Coming Full Circle

I started off my blog with a post about why I wanted to become a teacher and why I wanted to make this blog centered around elementary school children. It is time to come full circle and talk about where I will be going next and what I will be doing. Just as my first blog post discussed, I began my interest in childhood development in the 9th grade through teaching kids and taking care of them during the a summer day camp program. Now, as my first year of college is ending and summer is arriving once again, I plan to volunteer at the summer day camp again. Through my research for this blog, I have become more knowledgeable about the way kids learn and behave when technology is involved. This summer when the lessons and activities are being planned, there will definitely be minimum technology use. That could mean less trips to the movie and no video game days. The planned activities will definitely be interactive and allow the kids the learn and grow at the same time. We will more than likely encourage reading and spending time talking to each other and being active. I hope that my research has equipped you readers for present, or even future references when dealing with kids and their technology uses. If there's one thing to remember from all these posts, I would probably say to remember that nothing is good for you unless it is given or taken in moderation. I think the key word that was found in a majority of my posts is: limit. Though that word seems to have a somewhat negative connotation, I believe that in this case, it is acceptable. Parents and supervisors of children must not have loose rules and standards. Limits must be set, which may seem hard at first, but always remember that it will benefit the kids and help them in the long run.

Aside from all that has been said in this post so far, I will use my final post to remind you all of the questions I sought after and the answers that I found (in a simple version of course):

Q: How much technology is too much?
A: You will know when it is too much

Q: How does technology affect attention span?
A: It more than likely decreases it

Q: Is technology limiting children's creativity?
A: Yes, in a way

Q: Who doesn't love watching television?
A: Everyone loves watching television

Q: Is technology in the classroom a good idea?
A: Yes, if it is introduced and used correctly

Q: Is technology changing relationships?
A: It seems so, but it doesn't have to

Q: Will kids grow up addicted to technology?
A: Only if you allow it

Yes, those are all very short, ridiculous answers to questions. The good part is that if you are interested in any of those, my blog has an explanation for each and every one of those answers! Scroll down to check out my past posts that went over all those topics and questions in detail. And there we have it, a full circle!

Will Kids Grow Up to be Addicted to Technology?

Same room, different world

Technology seems to have become such a major part of many people's lives. Many of those people may be addicted to using technology. Researchers have studied Internet and technology addiction over the years and most of them believe it is safe to say that technology may give some people the same 'effect' as drugs. It surely gives similar withdrawal symptoms. If your kid is fighting with you over the television set, the computer, or the Apple product, you may have a kid that is already getting addicted to technology. Today, addiction to the Internet and technology is mostly focused upon teenagers, but there's definitely chances that a young child can get addicted to technology. If anyone you know is anything like my nephews, they may just be addicted to technology. I first realized this when they began to decline suggestions of going outside or doing other activities other than playing video games on the iPad or the game systems. Before they had access to all this technology, they would be ecstatic to go out and ride their bikes or go out for lunch. Now that they have been accustomed to using this technology, they would much prefer to stay inside and play their video games. They even have trouble putting down the iPad when it is time to sit down and eat a meal together.

I have always had an interest in the issue revolving around the addiction to technology. I began researching for signs that children may be addicted to technology. I eventually found an extremely helpful article that explained this popular phenomenon. This article that I found was from the Daily Mail, which discussed the five signs that your child is addicted to technology. The points made in the article were formulated by an adolescent psychiatrist, Dr. Richard Graham and a clinical psychologist, Dr. Jay Watts. I found each of these points to be very logical and very agreeable.

Here's what you should look for in kids to determine whether or not they are addicted to technology:

• Decreasing interest in other activities: being reluctant to take part in something else that is fun
• Often bringing up the topic of technology: wanting to know when they will have access to it or simply checking their devices or talking too much about technology
• Argumentative behavior: they feel the need to defend their frequent use of technology when you bring up your concerns involving their use of technology
• Stress or tension when away from technology: they are easily irritated or upset when they are separated from technology or devices and become calm once the two are reunited
• Increase in being deceitful: check for signs that they may be hiding their usage of technology, such as trying to discreetly use them in bed without you knowing

Therefore, if you have read my earlier posts, there are many precautions to take when limiting technology use to prevent these signs of addiction. With addiction to technology, kids may lose a significant amount of sleep and also have a change in behavior through anger and lashing out on the parents over the devices. The next time that I babysit my nephews, I will definitely be looking out for these signs more closely!

