Does it seem appropriate for teachers to use Ances... - Page 7

gertrudecloset · ‎02-13-2021

@CalminHeart wrote:
@Sooner wrote:
I got something today from Ancestry that said With AncestryClassroom™, more than 7 million students now have access to historical records as well as resources developed to help them learn about themselves and the world around them.

They did say that parents should give permission to looki into family backgrounds but if not use impotant historical figures. . .

To me this seems totally inappropriate for classrooms. Teach history. Seems to focus on who kids are and not on the kids as individuals. Some kids have enough trouble getting away from family issues as it is. And even if they use historical figures, it's looking at a touchy subject area for some kids.

It sounds like an interesting way to bring history home to kids bored by the usual classes. The teacher offered an option so pick one. No big deal.

I'll bet this is a short-term thing or occasionally referenced. It's used to emphasize how important accurate history is to each person. It's not the focus of the whole semester.

We don't have a teacher shortage. We have a shortage of respect for teachers. Those who teach, do. Those who can't, complain.

We DO have a teacher shortage. Some of the ones that do go into teaching think they are kids too. That has nothing to do with the subject matter though.

People do not go into "teaching" anymore in droves. Yes there is lack of respect for teachers but their unions have made it so that many of them can't be fired or replaced. This is especially true of large urban areas.

I don't care if they are offering this for one portion of the school year or an entire grade year. Care and consideration ought to be given to those students who will yield no results from such an undertaking based solely on how they became American (as they didn't come via Ellis Island).

If they can dream this program up, I'm sure they can get creative when studying more history. There are other things to study. Geneaology is not appropriate. One thing they could do is cultural anthropology instead of the geneaology. It's a broad subject and is not fine tuned to a student.

Or

They can go back the drawing board of earlier history lessons and tell the truth and start all over again.

A Negative Mind ~ Will give you a Negative Life

gertrudecloset · ‎02-13-2021

@Jersey Born wrote:
I don't think using AncestryClassroom is appropriate in a public setting. I don't think AncestryClassroom is appropriate in a "private" setting, either. Any online site that claims to be "free of charge" and a valuable resource for students, or any other demographic, while at the same time demands private, identifying information, data mines the living daylights out of participants and visitors to their site. That any educational facility would encourage the unwitting data mining of their young, impressionable students who don't even understand that their online searches and online social media accounts are being closely monitored and data mined, is unconsionable and ignorant and lazy. There are plenty of wonderful resources available to teach History, in physical book format, and none of them require the online entry of a student's personal or private information, for data mining on that student, as a condition of participation in the learning process.

You get it @Jersey Born !

A Negative Mind ~ Will give you a Negative Life

Trailrun23 · ‎05-31-2022

Not a good idea.
These geneology programs require the person give personal information that students should not be entering online at school. I have found that not all of these sites are accurate or even trustworthy. If you are teaching a class....how can you be helping Recently0 students with 20 ditfferent personal genealogy records. The teacher cannot assist all of them navigate their family tree during a history class. Of course much of this depends upon the age of the child. What about adopted kids? They may not know enough about their biological family to even begin a search.
Teach history in the classroom, leave geneology to the parents, or the older student to research his own ancestry on his own time.

RainCityWoman · ‎06-16-2015

I would have to see what the focus was and the parameters before I would pass judgement. It may be just a quick course in navigation of Ancestry.com and other heritage sites. Plus, ancestor trees can be blocked online with a privacy code. Schools in my area have had short units on finding roots. I took my neighbor boy to the National Archives near us to research some things. Other approaches by some schools center around a cultural fair where kids do exhibits that center around family trees, or cultural traditions, or hobbies, or fads and events the year they were born. That offers a wide variety of options. The Fairs I have gone to were well attended, and the students were excited by their projects.

And on another note, I am constantly amazed at all the misconceptions the public has about the teaching profession. First of all, the Teacher Associations do not make it impossible to fire a substandard educator. The organization makes sure that due process is followed and that administrators do their jobs and document accurately. Second, teachers are far too busy to be data mining the ancestry of any student. What would be the point? In some instances, teachers can't win with the public no matter what they do. They are told they are too strict, or not strict enough. They are told they demand too much of students, or they demand too little. Meanwhile, often the parents are invisible until they don't like their child's grade, despite reports being sent home regularly. I just think especially today, it's a thankless profession. As far back as the 90's there has been a teacher shortage, and many have taken their expertise elsewhere. For instance, you can teach various business groups in various disciplines and be paid better and be more appreciated. No wonder there is a teacher shortage.

CelticCrafter · ‎03-09-2010

Y'all need to read the FAQ's about Ancestry Classroom especially this one which I copied and pasted from the website.

Are my students not allowed to create their own trees on the classroom site?

No, students are prohibited from creating their own trees on the site. This is because we strive to be COPPA compliant so no personal information from students can be saved directly on the site. Should your curriculum require that your students build family trees, the Resources tab has printable charts and forms that will allow them to keep track of information using pen and paper. They are also free to print and/or save most of the records they find while using the site. This can be helpful when trying to build reports or use history.

sunshine 919 · ‎12-22-2013

@Sooner wrote:
I got something today from Ancestry that said With AncestryClassroom™, more than 7 million students now have access to historical records as well as resources developed to help them learn about themselves and the world around them.

