From Classroom to Home: Tech Strategies for Families - E132

This week, we are chatting about technology use with students and how parents can best support that at home. We will share a little bit of our own struggles as parents and also some ideas that we have as educators to help support families.

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Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/132**

• How Technology Influences Student Thinking - E125
• This Week In Ontario EduBlogs - Stephen Hurley and Doug Peterson
• Technology use has exploded - how much should kids be using it?
• Limiting screen time (focus on educational apps, limited time/devices, TV time, require activity before screens, get outdoors)
• Getting off task while on technology (virtual or remote learning, YouTube, lack of focus)
• Canadian Paediatric Society screen time recommendations
• TV watching time as a family activity
• Too much screen time can affect mood, sleep, etc - decide how much time is right for you, your kids, and your family
• Parental controls (chromebooks, e-readers, iPads)
• Teaching digital citizenship skills (share weekly resources in your classroom newsletter)
• Balance screen time, social activities
• Cell phones - when do you start? Safety, maturity
• Smart watches for kids - Apple Watch, other brands
• Educator Tips:
  • Tech breaks (25 min focus, 5 min tech break)
  • Open lines of communication home with parents

Transcript

Rachel: 0:41

In this episode, we revisited technology use with students and how parents can best support that at home.

Katie: 0:49

We will share a little bit of our own struggles as parents and also some ideas that we have as educators to help support families.

Rachel: 0:56

Let's get started. This week Katie and I are talking about technology and students and the role of parents.

Katie: 1:12

Yeah, talk about a loaded topic.

Rachel: 1:14

Yeah.

Katie: 1:16

it came up as a result of episode 1 25, and Doug and Steve mentioned it and. Said they'd love to hear our take on it and what we think the role of parents is and how it kind of plays into daily life and life at home, et cetera. So we're taking on that challenge.

Rachel: 1:36

So yeah, when Katie mentions Steve and Doug, she means Steven Hurley and Doug Peterson, and they do a weekly podcast called This Week in Ontario, ed Ju Blogs. And so they talked about our episode and I always love listening to their conversations'cause uh, it's, it's kind of. Some of the only feedback we, we hear a lot from, from listeners, so it's, it's really kind of neat to hear someone's take on what we're saying. And so yeah, we, we talked about, this was part of our book study to go along with why don't students like school? And it was a chapter all about technology and how it influences student thinking and how you can use technology to enhance student thinking.

Katie: 2:22

Yeah. And. It's a loaded topic because technology use has really exploded probably in the last, well, particularly since the pandemic, but even in the last 10 years or so. and there's kind of mixed ideas or beliefs in terms of how much or how little, kids should be using technology. And we took a bit of a different stance in my family. So we were kind of, we didn't start screens too much until probably the pandemic because we kind of were forced to in that sense because well, online learning, like it or not, it's there. And that's when my kids were kind of exploring more, like YouTube and things like that. prior to that, Maybe like a little bit of TV shows or a movie, but, uh, we weren't really doing too much.

Rachel: 3:12

I am trying to think back to when my son was young as well. We didn't do a whole lot of technology with him either. We really wanted to keep him off the screens and. I think we did download some apps that were learning based apps. So there, I remember one, there was like an alphabet one that he would like to go through, and every time you touch the letter, like it would be letter A and when you touched it, it. I don't know, had some sort of animal or something related to the letter A and then it made a sound and he really, really enjoyed that. So, you know, we, we really focused on only educational type apps and we stayed away from any of the games because honestly, knowing that addiction was going to come sooner or later,

Katie: 4:00

We didn't even do apps. We didn't even own an iPad until the pandemic. And so my kids never got to use my phone or an iPad and, and I'm not saying there's a right or wrong, but I think that was for us because even with tv, my kids. But like eyes were trained, if there's a screen on, they're looking at it. And, and so I didn't want to encourage that or to have them feel like screens were something they needed, if that makes sense. And, and I don't know if it's just'cause that's my kids and that's kind of, they're very attracted to screens and, and so we were trying to avoid it. I, I, I don't know.

Rachel: 4:34

we did know, like we wanted to limit how much time, and we still put limits on how much screen time there is now over the pandemic. That kind of all went out the window because my son did virtual school for a year and a half, so he was on screens for the entire duration of a school day. I mean, doing schoolwork, so fine, but towards the end of that, he was, Getting really off track and he was doing things like playing games or on YouTube and not on task with what he should be doing. And that was part of the reason why we transitioned back to in-person school, part of partly that, partly because he asked to go back and partly because he is like, I'm vaccinated now. I feel safe. So, you know, we kind of. Took all of that into consideration and, and decided to shift him back to in-person learning halfway through the school year.