Is Technology Changing Relationships?

If you are like me, you will realize that the more time you spend watching television or using the computer, the less time you will have to spend with family and friends. When kids and teens are in the middle of using the computer and their parents come into the room and interrupt them with questions and demands, often times they will become annoyed or irritated. It is likely that whatever show they are watching, whatever game they are playing, and whatever person they are chatting with has captured their attention more than the person in the room who is trying to talk to them. Personally, I have seen my nephews (ages 6-11) play games on computers or on iPads and when their parents tell them to do something, it is almost as if they heard nothing. The message did not even register in their minds because they are so focused and sucked into the game that they are busy playing. Their parents always have to either raise their voice or repeat themselves before the kids listen. When that does not work out, the parents have to resort to taking away the console or shutting it down. I do not think that parents should have to go through such a tedious process in order to get their kids' attentions. If they do, then I think there has to be changes in technology use. Limiting technology would allow the kids and their parents to have more interaction time to bond and develop their relationship. The parents also have to play their part by reserving some time away from work for their kids. I believe that it would be a mistake to hand over more technology time to kids due to the lack of attention or lack of time you have to spend with the kids.

Instead of allowing kids to have more and more time with technology to substitute family interaction time, there are hundreds of things you can do together. There's all the outdoor activities that all members of the family can enjoy, such as biking, swimming, or playing at the park. If it is not a good day to go outside, there are many things that the family can do indoors. There's arts and crafts, board games, and creative play time where you can work together to make forts or play a made up game. All of these can help your kids either stay active and in shape or develop and grow imaginatively. Now that is full of positivity! I even stumbled across an article from WebMD, which offers a few activities to do as a family that is both fun and healthy, such as cooking together. Aside from the activities I named and the activities that can be found from that link, there are many activities that require little time and work to do. Simply reading a book together can make a difference!

The take away points for this blog post includes:

• More time spent together builds a stronger bond and relationship
• Do not use technology to replace social interactions
• There are many activities that are fun and healthy to do as a family
• It is always possible to make time for bonding (both the parents and kids)

Technology in Elementary School Classrooms

Projector being used in the classroom

My experience with technology in elementary school will seem very limited compared to what developments are going on nowadays in elementary schools. From kindergarten to third grade, it was all about chalkboards and whiteboards as means of teaching. Then in fourth grade, there were about three computers in the classroom that were reserved to only be used during recess. Even so, the people in my class did not use it for watching shows or playing computer games, they used it for blasting music and dancing in the classroom. Either that, or they would prefer going out to the school yard to play kickball or walk laps and gossip. By the fifth grade, the projector was introduced to the classroom as a means of allowing everyone to see what the teacher was doing on a big screen. Aside from computers in the classroom, there are other ways in which technology has changed the way we do things. For example, I am sure at least a few of you had experienced writing to pen pals in elementary school or sometime in your educational experience. It was a simple pencil to paper activity where kids wrote letters to other kids in different states or sometimes even different countries. The teacher would then put them all in envelopes and mail them out. Now, as technology continues to surround our everyday lives more and more, elementary schools are slowly adopting more current technology as new means of teaching.

Interactive Whiteboard in Use

According to an article about Technology Integration for Elementary Schools, it demonstrates a few key points to follow in order to correctly introduce technology in elementary school classrooms. The article argues that when technology is introduced the right way to kids, they are able to use it effectively and efficiently. 

Here is a break down of how to integrate technology in classrooms:

• Do not use technology for the sake of using technology
• Only use technology if it really enhances the learning process
• Set standard rules about using the equipment (kids should see it as a privilege)
• Allow kids to use the interactive tools (interactive whiteboards, computer, camera) themselves
• Monitor the websites that the kids use (restrict access to non-educational related websites
• Make sure to have back up lesson plans in the case of technical issues

What I found interesting was that the article actually gave examples of real schools enhancing their learning experiences through using technology such as interactive boards, computer research, and even pen pal programs through webcam and sessions. I agree with the article in that there should definitely be a limitation and balance between using technology and using traditional teaching methods. Technology should only be used if it necessary or supports enhanced learning. In today's world where more and more school work requires the Internet and computer usage, it may just be right to start introducing such technologies in elementary school. Perhaps the third graders and older kids are ready for this new change, in my point of view. With all that said, what do you readers think? Is integrating technology in elementary school classrooms a good idea?

