Parents - do you get annoyed if your children spend class time watchingD VDs?

[olivo]

I'm just wondering really - I am a teacher , and sometimes, at the end of a cycle of work, I allow the moajority of the class to watch a film whle I do the catch up tests wit hany who have missed them. And with my bottom sets, I use it as a reward strategy.

A couple of weeks ago, the boot was on the other foot, when DD (4.6)came home from school and told me they had watched a movie that afternoon.Initially, I was grumpy (hypocritical!) but soon got over itas I assume there was good reason.

How do you feel about random films in class time?

Hell, yes, I have a problem.

I was once the invited speaker at a private school, asked to talk about differing history sources. 'What,' said somebody, 'is the role of DVDs and documentaries in history in the classroom?' One of the teachers answered. She mimed opening the DVD drawer and dropping the disc in. 'There!' she said. 'Saturday morning school. Sorted!'

You know what? I could do that myself.

If I asked for a rebate on the schoolfees I've paid for every hour my kids have spent in front of a telly, it would add up to thousands of pounds. David Starkey DVDs are much cheaper than schoolfees, too.

If some kids need extra time, that should be catered for without the others all perching in front of the one-eyed monster for an hour. I think it's sheer laziness and failed crowd control. Kids in primary school should be told to read a storybook, and in secondary given some extra work to do. It make me absolutely livid.

Wow sieglinde! I certainly don't think of myself (or DD's teacher) as lazy or failing in my crowd control, I have to say, but each to their own! I suppose there are some that use them in place of lessons, and that, I don't agree with.

Madsometimes- yes, something like that!

No I don't.

I trust that DD's teachers are doing a good job and making good decisions. I know it is only occassionally and often with a purpose.

Likewise if we show DVDs or iplayer programmes in the Y1 class I work at I know it is for a reason and not all the time.

My Ys1&2 class would only watch a whole film at the end of term (once they had earned 50 class marbles, made "cinema" tickets, arranged a theatre style seating plan and made popcorn).

I do use BBC/C4 clips in my teaching occasionally, and I think film clips can have a place in the curriculum if used appropriately. But that's clips. Watching for the sake of watching is pointless.
If we have a spare 3 minutes before lunch or at hometime I may use iPlayer to show Alphablocks as I think it's a great phonics resource.

Clips are fine. Whole films are something else. And if it's during the school day how can it not be in place of lessons?

I make use of films/TV. IF they are relevant and help to make a point. A few weeks ago my Year 7s watched an episode of The Wonder Years (blast from the past!) that involved a Bar Mitzvah and had a worksheet to complete while it was on to help focus them on the bits I wanted them to identify.

I use The Simpsons for various themes (clips). Vicar of Dibley (first episode) is good for prejudice and the role of women in the church.

My Year 9s do their GCSE in May and I then have to keep them interested till the end of term. We do a 'Philosophy at the Movies' unit which uses a film (up to 25 mins) and then a discussion and links with Aristotle and Plato etc. Parents actually like that and when we used The Matrix one parent said she wanted to sit on on the lesson to try and work out what the film was all about!

Watching anything other than a programme or extract specifically related to the topic they are studying is very rare in our school. A "movie afternoon" with an ice block would be a fundraiser, no more than once a year. I don't pay school fees to have my kids watch non-educational DVDs - they can do that at home

I am not too bothered, I am another who trusts her DDs teacher implicitly. Yesterday she came home and told me she had watched half of supersize me. I am not sure why, but there will be a good reason.

I'm fine if it's used as an aid to teaching. No problem with what scaryteacher does. But not just to keep DC occupied. Mine used to watch videos/dvds during wet play in the infants and I was fine with that, but even then there is no need to resort to a Disney film. In the juniors there were no wet day films. They had to play board games, read or draw.
In secondary they have activity days at the end of term which can include watching a dvd. Parents and DC know in advance and have a say in the choice of film.

Yes, Sunnydelight; my point exactly. Also I think I have an additional concern about the idea that films are fun and reading is work....

I don't like it unless it is specifically educational and occaisional as Maryz mentions. I don't think the school would think it acceptable for me to keep dd off school to watch a movie so why should I send her to school to watch one?

At age 4 I think great as at that age getting them to enjoy school is important and there's a limit to how many facts they retain. My kids love any sort of DVD at school now teenagers and although often give very little info about normal lessons with talk for ages about any educational DVD they get to watch.