Katie: 5:27

Yeah, that makes sense. My kids, my son, I don't know if I've told this story. I probably have, I was teaching, so I had to be online with my students and then, uh, during a break I went and checked on him and his teacher was talking in the background, but he was watching YouTube and I was like, what is happening? So, um, I was glad when remote learning, like he was never in virtual school, but I was glad when remote learning was done because. For, for my kids anyhow, it's extremely distracting and they're not on task and they were getting really tired, and just had a hard time focusing. So, I don't know, like it's, it's kind of a double-edged sword'cause technology's all around us and it's not going anywhere and it's something they need to know how to use, but it's that question of. As a parent, how much is appropriate and how do you ensure they're using it properly? And I guess that's what we're talking about today.

Rachel: 6:20

that's a great question. I think it's probably very individual for every single family.

Katie: 6:26

100%.

Rachel: 6:27

I know that we can still get away with limiting our son to an hour a day. He gets an hour a day on whatever device he wants to play on. So sometimes he chooses the PS four and he plays Minecraft on there. Sometimes he goes on his Chromebook to do, I don't know what on there. Sometimes it's the iPad, like it, it sort of depends, but. He gets an hour total of electronics time and he is not allowed to even do that until he's at least being outside for an hour and, and active or playing with friends or something. So he usually, you know, it, I don't know. I guess it's, it's a way for us to get him out and active. But he's kind of just doing it a little bit begrudgingly, right? He's like, I'm going outside to ride my bike now. And you know, he's only going out there to ride his bike for an hour because he wants to play on the PSS four.

Katie: 7:23

Yes. and, and we, we do similar. I think sometimes it ends up being longer'cause I just stop. I'm not paying attention to the time. Um, we have kind of relaxed it a little bit more I think in the last year, but, um, It's usually an hour, maybe two, depending on if they can get away with it. and then making sure it's even for both. Because if they're playing a video game, then my daughter will go into her room and read. She's like, I don't wanna watch the video game'cause that's screen time, so I have to go in my room and remove myself. Uh, and then they kind of swap out like that. But, um, it's hard.

Rachel: 7:58

It's very hard.

Katie: 8:00

I love the summer because when we go on our camping trips, they're not asking for screens. And so it's phenomenal because we get like really good unplugged family time, and there's not that request, there's not that temptation. It's just us spending time together and it's. It's amazing the difference in their moods when we are out and about and doing these, these trips together versus when we're at home and they just want TV or they just want a screen. So I notice a big difference as a parent. So for me, limiting time, I, I think it's something that we have to make sure we do because my kids are much happier without them.

Rachel: 8:36

they're, and I do see big differences with my son too. Like he is much happier when he is not on screens. Like if we go camping or away or something, or we're out for the day, he's not even thinking about it.

Katie: 8:49

No. And so, uh, the Canadian PDI Pediatric Society for, in terms of their guidelines, they're saying if a kid is under two screen time is not recommended. Obviously, that's very family dependent, two to five limit to less than one hour a day and older than five. Less than two hours a day. and I think that's a good, recommendation, I guess a guideline to kinda help you figure out. But it's hard as parents because it can be really easy to put a screen in front of a kid to help them calm down or to distract them so you can get things done. And I understand that temptation and that need to keep kids busy.

Rachel: 9:29

Now we do watch TV together, but we do it as a family. And so usually we'll watch some sort of show after we have dinner for half an hour to an hour, depending on what it is. You know, some of the, the big ones we watch right now are things like Master Chef. He loves Master Chef and the Amazing Race. And you know, like, like shows like that or, um, Right now we're taking him through Friends in the Big Bang Theory. So, you know, things that we watched that we really loved. And it's funny'cause he's starting to like understand all the jokes and stuff like that now'cause he's getting older. and then on weekends sometimes we have movie

Katie: 10:08

Mm-hmm. Yep. And I think that's fair. One show, I don't know if you've seen it or not, I think it's called, is it Cake? Have you heard of that? So my daughter loves this show. It's actually quite fascinating to watch. So a bunch of bakers are competing and they're given an everyday object that they have to make a cake that looks like it. And then there are judges who have to say which one is cake versus which one is the item itself.