Who Doesn't Love Watching Television?

Just as the title says: Who doesn't love watching television? I think we all know that our love for watching television may just be the equivalent to America's love for fast food. I think we can also agree that there are a bundle of amazing television shows out there, all of them getting labeled as a must-watch! I remember I grew up watching shows from the Rugrats and Hey Arnold! to Full House and Family Matters. That is probably just four out of the hundreds of shows that I have seen and loved in my lifetime. As a kid, I quickly learned how to check the channel 30 TV guide to find out when my favorite shows would air. I think you can all remember waking up early on Saturday mornings to catch some early showings of cartoons. If you weren't a morning person, you would catch the later shows on Nick at Nite. Then there were those times where you were sick and stayed at home, where you could enjoy some Baby Looney Tunes in the afternoon. That was a quick trip to memory lane, now I will go over the pros and cons of watching television at a young age.

According to studies found in this article on a kid's health organization site, they thoroughly explain the benefits of television, along with the disadvantages of too much television time. The study done by the Kaiser Family Foundation formulated this statistic: "kids and teens 8 to 18 years spend nearly 4 hours a day in front of a TV screen and almost 2 additional hours on the computer (outside of school work) and playing video games". If you think that is alarming, I think those hours may be underestimated because I would think that this data was found through surveying kids and parents who may or may not be decreasing the real number. I know that for me, I would not be so readily to answer with numbers higher than 4 hours. Now that you have the general idea of how much television is being watched, I will briefly discuss the pros and cons.

Pros: 

• Educational shows may teach kids the alphabet, basic math, and even about wildlife and animals
• Some shows such as Dora the Explorer include some sort of interactions

Cons:

• Kids who often spend more than 4 hours watching TV each day are more likely to be overweight
• Kids in the U.S. see 40,000 commercials each year which may make junk food and toy ads appealing
• TV can get in the way of playing, exploring, and interacting with parents and others
• TV at early ages may inhibit brain development and growth

Now that you know the general pros and cons, here's a few ways to develop good TV habits for kids:

• Borrow DVDs from the library to limit commercials that may not be kid friendly
• Limit the amount of time spent watching TV by using it as a reward rather than free time activity
• Set a good example by cutting back on your own TV time

Is Technology Limiting Children's Creativity?

Traveling back at least ten years in time, I can still remember back when I was a kid in elementary school. One of the best parts of my days were the free-play time I had after school when I got home. I would round up all my stuffed animals and load them onto the school bus, which was actually just my bed. I would "drive" them to school, drop them off, and transform into their first grade teacher where I would role-play and hand out made-up assignments and even have Q&A sessions with them. Other times, I would sit in a laundry basket and scoot around the house in order to save the stuffed animals that were lost in the sea, or on the carpet floor. For the most part, I pretended that each and every one of these stuffed animals were real, especially after having watched the movie Toy Story at least twenty times. Each day after school, I spent my time creating different scenarios and activities for me and my stuffed animals. Looking back, I realized that this imaginative free-play time was cut down once I had access to a computer. I began playing on websites such as Barbie.com which was entertaining, but did not exactly provide the same imagination engagement. It was all about clicking different tools and already-made designs to customize the Barbie dolls. But these are all just my own experiences. 

 Here's what an expert says on this subject matter:
Nancy Carlsson-Paige, a university professor of childhood development and the author of the book, "Taking Back Childhood", believes that it play is crucial to children's growth in brain development and creativity, along with involving the senses. In her Washington post article, "Is technology sapping children's creativity?" she argues that kids learn through direct play and hands-on experiences, while technology does not involve the whole child's body, brain, and senses. To put her arguments in simpler terms:

• Children should have play time with open-ended materials such as blocks, play dough, art material, sand and water, in order to build and encourage creativity.
• Children also need first-hand engagement, which means they need to practice using their five senses through physically playing and interacting with things present in the real world.
• Though there are many educational apps for games and activities found within electronic devices, they cannot replace the ways of learning concepts through play and  face to face teaching.

