Re: taking notes - More thoughts

[Guest guest]

Dear Asperger Support parents:

Oddly enough, when my son went to college, note-taking was much less of a problem -- because so many of his professors posted class notes, outlines, links to websites, etc. online. They seemed to prefer this to handing out notes in class -- and in an entry-level class with 250 students or more, it seemed to be a much easier method of delivering information to students than requiring them to take notes in class. Some of the professors even gave quizzes online, and many of my son's long-term assignments, especially in computer science courses, had to be handed in online.

My 13-year-old niece tells me that many of her middle school teachers post their homework assignments online. So far as I know, they don't require or expect students to turn in assignments online, though. I guess it would be unfair to expect every high school student to buy a laptop or even a cheaper desktop computer. Grades are also posted online (with a separate password for each student) so that students can check their grade averages and try to improve them before the end of the quarter. That certainly motivates her!

In my son's case, we delayed buying him a laptop until almost the end of his college career, because we figured he could use one of several desktops we have at home. But it turned out that for a commuter student (which he was), it made much more sense to have a computer he could carry around with him. We got a heavy-duty model that would be less likely to get damaged as he wheeled it around campus in his rolling backpack (a Dell Inspiron 1420). It looks a little battered on the outside, but even now that he has graduated and is working, he still uses it in preference to a desktop, and it seems to be working fine.

Jill

[Guest guest]

> My 13-year-old niece tells me that many of her middle school teachers post

their homework assignments online.

I wouldn't depend on this. Every single teacher in our district is supplied

with a website. Do they use them? A few. Currently, out of my son's 7

teachers, one is religious about posting assignments, one seems religious, but

doesn't guarantee it and isn't too detailed, the others don't post any

assignments at all. None of them post things like assignment materials or notes

to download. In the past, we have had a teacher or two that have. I imagine it

all depends on the school culture. It would be life-altering for us with kids

with executive dysfunction--ADHD/autism spectrum--if they would use these

websites fully!

Ruth

[Guest guest]

>

> Dear Ruth,

> Of course we parents can't depend on teachers, especially middle school

teachers, to post homework assignments online! Every teacher is different from

every other teacher -- just as our kids are individuals. I was mentioning this

more as a wish that more teachers would do this than as something parents have a

right to expect.

Well, personally, I am puzzled about this. Private schools and colleges do it

on a regular basis, why not public schools? Websites are not exactly rocket

science and these people are college-educated. Not only would it be

life-altering for their students, but it would be immensely helpful for them

too. It might be life-altering for them too! It would really lift a lot of the

work they have to do with all the kids with immature/dyfunctional executive

functioning, of which their are quite a few. It would certainly save them as

much time, work as frustration as the learning curve would cost.

Like many, our school district also has a parent info site where you can log in

for your kids schedule, classwork, incidents, attendance, report cards, record

of state test scores, etc. In the classwork section, they can record future

assignments as well as recorded grades--and very few teachers do. So that is a

very easy thing they could do also and don't.

Ruth

And at the school district level/webmaster level, the software the classwork

section is tied to has a big text field where teachers can enter in a

description of each assignment. It is a huge help. But it doesn't show up on

the parent info website, you have to get your child's teachers to print it out.

I argued with our IAT/504 team for a couple of years over this one. They didn't

know what the parents could see as they always log in as staff and it is

different. They wouldn't believe me that this description field is not

available to parents. They finally dropped it, so I guess they confirmed it

with other people.

Anyway, I'm just puzzled why teachers/school districts don't make this more of a

priority. I guess they don't realize how much time and effort they would save

themselves as well as their students/parents.

Ruth