Bud Hunt has written an excellent response to those teachers in his district who want the internet filtering system to do their jobs for them.
Here’s the essence of his post, something that should be at the heart of every district’s philosophy in this matter.
What we’ve decided is that we will no longer use the web filter as a classroom management tool. Blocking one distraction doesn’t solve the problem of students off task — it just encourages them to find another site to distract them. Students off task is not a technology problem — it’s a behavior problem. It is our intention that we help students to learn the appropriate on-task behaviors instead of assuming that we can use filters to manage student use.
Exactly right!
We constantly declare that technology cannot replace good teachers.
It’s even more true when it comes to classroom management.