I believe that play time is extremely important in the way that children grow and develop. At the same time, having a little bit of technology to enjoy and enhance some aspects such as learning and adapting to new developing tools is also okay. As with everything in life, things should be done in moderation!

Young Children with Access to iPads

Do you ever see kids with iPads in their hands and wonder, how can they have an iPad when I don't even have one? Some parents believe that introducing their kids to the iPad is just another way to get them ready for the ever-changing advances in today's world of technology, along with possibly exposing it as an educational tool. Other parents shun the idea of allowing young children get their hands on an iPad due to the popular idea that technology creates addiction and may encourage inactivity.

According to a study done by Common Sense Media in 2011, 52% of kids under the age of eight had access to devices at home that ranged from iPads, iPods, and smartphones. These statistics can be alarming for some parents, but keep in mind that this study was done in the United States with a small population sample of about 1,400 people. The most interesting and informative article I have found upon the topic of young children with iPads was by Psychology Today, which went over key points as to how using the iPad may be negatively affecting cognitive and sensory stimulation in young children.

Here are some of the key take-away points discussed in the article:

• The moving screen attracts attention, but it is passive attention - solely watching it.
• Like the iPad, screens give very limited sensory information compared to all the senses that the children could be experiencing playing with toys.
• Screens are two-dimensional and do not require children to create three-dimensional worlds.
• Staring at screens can lead to lack of sunlight and damage to the development of the eyes.  

After reading these key ideas, many of you may start seeing the logic behind this argument.

From personal experience of visiting my nephews and niece, I can tell that the iPad among young children have a growing popularity. During many visits, the first thing I see when I step inside their home is iPads in the hands of young children who have their eyes glued intensely onto the screen. They are sitting together, but are in their individual worlds within each of their iPads. Even though their parents monitor their time on the iPad, there are still many cons to spending time with an iPad. Sure, they know how to operate one better than I do, but once the iPad runs out of battery, they end up turning on other game consoles or tuning to their favorite channel on the TV. For now, I would personally say that it is better to keep young children away from electronics, such as the iPad, iPod, and smartphones. It may help them in the future to start using it in moderation when they are older than the age of eight or so.

How Technology Affects Attention Span

One of the major ways that technology is affecting children today involve their attention span. Our attention span is all about how long we can mentally keep focus on a certain activity. It also relies on patience. Kids today that have access to technology such as computers, iPads, and the sorts at such an early age is decreasing their attention span. How many of you get impatient when an Internet page takes longer than a few seconds to load? If I had to be honest, I would admit that I have closed many pages due to its' load time. From my own experience, I can believe that the Internet is correlated with increased impatience and decreased attention span. Before there was Internet, using a computer was all about Minesweeper, Pinball, and Paint - which none required loading - but now you can open a hundred different tabs on a browser, quickly moving back and forth between them. I know that for myself, this is the case. I can have ten tabs open and spend about ten minutes on each page before having the urge to move on and look through my other open tabs. The impatience comes when you are accustomed to having everything load quickly within seconds to having to wait. This generation is taught that plugging something into Google search will give you millions of results or answers within 0.39 seconds. I don't think I have ever seen Google search display any time that was longer than 60 seconds.

There is an article called, "How Technology is Changing the Way Children Think and Focus" that I found on Psychology Today which uses cognitive science to support the claim that technology is decreasing the attention span of kids. It asserts that with technology, kids learn to skim and divide their attention between several activities. This causes them to lose focus on a single activity, which is where the decline in attention span comes from. As mentioned earlier, this may stem from things such as having multiple tabs and activities open at once while you are trying to split up the time you spend with each of those tabs. How much are you retaining?

Here are a few simple things to keep in mind about technology and attention span:

• Before technology - majority of time spent reading books, which requires full attention, concentration, imagination, and memory of events
• Television era - visual stimulation, minimum imagination use, and minimum attention needed
• Internet era - vast environment, plenty of distractions, no focus or memorization needed
• Internet opens up a variety of things to do BUT:
• Too many things to do eliminates need to focus on a single activity
• Always available search engines eliminate the need to memorize info

After reading this post, do you see any of these points as being true to your Internet usage? I sure do. As I continue to make more blog posts, I will examine other ways that technology and entertainment media affects kids today.