Rachel: 10:34

Ooh.

Katie: 10:35

And it's all, it's really neat and it's like super creative.'cause I'm like, mine would not look like the object Uhuh, but they do an awesome job. It's a neat one. Yeah, it's fun, but definitely mindless. Not educational, but, um, screens, so. Hmm. How, how do we even approach this? I feel judgy when I talk about it because I don't wanna be judgy of other people and what they do with their families. But there's a lot of research out there that shows that too much screen time and, and technology for children leads to some pretty terrible things for kids, whether it be mood, sleep problems, et cetera. And, I think it's really important as parents that we. Know the effects of it and try to find ways to ensure we're setting our kids up for success, so to speak.

Rachel: 11:25

Yeah, it's almost, you have to decide how much time is right for, for you, for your family, for your kids, and that is going to differ from family to family.

Katie: 11:35

And I think the other thing that I. I think hit me pretty hard during the pandemic was if we're going to let them use phones or iPads or Chromebooks or whatever it is, we need to make sure we're sitting down with them so that they understand how to use them and what they should and should not be using, and there needs to be some parental controls in place to keep them safe if we are not going to be with them when they're on those screens because YouTube, et cetera, like it's a minefield. There are so many things out there that can be extremely harmful or that can expose them to perhaps parts of the world we're not quite ready to expose them to at that age.

Rachel: 12:11

And that's where it gets a bit challenging, like if you're using a Chromebook. And it's managed by your school board. So like not even the Chromebook itself, but when you log in with your school account, it is managed by your school district. And so you can't really put into place a lot of those controls and parental controls that you would want to when it's managed by the school board. And I find that really frustrating actually as a parent.

Katie: 12:36

So my daughter has a Chromebook, but we created a personal Gmail for her and I manage it through Google parental controls, and that has been good because I get to see what she's looking at.

Rachel: 12:48

Yeah, and I think that's great and I wish there was a way that the education accounts could work with parents in order to be able to allow some of those controls from the parent end.

Katie: 13:01

Agreed, because I, I do think it should be a partnership between schools and parents. I know depending on age, the educational accounts do kind of limit for the younger kids what they can look at and what they can do. But I mean, if a parent wants them to be able to do a little bit less than that because they're still not comfortable, that should be permitted.

Rachel: 13:19

I totally agree. so we bought my son a Cobo, which is an e-reader, a type of e-reader, and we bought him that for either Christmas or his birthday, I can't remember which one, a couple years ago. And he loves to read on it. We went with Akobo because it, uh, can connect to our public library. And so he can take out all the books he wants and read them on his Cobo. And so that's great. And then I think about six months ago, we realized that he can not only get on the web B browser there, but he can play like whatever video games from whatever websites on his Cobo.

Katie: 13:59

Oh, Oh, no.

Rachel: 14:01

So there is a way to like add in the parental controls and add in the pa, like a password protection to basically shut off anything, any access to the internet. But the problem with that device now is if you shut off the access to the internet, he can no longer connect to the public library. So we have to sit down with him now, and anytime he wants to look for books, we have to take the parental control off and then let him look for books, and then we shut it back down afterwards. So it's a bit, I don't know, it's a bit time consuming, a little annoying. I wish there was a little bit more control in order to kind of do that.

Katie: 14:38

We have Kindles for our kids, which is the Amazon, I guess, version. And there's an Amazon kid account for Kindle where it's unlimited reading, but the parent sets the age range in terms of books that the kids can access. That has been really neat. But then at the same time, if, if things are categories, like my daughter absorbs books, she loves to read and she's, I wouldn't say she's reading at her grade level. She's probably into books that are much older than, not much older. She's 11, maybe like 14, 15 in terms of content and things she's interested in reading. so I had to set it up a little bit higher for her. But, um, it is tough, but she can't access the internet when it's, when her Kindle is set up in, parent mode. And so it's just accessing the internet for the books that she can get from there. Um, then she can download and read the ones there. I do find it, it becomes limited in terms of what she can read after a while because she does read so quickly. But, um, I am comfortable with it at this point, and then we'll see where things go as we go with whatever's next,

Rachel: 15:41

I mean the, like iPads and other devices like that, I find iPads are great. Like there's lots of leeway in terms of how much you can control and how much you can turn on and turn off. So that's kind of really nice.

