Need to complain to school

balletshoes

Lunar_Eclipse wrote: »

Hassle factor and practicality aside, let's be mature about this and admit what is right.

I don't think you can put aside the hassle factor and practicalities in the examples given - these are not stand-alone machines, so its just not as simple as a few clicks of the mouse on the settings of one machine at the start of a lesson, then do the same in reverse when the machine is no longer needed by a left-handed student.

In an ideal world, yes, you're right, it would be preferable if everyone could set up their workstation/use supplies that they want to/find easier. Real life doesn't work like that though, and neither do schools.

phunkles

Within an IT classroom situation it would be impractical to have a set number of machines set for lefthanded use. Classroom seating plans are often designed for learning difficulties/childrens behaviour/children with support staff/splitting up pupils etc in mind, so it wouldnt be right to set 5 machines at the front/back/whereever for this use.
A simple icon or pupils to access the system to change the mouse settings would just have the proverbial taken out of it with pupils changing mouse settings at the end of the lesson so that 5 mins is spent at the start while every child in the room has to reconfigure their mouse for their needs. (pupils get enough enjoyment out of changing the screen orientation at the end of the lesson when they figure out how to do it so everything is upside down!) Thats 5 minutes wasted without the daily dramas of cant log in/cant remember password/username/ someone else has logged in/cant find my saved document from last week/what did I save it as etc

When Ive taught ICT in secondary i try to accomodate lefties by making sure they have enough room to bring their mouse to the left hand side of the machine and not be constantly knocked by their neighbour. Ive never had a pupil complain and to be honest most just get on with it and move the mouse - end of lesson before they are dismissed they often get told to put the mouse back to the right hand side of the keyboard and they do.
Its not practical to have a set number of machines and I can imagine the parents outcry when their pupils never get the full allotted time for actual computer lessons instead mouse settings getting sorted takes priority.

i.like.cats

I know very little about the inner-workings of computers and the ways in which hardware and software interact and exchange information with each other, but is there no such thing as a left-handed mouse? One that gives reversed information to the operating system, so that when the person using the computer left-clicked on the mouse, the mouse would tell the computer that it had "really" been right-clicked, and vice versa? That way instead of re-configuring the computer you'd just have to unplug the standard mouse and replace it with the lefty mouse.

Like i said, my computer-fu is weak indeed, so if that's a total impossibility and a really dumb idea and you think i must be really dumb for thinking of it then please don't feel that you need to belabour the point ok?

milliebear00001

Lunar_Eclipse wrote: »

Surely, it is far more important that a LH child uses a machine configured for her physical needs, than anything else? It's great for children to work with different partners and of same/different abilities, but if they struggle with operating the equipment due to its configuration, it's all elementary my dear Watkins.

I have never come across a left handed child who struggled to use a normal mouse. The testimony of many of the left handers here (and my own husband, who is also strongly left handed) also suggests this is the case. I would suggest all the things you dismiss as 'nice to haves' are, in fact, essential to the quality of the children's learning, whereas a left handed computer configuration is not, but hey - what do I know?

Poppy9

phunkles wrote: »

Within an IT classroom situation it would be impractical to have a set number of machines set for lefthanded use. Classroom seating plans are often designed for learning difficulties/childrens behaviour/children with support staff/splitting up pupils etc in mind, so it wouldnt be right to set 5 machines at the front/back/whereever for this use.
A simple icon or pupils to access the system to change the mouse settings would just have the proverbial taken out of it with pupils changing mouse settings at the end of the lesson so that 5 mins is spent at the start while every child in the room has to reconfigure their mouse for their needs. (pupils get enough enjoyment out of changing the screen orientation at the end of the lesson when they figure out how to do it so everything is upside down!) Thats 5 minutes wasted without the daily dramas of cant log in/cant remember password/username/ someone else has logged in/cant find my saved document from last week/what did I save it as etc
.

What a lovely image this portrays of the modern classroom. No discipline, no organisation, no respect.

Teachers are happy to accommodate the needs of children with behaviour problems i.e. Classroom seating plans are often designed for learning difficulties/childrens behaviour etc. but well behaved children who might benefit from having their work station set up to fully meet their needs is too much hassle.

When I was in school you disrupted the class at your peril and teaching is obvsiously failing if you can't get pupils to remember their login/password, documents location etc. Doesn't bode well for their working life where often you are expected to log on to multiple systems often which may have their own individual logon and password.

Being left handed is not a disability but they should not have their needs ignored just because it's incovenient or a bit of hassle.

milliebear00001

Poppy9 wrote: »

What a lovely image this portrays of the modern classroom. No discipline, no organisation, no respect.