How Much Technology is Too Much?

In today's world, children are spending an increased amount of time with technology, ranging from watching television, using the computer, and playing on iPhones and iPads. Well, you might be asking in your head exactly how many hours is this "increased amount of time". According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the average amount of time each day that children spend on entertainment media is seven hours. There is only twenty four hours in a day which means that about a third of their day is going towards spending time with entertainment media. Some of you may be in disbelief, but others may think that seven hours is not too bad (just think about the hour spent on Facebook, the two hours spent watching Youtube clips, the three hours on other social media sites, and the four plus hours streaming Netflix in the background). Not to mention, playing games on the iPhone or iPad has become increasingly popular, not only among teens but also children as young as the age of 3. There is a non-profit organization based in San Francisco called Common Sense Media that educates parents about how children are using media today. According to a New York Times article, “Technology Is Changing How Students Learn”, one of their researchers from Common Sense Media, Vicky Rideout, has shown that media use among children and teenagers have increased drastically. The average findings showed that those who are ages 8 to 18 spend twice as much time with screens each year as they spend in school. To me, school already fills up a large amount of time each day. Can you even imagine spending one year in school that would equal two years of time with a screen?

Let's just travel back for a second to when we were elementary school kids. The majority of elementary schools would normally end around 3:00 pm each day. If you add that average of seven hours spent with entertainment media that we found earlier, it would already be 10:00 pm. Where do they place the reading time, eating time, or the outdoor play time? Of course this is a very generalized scenario, but even so, you must be wondering about the things that these kids are missing out on. I remember playing basketball and jump rope in my living room when I was in elementary school, but it seems that as time goes by, those activities are forgotten. Maybe the interactive video games that kids play are replacing the real activities. For example, kids who play Wii sports (basketball, tennis, bowling, biking) on the game console rather than going outdoors to do these activities. Even though the video games can be quite realistic, I do not believe that it could ever replace the real deal. Now, you may be wondering exactly how does this technology usage affects young children. Stay tuned to find out in my later posts!

If You're Wondering Why I'm Writing...

Day Camp Field Trip - SF Zoo

My interest and passion for teaching young kids started four-five years ago in the summer of 9th grade. During that summer, me and my close friends volunteered as day camp counselors at a summer camp. Many kids attend summer day camps because their parents have to work during the day. That is where we come in to help. We planned six weeks of lessons and activities for a group of about fifteen kids. It was easily one of the best summers I had. Before the six weeks of camp started, we had to go through a week of training. We were taught how to take care of kids and meet their needs while also learning how to handle situations if they do not behave well. I definitely learned a lot within that week of training and began to bond with fellow camp counselors. Although it is a cliche saying, it is true when I say that nothing could of fully prepared us all for the next unpredictable six weeks to come. As the weeks wore on, I ended up coming home more and more exhausted. My energy and patience was slowly getting drained away. It was a full day or arriving at 8am and working until 5pm, then having a staff meeting and clean-up until at least 6-7pm. After volunteering, I would head home to eat dinner and then start planning lessons for the next day. The weekends were full of hanging out and bonding with each other as co-workers to close friends. There was not much resting time. Long story short, in the end, I realized how much I grew from this experience. All the camp counselors had an extremely tight bond, and as for the kids, they received attention, discipline, and love throughout their summer. It is an amazing feeling when a few years have passed and they can still remember you when they see you. That is just one of the many benefits of becoming a teacher.

After deciding on the broad topic of my blog: kids and their development, I had to focus on something more specific. I decided to concentrate on how technology affects kids today. Kids using high-tech technology can be easily seen everywhere you go these days. You see kids in elementary school who get to use their parents' iPhone when they are on the bus or waiting for seats at a restaurant. It has become the new way of entertainment, a new way of learning, and possibly even a substitute for parental attention. If technology affects the way that kids act and learn, then it must also be affecting the ways that teachers must teach. My future blog posts will fill all of you in about how technology is affecting kids today!