Katie: 15:54

so I do think it is, you know, look at the parent controls and see what you can do to limit exposure to anything and everything that's out there. Like you don't want them to access everything. and then the hard part is teaching. So, and I find it hard because. When I was growing up, I didn't really have that until maybe high school. And so then I was learning as it was happening and I had to intentionally learn, but kids are exposed to it from such a young age that they don't necessarily have to learn how to use things, but they don't necessarily have that knowledge or understanding of the impact and how much is out there. And so there is some intentional teaching that I have to do with my kids, but. It's harder for me to think about, if that makes sense.

Rachel: 16:37

the, I think there's lots of really great resources that parents could access or as educators we can share with parents out there. So if you do a search for anything around digital citizenship, you know, maybe even if you do a newsletter home, Uh, you could include a link every week of some sort of different sort of aspect of digital citizenship. I think that would be really, really helpful. Whether parents open it or not, like it's still something that's there that they could explore.

Katie: 17:07

and I do think it's a balance. So making sure, yeah, screens are there, they're inevitable, but balance that out with other activities that are more social. And maybe physical and in person so that they're, they're still getting a good mix of people and technology because I don't know about you, but I found that when we came back from the pandemic, these teenagers in our schools really didn't know how to socialize and speak with other people. Like it was a bit of a weird situation where it's like, we've forgotten how to be human.

Rachel: 17:38

It still is a bit weird,

Katie: 17:40

Yes, yes it is. But it's like, it is strange. I you wouldn't think that however long it was, what, two years, a year and a half, something like that, that that would have such a lasting impact on how we interact with one another. But it has changed.

Rachel: 17:58

It is, it is huge in terms of the interactions I see. And, and the students that we're getting into our schools compared to say even like five years ago.

Katie: 18:09

Yeah. And so it's almost frightening how quickly we forget. and it takes a long time to retrain our brains and, and get students comfortable with these interactions in person again, and knowing how to speak to one another. And. Appropriate language etiquette, all that great stuff. so it screens have a huge impact our humanity.

Rachel: 18:32

Shall we talk cell phones?

Katie: 18:34

Oh man. I don't even know what to say about that. My daughter keeps asking, when can I get one? When can I get one? And the line has been when you get a job and can pay for it. However, I know that probably won't last'cause that's like 16 or 17 and I feel like in this day and age that's actually quite late.

Rachel: 18:52

we ended up getting, so my son's 11, he'll be 12 in December, so like, he's almost 12. And my mother-in-law had a really old flip phone. Like this thing, you make phone calls on it. You still have to text where you, where you take the, the number and you have to tap it like the three times to get the third letter. Uh, it's so

Katie: 19:17

or something? T nine word or something. And then it has like, does it do the predictive? As you're like hitting your numbers.

Rachel: 19:23

I don't think it even does that. So it's, it's like an old phone. And so she gave us that and then we got one of those really, really cheap cell phone plans for him. It's like$15 a month or something like that. And the reason we decided to do that is because he wanted to start. Going to his friend's house down the street, or when his friend's, a couple doors down from here wanted to go down to the shopping plaza. We just, we wanted a way for him to be able to contact us or to call for help if he needed to. Like, especially because he's an only child. Uh, now he goes down to his friend's house, which is like a few blocks away from here, and. It's been so handy to be able to just like quickly text him and say, Hey, come home now. Or, you know, how are you doing? You still okay? You know, just that, that sort of check-in, but he cannot access anything else on it.

Katie: 20:24

There's also, I wanna say, there are some watches you can get that do the tracking thing, and then I think there's also one where you can set it up so that it calls a specific number if there's an emergency.

Rachel: 20:37

Yeah, so you can get an Apple watch, uh, and you can put it on like a family plan. I have not done that or, or looked into setting that up yet, but you don't have to have a cell phone. You can just get the watch. You can make phone calls on an Apple watch as well. So as long as it's sort of set up that way, that's sort of a great option for parents to be able to get in touch with their kids and know where they are and be able to call them or text them without needing a phone either.

Katie: 21:09

Yeah, and it doesn't even have to be Apple Watch because those are silly, expensive, but there are other ones out there. I'll see if I can, um, find a link. I was actually talking to a mom of one of my daughter's friends and she was telling me about one that she has, and I was like, Ooh, that's neat. And it's much cheaper. It's like in the one 50 to 200 range, and I'm like, that's way more affordable than. Looking at an Apple watch and then going from there.

