anything.  So every time we are in a museum for a trip or there's a chance of something being educational where we are I loudly proclaim "We are not here to LEARN anything!  We are here to have fun ONLY!"  

[BmorePat87]

(10-30-2019, 10:04 AM)GMDino Wrote: I was hoping you'd jump in to give an educators perspective.

Obviously there are all sorts of nuances to how a rule like this would be written and enforced, I was more on the "the school better pay for my internet if my kids are gonna use it to learn" angle.  

But going off your post:  What if that was put in as part of the curriculum?  Some sort of plan that if there are days that fall within the rule there is a set program for the teacher to present to the student.  It could be as easy as (based on the grade level) a reading that would be discussed in the next class or a group of questions/problems based on what was taught in the first nine weeks as a refresher.  

To me it doesn't have to be a full class that continues to teach new things to move everyone forward but something to ease the pressure of the makeup days.

That's similar to our emergency lesson plans. It's something we have in the room in case it is a last minute absence and we cannot coordinate the lesson. 

For government, I have a set of political cartoons on file for them to analyze and articles to read and take notes on. For psych, I have a chapter in the book for them to work on that I know I cannot work into my normal curriculum, so it's bonus material for fun if I am ever out. For sociology, they use a National Geographic, my class is full of them, to write about another culture. 

Mostly skill building. That would be fine, but that would likely then be a central office initiative and, again, just skill building. I personally do not know how much stock I'd put in it. We tend to be dismissive of anything but our own materials or those of people who trust at work. 

If anything, it would best serve as a nongraded, extra help. At that point, there's a ton of resources all ready out there for that. Crash Course or Khan Academy being some of them. 

The only thing about snow days that messes me up is when I miss A day B day classes, so one gets ahead of the other. 

[BmorePat87]

(10-30-2019, 10:31 AM)Au165 Wrote: It's possible, and it may just be her way of simply saying it's an overreach by schools which I do agree with to some extent. We are being told kids are addicted to screens and spending too much time in front of screens, but we are now forcing them to be on screens to do a required activity like school work. One could argue they'd be on screens anyways, however that is just sidestepping the fact that now a government entity is requiring it. 

I personally despise homework and am against anything that is pushing kids to do more work away from school. I think the issue is our inefficient way of teaching children not that they need to do more work while they are away from school. My favorite are the big projects that teachers assign over breaks as if they want to make sure that kids can't escape the stress even over a designated break.

So my homework for Government class is this:

Quote:The goal of this course is to help students learn to engage in critical and analytical thinking, making use of identified historical thinking skills while developing the skills and understandings needed to promote civility, engage compassionately, value empathy, and respect the dignity of their peers.

 
There are many ways to demonstrate mastery of the skills needed to be a citizen with civic literacy. As such, homework assignments will allow for flexibility in demonstrating these skills. Students will be able to choose between multiple tasks and means of presenting. After completing a task, students will have demonstrated a deeper understanding of one or more relevant course topics. 
 
Examples of acceptable tasks can include but are not limited to:
 
-Summarize and reflect on a chosen news article from a reputable source
-Discuss a relevant topic with parents/family/friends/guardians and reflect on it
-Create an engaging social media post about a relevant topic and reflect on it
-Look up a topic of your choice, summarizing your research and reflecting on it
-Create and conduct a 3-5 question poll with 20 participants and submit the raw data
-Analyze and compare 2 reputable polls
-Volunteer in your community and reflect on it
-Create a one page information sheet on a current political candidate
-Read an amendment, summarizing it and reflecting on its impact
-Choose a court case and write a one page brief about it
-Read a SCOTUS opinion, summarizing and reflecting on it
-Create a petition on the White House website that summarizes and issue and presents a course of action for it
-Complete political cartoon analysis using the guidelines listed on the analysis worksheet 
-Write a letter to one of your elected officials discussing an issue
-Create your own task with my approval

I tell them that all assignments should be 250 words or more. They have 4 weeks to complete the first 2 and 4 weeks to complete the last 2. You can only complete one type of assignment twice a quarter. They can hand write it, type it, make a presentation, make a poster, schedule a meeting with me to present it verbally, etc. 

