Sorry I have not posted much lately but here is something that all parents might find useful, interesting and worth thinking about. I recently had a parent email me to find out if YouTube could be blocked on the student Chromebooks. Here is my response:
Dear Parent,
I am assuming you are having some issues at home with your student on YouTube when he is supposed to be doing something productive. I can completely relate to this issue because I have two daughters in the 6th and 9th grade and it is a daily problem for my wife and I.
YouTube has a vast resource of great educational video content and its use in school increases every year as more and more is added. Yes, the teachers do use these resources in their classrooms and do often ask students to view video content on YouTube at home for homework. There are websites and apps now that allow teachers to take YT videos and add stopping points, questions, discussions… so this is an extremely powerful teaching tool!
From the beginning, HCSD has decided to leave YouTube accessible for our teachers and students; I am thankful for this. Less progressive districts have not made this choice and are limiting their students and teachers educational experience. There are so many resources out there now that if your child does not have access to YT – he will find another resource to watch videos he wants to see. This also does not consider all the other devices in a modern home where YT is not blocked – cell phones, itouch, ipads, laptop and desktop computers. This is just world we live in.
Some things we do at my house are:
1. Know the passwords to email, google, cell phones and check history and email/chat discussions – my kids know this and we let them know we are aware of what they are doing online.
2. Have a check in time – all devices are checked in at night. My 6th grader is not allowed on her Chromebook in the morning and gets her itouch after her morning duties and her room is clean!
3. Our philosophy is – if the grades are good then we don’t worry too much. If the grades are not good we tighten the access to their devices. This has worked so far.
I know some families who put a timer on their Internet router and at a certain time it goes off – no access at night – for anyone in the family.
This is a huge parenting issue and we are the first parents who have to figure out how to deal with this amazingly huge resource and distraction called the Internet.
I feel your pain! It is a new world and not anything like how we grew up. I hope the above points help you to put this into perspective and offers some ideas for your family.
Mr. Hager