Rachel: 21:31

yeah.

Katie: 21:32

yeah. I'll see what I can find.

Rachel: 21:33

Yeah, I only mention Apple Watch because I'm Apple. Everything's Apple. So like it would just fit into our ecosystem so well.

Katie: 21:40

I also have one of those and so it's, but it's like, I don't wanna get that for my kid that's high. That's a lot of money and it's probably gonna get destroyed pretty quickly.

Rachel: 21:48

Yeah. You, you gotta think about durability.

Katie: 21:50

Yeah. Yep.

Rachel: 21:51

Now my husband is getting, he's updating his, iPhone and so he's got a really old iPhone, so we're thinking about giving him that one and then like really locking it down in terms of what he can do on it. Basically only allowing phone calls and text messages. Really.

Katie: 22:10

and

Rachel: 22:10

that makes sense. Yeah.

Katie: 22:11

I don't know if I'm there yet, though.

Rachel: 22:12

Yeah. And the only reason we did that is because we just, we wanted a way to be in touch with him when he wanted to go out with his friends. And, you know, he's a really responsible little kid and so, uh, it seemed like the best solution.

Katie: 22:26

Yeah, I get it. I, I totally get it.

Rachel: 22:29

yeah.

Katie: 22:29

It's a struggle. Things I never thought I'd have to worry about. But, uh, so there are things that are out there, there are ways to do it. And I know safety is important. I just, I won't get her a new phone yet. I don't want her to have all of that distractions. And I see what it does to teenagers. Like they're so addicted to their phones. And, and that's one of my big fears.'cause I know that my kids will probably be just like them. They'll be addicted and staring at their screens all day long.

Rachel: 22:54

So I guess the question is then what can we do as educators to support parents?

Katie: 22:59

So a lot of my parents for newcomers, I don't know if it's the same in other classrooms, but a lot of them keep on saying to me, can you just take their phone away? And while that's a great short term solution, and I will do it if they're super distracted, I'll have them put it on my desk and then get it at the end of the class. But I don't think it's a long-term solution because we're not teaching them anything. And so one thing that I. I did, for quite some time, and I haven't done it since the pandemic because it kind of was outta sight, outta mind. But I used to do tech breaks, so phone breaks, and so I'd get them to put their phones down in front of them if they needed it to be, and then every 25 minutes or so, I'd give them a few minutes to kind of get their fix. And then after those few minutes and I'd set a timer, they'd put the phone back down and we'd go back at, a sustained activity for the next 25, 30 minutes or whatever it was. and these tech breaks I actually did find made a big difference because they knew it was coming. They could get the time they needed to kind of go through whatever app it was they wanted to look at. and then, They knew it was coming again, so they were more willing to put it down. I feel like that might be something I go back to and give that a try this year, because like between TikTok and Snapchat and all these other things that is, that are taking over their attention that need to do something.

Rachel: 24:14

Yeah, I agree. I think that's a great strategy. I think also having that like open lines of communication home with parents is key. So you are doing that in the classroom, but then also sharing that back with parents, what you're doing in the classroom in hopes that they can support you and maybe kind of work on those strategies at home as well.

Katie: 24:36

But yeah, so screens. Difficult conversations and, and you can't judge because everybody has different circumstances, different privilege, different needs, different everything. Right? And so I think we're all just kind of doing the best we can, but if we can control it and if we have the option, it's certainly, as parents, I think, important that we try to limit and keep our kids off screens and interacting with one another as much as possible.

Rachel: 24:59

Yeah. So on that note, I think that's a great place for us to wrap up our conversation here today. So what we'll do is we'll include any of the links or resources we talked about here today in our show notes. You can access our show notes for this episode@edugss.com slash 1 3 2. That's edu g a ls.com/ 1 3 2.

Katie: 25:20

And if you like what you heard today, then feel free to share it with a colleague or a friend. And don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast app so that you don't miss out on any future content.

Rachel: 25:30

And as always, we'd love to hear from you. So if you have any ideas on managing screens, How to support parents, anything related to technology with students and their addictions, uh, we'd love to hear it. So you can go onto our flip at edu gals.com/flipgrid and leave us a video message there. Or you can go onto our website@edugals.com and leave us a written response.

Katie: 25:57

Thanks for listening and see you next week.