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Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Classroom Management with Devices

Today, I attended a meeting with all the building Technology Integration Specialists in our district. One of the things we are really focusing on as we go back to school is training our teachers on how to effectively manage their classroom while students are using devices. I made a list of some of the topics we covered. I would love to see what else you have to add!

1. Teach procedures from the very beginning

  • Decide how you want students to use devices in your classroom and teach those procedures at the very beginning. If you do not set your expectations at the beginning of the year, it is going to be really tough to get students to follow them later. 


2. Have rules for using technology posted in the classroom

  • Choose your top rules for students as they are using technology and post them in your classroom. Keep the list manageable so that students can remember the rules. If there are too many, it is hard for students to follow them and hard for you to monitor. 


3. Be mindful of your room arrangement

  • Different room arrangements work well for different activities. If possible, choose the room arrangement with your goal in mind. Make sure there is room for you to walk around, stop and help students, and see their devices. 


4. Walk around the room

  • This one is super important. Technology does not replace good classroom management. You have to walk around and monitor what students are doing with their devices. 

5. Partner students for some activities

  • Sometimes it may be beneficial to pair students up with one device. This limits their ability to pull up different screens than whatever is being used for your lesson, and they can help hold each other accountable. 


6. Create engaging lessons

  • If students are enjoying the lesson, they are less likely to be off task. With that being said, engagement is not the same as entertainment. Engaging students means getting them involved and making them do something. 


7. Don't pretend to be the tech expert

  • You don't have to know everything there is to know about technology. Encourage your students to find answers to their technology problems and allow them to help each other. 

10 comments:

  1. Brittni - I really like your list. As a librarian I am often a guest speaker in classes. This sometimes gives students the impression that they can goof off. I'm almost positive that there have been times when students have pulled up other things while I'm speaking. I'm usually talking about the class research project so many of them would like to tune me out and pretend they don't have to write the 10 page paper. I really like the idea of partnering students so that they are held accountable to each other. Number 6 is definitely my favorite. I love how you said engaging means getting them involved and making them do something. I would like to work on this and at least try to make learning how to use library databases more interesting and engaging for my students.

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    1. I think librarians are often under appreciated, so thanks for all you do for your school! I love that you are looking for ways to improve!

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  2. You came up with a great list Brittni. I especially agree with #1,#4, and #6. The others are important, but I'm convinced that if you do those three things you will have very few problems in your classroom. I'm sometimes amazed at how many people ignore #1...it usually only takes 10-20 minutes depending on the activity and pays dividends because students are asking questions about content and not procedure!

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    1. I completely agree. I think sometimes teachers don't teach the procedures at the beginning because they are unsure of what their expectations are. Many teachers have no idea where to even begin when looking at classroom management with students using devices. I am hoping to share this list and do some modeling for the teachers in my building before school starts, so they can feel comfortable in setting the tone for the beginning of the year.

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  3. Fantastic list! In terms of devices, we're not a 1:1 school, but some classrooms have Chromebooks and there is a cell phone policy. In fact, that policy is what keeps us all on track in terms of managing effectively with technology in the classrooms. We launched a few years back as our main PBIS initiative of that year, and it was reviewed repeatedly in every classroom in the first few days, weeks, and then periodically throughout the year. We have revisited it every year since, though the main PBIS focus changes from year to year. As part of this initiative each classroom now has the same PBIS cell-phone rules poster as do common areas and bathrooms. Basically, our rule for classes boil down to: Can I use a cell phone in class? Not without asking first. If the answer is no, but a student breaks the rules and is caught, there's a progressive behavior intervention system that all teachers have been instructed to follow. Since this PBIS initiative has been set up and rolled out, fewer and fewer "experienced" students have difficulty with following the rules (the older kids know the gig, because they've heard the spiel a gazillion times throughout the years and/or have experienced it for themselves). It's always the freshmen who, percentage wise, abuse the system. If only our middle schools would follow suit!

    Interestingly enough, the other public high school in town doesn't have the same system as we do (they don't have any such initiative in place - it's all up to the teacher to prevent in his/her own way), and colleagues who work at both schools say they much prefer our model, because everyone shares the same expectations, and it works!

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    1. I love that your school has a policy for everyone to use. It is so hard on both teachers and students when the rules are not consistent from class to class. It seems to turn those teachers that enforce the rules into the "bad guys" and those that don't enforce rules are the "fun ones," but their classrooms are usually chaos. I wish every school would come together and create a school wide policy and that all teachers would stick to it.

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  4. I agree with Kelly, Ryan, and Kerri, Brittni. You crafted a solid list. The teachers that you work with will find it quite helpful as they navigate the balance of technology as a useful tool or distraction. Thanks for sharing!

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  5. I really appreciate and agree with these rules. Teachers need to really think about and set technology routines and rules which they roll out and teach just like every other classroom routine. I also really appreciate the "don't act like a tech expert" rule. It is so important for teachers to learn with their students. It really helps build classroom community when teacher admit mistakes and their students can help them brainstorm a solution.

    Do you have any trainings planned? What does technology trainings look like in your district?

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    1. I agree. I think many teachers feel like they have to be the expert and that is what scares them away from using much technology with their students.

      I was hoping to train teachers before school starts, but the district has decided to send me to another training the day I thought I would do it. I am still hoping to find a time early in the year to have some classroom management training with teachers. We are trying something a little different in our district this year with technology trainings. Each building is required to have a 30 minute training on technology integration at least once a month. This is in addition to monthly staff meetings that are already in place. We tried something similar last year and met a lot of resistance because teachers hated having to go to another meeting. This year we have a meeting planned for every third Monday of the month. The meeting will be an hour and a half and will combine the staff meeting as well as technology integration.

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