They did say that parents should give permission to looki into family backgrounds but if not use impotant historical figures. . .

To me this seems totally inappropriate for classrooms. Teach history. Seems to focus on who kids are and not on the kids as individuals. Some kids have enough trouble getting away from family issues as it is. And even if they use historical figures, it's looking at a touchy subject area for some kids.

This sounds really good to me, I do not think they are doing it where I live. Ancestry.com is a little pricey, If kids can find out about their ancestry I think it is great.

gertrudecloset · ‎02-13-2021

@RainCityWoman wrote:
I would have to see what the focus was and the parameters before I would pass judgement. It may be just a quick course in navigation of Ancestry.com and other heritage sites. Plus, ancestor trees can be blocked online with a privacy code. Schools in my area have had short units on finding roots. I took my neighbor boy to the National Archives near us to research some things. Other approaches by some schools center around a cultural fair where kids do exhibits that center around family trees, or cultural traditions, or hobbies, or fads and events the year they were born. That offers a wide variety of options. The Fairs I have gone to were well attended, and the students were excited by their projects.

And on another note, I am constantly amazed at all the misconceptions the public has about the teaching profession. First of all, the Teacher Associations do not make it impossible to fire a substandard educator. The organization makes sure that due process is followed and that administrators do their jobs and document accurately. Second, teachers are far too busy to be data mining the ancestry of any student. What would be the point? In some instances, teachers can't win with the public no matter what they do. They are told they are too strict, or not strict enough. They are told they demand too much of students, or they demand too little. Meanwhile, often the parents are invisible until they don't like their child's grade, despite reports being sent home regularly. I just think especially today, it's a thankless profession. As far back as the 90's there has been a teacher shortage, and many have taken their expertise elsewhere. For instance, you can teach various business groups in various disciplines and be paid better and be more appreciated. No wonder there is a teacher shortage.

Oh yes they do @RainCityWoman ! In my City (New York) the teachers are sent to what's called a "rubber room" when a complaint is being investigated. It takes a long time to fire a tenured educational professional in NYC. They report to these places with no assignments and sit all day in order to collect their salary while the Board of Ed makes their case against them. That takes years, as they don't have the manpower to quickly have hearings to dismiss teachers.

I said that, cause I know it's true somewhere. That would be in large cities that are unionized up the wazoot. Don't know about your small town area or larger metropolis, but in New York, the Unions have sway!

Finally, if they will not be allowed to study their own geneaology who the heck are the looking up? We don't need to get into crosshairs about which historical figures should be searched on geneaology. I can see that being a problem too. Leave geneaology out of it and teach history, I say.

A Negative Mind ~ Will give you a Negative Life

gertrudecloset · ‎02-13-2021

@sunshine 919 wrote:
@Sooner wrote:
I got something today from Ancestry that said With AncestryClassroom™, more than 7 million students now have access to historical records as well as resources developed to help them learn about themselves and the world around them.

They did say that parents should give permission to looki into family backgrounds but if not use impotant historical figures. . .

To me this seems totally inappropriate for classrooms. Teach history. Seems to focus on who kids are and not on the kids as individuals. Some kids have enough trouble getting away from family issues as it is. And even if they use historical figures, it's looking at a touchy subject area for some kids.
This sounds really good to me, I do not think they are doing it where I live. Ancestry.com is a little pricey, If kids can find out about their ancestry I think it is great.

I think it's great too @sunshine 919 if EVERYONE IN A CLASSROOM will be able to find something. Finally this should be something done at home. That's even better!

A Negative Mind ~ Will give you a Negative Life

gertrudecloset · ‎02-13-2021

@CelticCrafter wrote:
Y'all need to read the FAQ's about Ancestry Classroom especially this one which I copied and pasted from the website.

Are my students not allowed to create their own trees on the classroom site?
No, students are prohibited from creating their own trees on the site. This is because we strive to be COPPA compliant so no personal information from students can be saved directly on the site. Should your curriculum require that your students build family trees, the Resources tab has printable charts and forms that will allow them to keep track of information using pen and paper. They are also free to print and/or save most of the records they find while using the site. This can be helpful when trying to build reports or use history.

What's the point then @CelticCrafter ? There will be unnecessary conversations about which historical figure to study. Furthermore, a lot of surprises might be gleamed from such an undertaking (snakes in closets). Let this be an individual/family activity and leave it out school.

Go back and tell who really was in America before Colombus, they should start there.

A Negative Mind ~ Will give you a Negative Life

CelticCrafter · ‎03-09-2010

@gertrudecloset wrote:
@CelticCrafter wrote:
Y'all need to read the FAQ's about Ancestry Classroom especially this one which I copied and pasted from the website.

Are my students not allowed to create their own trees on the classroom site?
No, students are prohibited from creating their own trees on the site. This is because we strive to be COPPA compliant so no personal information from students can be saved directly on the site. Should your curriculum require that your students build family trees, the Resources tab has printable charts and forms that will allow them to keep track of information using pen and paper. They are also free to print and/or save most of the records they find while using the site. This can be helpful when trying to build reports or use history.
What's the point then @CelticCrafter ? There will be unnecessary conversations about which historical figure to study. Furthermore, a lot of surprises might be gleamed from such an undertaking (snakes in closets). Let this be an individual/family activity and leave it out school.

Go back and tell who really was in America before Colombus, they should start there.