The idea is they're practicing what they learn in real life. I want them to make the connection between what we learn and what they see around them. No projects over break. All work is done in class besides those 4 "good citizenship" tasks.  

[fredtoast]

I think the lady's point may have been that we pay property taxes to pay for a school building and teachers to educate our children.  Snow days cost parents extra money for day care or missing work.  So she may be concerned that the school would just run up a bunch of snow days and say "It doesn't matter because the kids can learn from home."

Kids love snow days but they can be a HUGE burden and cost for parents.

[Au165]

(10-30-2019, 01:42 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Kids love snow days but they can be a HUGE burden and cost for parents.

As a kid you don't think about it but now as a parent I'm well aware how much I hate snow days. 

[GMDino]

(10-30-2019, 01:42 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I think the lady's point may have been that we pay property taxes to pay for a school building and teachers to educate our children.  Snow days cost parents extra money for day care or missing work.  So she may be concerned that the school would just run up a bunch of snow days and say "It doesn't matter because the kids can learn from home."

Kids love snow days but they can be a HUGE burden and cost for parents.

That is an excellent take on it. I didn't consider that angle.

[Belsnickel]

So, I may be one of the few people on here familiar with the school district to which you are referring, having family in the district (and my family land being in it, as well). I can see some problems with the idea logistically as some of the places in the district would have little to no internet available on some of those snow days. As to the comment themselves, I think this is one of the biggest issues I have with the reliance on the internet for primary and secondary education. In rural school districts, you can run into a lot of students that lack any internet availability at home. I know that in Pennsylvania as a whole there is no county where more than 50% of the residents have access to broadband at home, and it's likely lower in the county in question given the economically depressed status.

I love the idea of utilizing all of these tools for education. There is literally an entire world at their fingertips with the internet. But until we can be certain that every single student has adequate access to the resource there has to be some caution with its use. Over-reliance on it can result in furthering the divide between urban and rural students, keeping the poorer students further behind.

[*bfine32*]

I think the lady should use her internet and click on the weather channel. If you see a forecast of a massive snow storm then instruct her teachers to give additional assignments in case of closure.

[Benton]

Some of the places I've worked in Kentucky, the lack of high speed internet would make it unrealistic. One county was around 70 Percent without.

[Belsnickel]

(10-31-2019, 01:08 AM)Benton Wrote: Some of the places I've worked in Kentucky, the lack of high speed internet would make it unrealistic. One county was around 70 Percent without.

That's the thing, the county (assuming it is the same one I am thinking of) in question is a very poor county. If no counties in PA have >50% with broadband access, and that includes Allegheny County, then I can be certain that this area is probably closer to that 70% mark without.

[BmorePat87]

(10-31-2019, 08:28 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: That's the thing, the county (assuming it is the same one I am thinking of) in question is a very poor county. If no counties in PA have >50% with broadband access, and that includes Allegheny County, then I can be certain that this area is probably closer to that 70% mark without.

I've said this for a few years now, but we need to upgrade the internet infrastructure across the country. 

[GMDino]

(10-30-2019, 08:59 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: So, I may be one of the few people on here familiar with the school district to which you are referring, having family in the district (and my family land being in it, as well). I can see some problems with the idea logistically as some of the places in the district would have little to no internet available on some of those snow days. As to the comment themselves, I think this is one of the biggest issues I have with the reliance on the internet for primary and secondary education. In rural school districts, you can run into a lot of students that lack any internet availability at home. I know that in Pennsylvania as a whole there is no county where more than 50% of the residents have access to broadband at home, and it's likely lower in the county in question given the economically depressed status.

I love the idea of utilizing all of these tools for education. There is literally an entire world at their fingertips with the internet. But until we can be certain that every single student has adequate access to the resource there has to be some caution with its use. Over-reliance on it can result in furthering the divide between urban and rural students, keeping the poorer students further behind.

If you're talking about my school district (and I think you are) it is not the one suggesting this.  It IS a Pittsburgh district though.

Your argument is valid but I wanted to clear that up because I know where you are from.