Re: Nancy's Fingerpainting

["Kafkaz" <kafkaz@xxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Geoff Sirc" <sirc@umn.edu>

> "I
don't know.  I don't think it's so bad.  I'm really tired of the big push
> toward technology at this level.  I think it's really important that kids
do
> things like finger-painting and drawing and dancing.  I'm really not
> convinced that pushing everything onto the computer is such a good idea."
I
> have been haunted ever since by that comment.
>

Can you say more about why you were "haunted," Geoff? I ask because, like
Lori, I simply don't see the disconnect:  When did fingerpainting and
computerexploring (seems as if the latter should one word, too!) become an
either/or rather than a both/and proposition?

At my son's school (he's in first grade), there's very little computer and
online access.  One computer room must be shared by all--K-6.  Of course,
here at home, he's learned to find online information about the things that
interest him:  dinosaurs, planets, weather, Pokemon, etc.  I haven't noted
any sharp decline in his other interests and passtimes, which run the usual
kid gamut.  He still plays outside, draws, runs, jumps on everything in
sight (the couch, the bed, me, dad--but fortunately not his baby sister),
eats as though every meal in his last, and generally behaves like the
interesting and interested kid he is.

What essential thing would be lost or compromised if we took some of the
zillions of worksheets this kid does in a standard week and replaced them
with online activities?  Since he loves to read (and he hates work
sheets--"they're soooooo boring, Mom!") and to write and to *find out*
things, why not cut him loose to see what he can discover about the lesson
of the day?

So, the mouse and the keyboard end up with little painty fingerprints all
over them.  Assuming one's not averse to the idea of giving both a quick
swipe with a damp cloth, now and then, where's the problem, there?

Kathy at C.O.D.



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