Control Freak

First off I want to say that everyone's presentations were great. The bar keeps getting set higher and higher, it makes me happy I went in the second week.

One theme that keeps coming up again and again with me is control. Usually it is about who is blocking content at school, preventing us from doing something interesting in class. I have had my own battles in the first few years of teaching. I though that it was quite restrictive at our school, until I started to talk to other teachers at other schools. I quickly realized that as far as access we have it pretty good. Then there were other issues with control in the classroom. The director of the school decided we could not position the computers where we wanted, and that we would have our backs to the classroom if we were going to use the computer. This prompted me to get my own laptop, which gives me my own sense of control.

The battle didn't end there. Our IT guy would not permit me to plug my laptop into the projector in the room or the Smartboard (claimed that it would wear out the connectors and cables), so I had to purchase my own cables. Then I wasn't allowed to plug it in to the projector because it was not a school computer, and only school computers were permitted to be plugged in (this went back and forth for a couple of months, I guess that what happens when you get a couple of control freaks battling it out) After much debate, I finally have it set up in a reasonable way.

Lana brought up the question of parental control. As a parent of a 2 1/2 year old, I thought that I had a little while before I had to worry about this. Yesterday I found my little guy with my iPod touch, which he can navigate through and play games on. He has recently discovered YouTube, and likes to watch Toy Story 3 trailers (the past searches are saved, so when he opens it up it is there). This time however he had clicked on the recently posted and was watching some random video. I now have to figure out a way to let him watch some videos, but not everything that is out there.

I have heard a number of parental tips on how to handle controls. Some have said to monitor everything, and make sure that your kids are not seeing anything bad. Others have told me that this will not foster a sense of trust with your child, and that it is better to talk to your children about acceptable use. I am not sure how I will deal with it when Liam is old enough to understand, but for now I am going to do my best to block the bad stuff.

Only 52% of parents have rules in place governing media use in 8-18 year old students. In class I suggested that a large part of this may be that parents just don't understand the media. They are unaware of what these devices can do, what content is available on the internet, and just how much time kids are spending on digital media. I still think that this is the situation for many parents, but perhaps there is another reason. A parent like me may feel that regardless of any rules that I set, children are going to find a way. It might be better to teach them responsible use and instill that trust.

Government control. Roland gave us a great overview of what is going on in the USA. Anytime I feel like our government is useless and crazy, I turn my gaze to the south and feel a little better. I find working where I am I often wonder what it is like to teach in a public school; what is done differently, what is the same, would I be happier somewhere else? I imagine many of us ask similar questions about the schools in the USA, but also asking how do they cope with all of that control. It is a little funny seeing the debate about their health care system and how people are afraid of all that government control, but their education system seems much more regulated and controlled then ours.

p.s. If you haven't seen it yet, Sicko by Micheal Moore is a good film if you are at all interested in this whole health care debate and government control. I am not a big fan of his, but I really enjoyed this movie.