I agree entirely with you when it comes to older kids - having a 13 year-old and a 10 year-old son. However, I am running a "hole-in-the-wall" language school:
1. Its private (i.e. I get to choose the kids!!!) 2. The kids are "babies" compared to your lot. 3. The kids come from the "snobby centre" of Bulgaria's second city (500,000) from "snobby households" - doctors, teachers, lawyers and so forth. 4. No internet. 5. My school is ONLY for teaching English as a Foreign Language - not life skills and the whole panoply of subjects. I myself was educated at a private boarding school in England where there was a tremendous totalitarian ethos - and as a result when I left I possessed no self-discipline whatsoever - leading to what is politely called "a hiatus" in my life. My sons, however, go to Grammar schools here in Bulgaria - which, post-communism - is going through a entirely permissive stage - and they are having the tough time now, rather than storing it up until their early 20s (when, believe me, the consequences of all that bottled up tension are horrible). I do not propose that ALL educators should run stripped down operating systems so that pupils can be dragooned into one way of thinking - however, there is a need under some circumstances for this sort of tight content control. Your ideas about classroom norms are super - and sound just the ticket in your setting: but in the context of small groups of children, who (at least at the start) don't speak any English and are shy and nervous about learning the language this woulkdn't work. sincerely, Richmond Mathewson On Tue, 8 Nov 2005 14:22:14 -0500 Kevin Driscoll <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > For students aged 12-20 at an urban school in Boston, I > have found > education a more successful tactic than restriction. > Although this > requires some serious investment at the outset - creating > classroom/lab norms, writing a contract, etc - the > returns are > significant. I avoid the technical headaches of > maintaining > restrictions and expect more sophisticated > decision-making of the > students. > > For example, in my classroom, there is a list of students > who have > been caught using social-networking websites, playing > games, or > watching music videos during class. They have one > year-long warning > and after that a fairly severe penalty to their class > participation > grade. > > Kevin Driscoll > > > > On 11/8/05, Mathewson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > The easiest and simplest way to shut out the > distractions > > consists of 2 parts: > > > > 1.Remove all panels and put iconic links to whatever > you > > want your pupils to have access to on the desktop. > > > > 2. Use single-button mice (i.e. left-click only) - not > > terribly original idea - pinched from Macintosh - I > believe > > that MAC USB mice should work with PCs with USB ports; > > although haven't tried that yet. This means that the > users > > will not have access to contextual menus allowing them > to > > access the file structure. > > > > Coming from the UK; the country where the government > > dictates what is and isn't good for its citizens > (unlike > > the USA, where people are allowed to use their brains) > I > > don't have any real moral qualms about being a > > control-freak as far as my 6-9 year-olds are concerned! > > > > Sincerely, Richmond Mathewson > > > > __________________________________________________ > > See Mathewson's software at: > > > > http://members.maclaunch.com/richmond/default.html > > _______________________________________ > > > --------------------------------------------------------------- > > The Think Different Store > > http://www.thinkdifferentstore.com/ > > For All Your Mac Gear > > > --------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > -- > > edubuntu-devel mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/edubuntu-devel > > __________________________________________________ See Mathewson's software at: http://members.maclaunch.com/richmond/default.html _______________________________________ --------------------------------------------------------------- The Think Different Store http://www.thinkdifferentstore.com/ For All Your Mac Gear --------------------------------------------------------------- -- edubuntu-devel mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/edubuntu-devel
