Comments on: A Policy Quandary http://avenue4learning.com/2009/05/21/a-policy-quandary/ Ideas for Teaching Students in THEIR World... Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:33:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Michelle Baldwin http://avenue4learning.com/2009/05/21/a-policy-quandary/comment-page-1/#comment-135 Michelle Baldwin Wed, 27 May 2009 21:06:10 +0000 http://avenue4learning.com/?p=82#comment-135 Josh- I completely agree with you. Unfortunately, you and I don't always get to make these decisions... and I'm wondering what kind of answers I'll get from people who DO make those decisions. To be honest, I'm a little tired of saying the same thing, day in and day out, without much progress. As a parent, I want my kids to have the SKILLS to use these tools in school as well as at home. Thanks for the comment. Josh- I completely agree with you. Unfortunately, you and I don’t always get to make these decisions… and I’m wondering what kind of answers I’ll get from people who DO make those decisions.

To be honest, I’m a little tired of saying the same thing, day in and day out, without much progress. As a parent, I want my kids to have the SKILLS to use these tools in school as well as at home. Thanks for the comment.

]]> By: Josh Allen http://avenue4learning.com/2009/05/21/a-policy-quandary/comment-page-1/#comment-134 Josh Allen Wed, 27 May 2009 21:02:21 +0000 http://avenue4learning.com/?p=82#comment-134 You talk about legal ramifications of something "bad" happening...what happens when a kid pokes another in the eye with a pencil? Do we need to ban pencils from school? I really don't see the difference. If we ban pencils, kids will sneak them in. When we ban websites, if kids really want to, they'll find a way to get to them. Search YouTube for "how to block websites" and you'll find a kid telling you how to get around filters. Decisions are made in our district by a group of people who ask questions of each other. What that does is causes us to think about the pros and cons of opening a website. I wouldn't want it any other way. Generally we trust a teacher's judgement as to what is and is not blocked. Having said all that, we haven't had discussions about "major" websites. YouTube has always been unblocked without a whole lot of argument from anyone. I'm also the first to say that we need to rewrite policies, especially as we give laptops to every teacher and we expect them to use them proficiently. You talk about legal ramifications of something “bad” happening…what happens when a kid pokes another in the eye with a pencil? Do we need to ban pencils from school? I really don’t see the difference. If we ban pencils, kids will sneak them in. When we ban websites, if kids really want to, they’ll find a way to get to them. Search YouTube for “how to block websites” and you’ll find a kid telling you how to get around filters.
Decisions are made in our district by a group of people who ask questions of each other. What that does is causes us to think about the pros and cons of opening a website. I wouldn’t want it any other way. Generally we trust a teacher’s judgement as to what is and is not blocked. Having said all that, we haven’t had discussions about “major” websites. YouTube has always been unblocked without a whole lot of argument from anyone. I’m also the first to say that we need to rewrite policies, especially as we give laptops to every teacher and we expect them to use them proficiently.

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