Teachers are happy to accommodate the needs of children with behaviour problems i.e. Classroom seating plans are often designed for learning difficulties/childrens behaviour etc. but well behaved children who might benefit from having their work station set up to fully meet their needs is too much hassle.

When I was in school you disrupted the class at your peril and teaching is obvsiously failing if you can't get pupils to remember their login/password, documents location etc. Doesn't bode well for their working life where often you are expected to log on to multiple systems often which may have their own individual logon and password.

Being left handed is not a disability but they should not have their needs ignored just because it's incovenient or a bit of hassle.

LOL. Funny, cos we teachers usually blame the parents when we get a chronically disorganised or badly behaved child...

Managing behaviour MEANS moving children around - it was always thus. That IS meeting the needs of the well-behaved children, who will be far more likely to get a good education if their lessons are not constantly disrupted by poorly behaved kids. Behaviour management though, is only one small reason why children need to move around a classroom. Most of the important reasons are to do with effective teaching and learning.

How nice to have the luxury of being an 'armchair expert' though! Off topic, but you are exactly the kind of person whom I would LOVE to hand a class of thirty can't-be-arsed teenagers over to for a bit - you wouldn't last an hour!

JC9297

Poppy9 wrote: »

What a lovely image this portrays of the modern classroom. No discipline, no organisation, no respect.

Teachers are happy to accommodate the needs of children with behaviour problems i.e. Classroom seating plans are often designed for learning difficulties/childrens behaviour etc. but well behaved children who might benefit from having their work station set up to fully meet their needs is too much hassle.


QUOTE]

Are you assuming that all LH children are well-behaved?

Everybody on here that is LH or has family members that are LH have said that they don't change the settings on the mouse at home, so why should it need to be any different at school.

I can see it would be easier to use the mouse on the left of the computer with the left hand, but why would you need to change the buttons around?

make_me_wise

izoomzoom wrote: »

I have an issue at my DD's nursery / school.

I feel that she is being discriminated against because she is left handed and they are not prepared to make adaptations to the environment (changing / providing left handed equipment) and I need to take it further than the teacher.

Do you think I should ask for a meeting or do this as a letter, to the headteacher or head of dept ?????

All childcare providers should have equipment to cater for left handed children. In the school where I work we have left handed scissors for kids which are a different colour to those for right handed kids amongst other things. Do phone in and ask for an appointment to discuss this. I feel quite strongly that children should be enabled to use their left hands if necessary.

I could write, draw etc with both my left and right hand but remember clearly being shouted at by a teacher and told to use my right hand. This was in the 70s and my parents did nothing about it. Came back to haunt them years later when I broke my right arm and they had to do loads for me

Poppy9

JC9297 wrote: »

[
Are you assuming that all LH children are well-behaved?
Everybody on here that is LH or has family members that are LH have said that they don't change the settings on the mouse at home, so why should it need to be any different at school.

I can see it would be easier to use the mouse on the left of the computer with the left hand, but why would you need to change the buttons around?

Not at all I'm just commenting that children who have behaviour issues are accommodated but there seems to be a reluctance to accommodate lefties.

If you read my other posts you will see I am a parent of a leftie. While my DD chooses not to alter the mouse now as a young child I gave her the option and showed her how to do it. I gave her the choice and I would expect the school to give her the same choice because I believe she is fully entitled to use her dominant hand if it makes it easier for her.

Yes we live in a RH world but that doesn't mean we should force lefties to use everything RH when there are simple adjustments available to them to make life easier.

As some others have said they were later in life discovering LH scissors and how they found them better. Others didn't have an issue with RH scissors. The important thing is though for the sake of a few pounds it young children in schools now have a choice as they are available as schools have now recognised the need. This has only happened in recent years.

You would change the buttons because the index finger is the more dominant finger on the hand usually. I'm a trained typist so can use all my fingers quite well but some people in work struggle with right click on their mice.

I really don't see the big deal in doing 2 clicks and the mouse settings are changed. When DD used to change it as a child it only took a couple of seconds for me to register that the mouse had been left on LH and 2 clicks later it's back to RH.

For me it's about choice and what they find more natural not being forced to adapt which they might find awkward or uncomfortable.

Humphrey10

LittleMissInDebt wrote: »

I'm right handed and use the mouse in my Left hand

My father is right handed and also prefers to use a mouse in his left hand (with the buttons in the standard configuration, not swapped over). I occasionally use a mouse in my left hand if I need my right hand for something eg writing, eating. If right handed people can use mice in their left hands I assume left handed people also can.