Managing Your One To One Classroom

Kids are watching videos in my class! Kids are streaming music, texting, or doing other stuff on their laptops in my class. They're cheating on the online tests! Their phones are always out! I can't stand it anymore! I want a tool that lets me view their screens and lock them down! I am going to buy a jammer to block cell phone signals in my classroom (drawing unwanted FCC attention as a byproduct)! I have heard the above loudly and clearly from several high school teachers and understand the concerns. After a few years in a computer and technology rich education environment, you might think I have an easy button solution. I don't. But, I will share some thoughts, hoping they are received in the collegial vein they are offered.

Image: NYC Media Lab

I have used Lan School (and students have written about how to disable tools like Lan School), and similar screen monitoring tools. When used for collaboration, management tools like Lan School are excellent at projecting student screens or helping a student remotely. But used in an Orwellian capacity, they fail, and are even more abysmal when used to meet punitive measures. They are about as well received by students as an overbearing district content filter or a computer use monitoring policy would be received by you, a classroom teacher. Lan School and similar tools are not a replacement for clear, concise, and consistently applied classroom management strategies. Further, screen monitoring might help you enforce the life and career skills accountability and productivity, but screen monitoring removes a student's ability to authentically practice accountability and productivity as outlined by p21.org. Screen monitoring will give you one more thing to login to, one more thing to monitor, and one more thing to divert your own attention from the real action; face to face, one on one interaction with kids. At best, screen monitoring software is a sandbag on the levy of life. Students still have unfettered access to the world's knowledge and entertainment base from their personal devices and absent effective classroom management strategies will, like water, overrun your sandbag. Considering a nerdy perspective, Lan School would be one more performance sapping software on devices, and it would potentially generate performance degrading network traffic.

One key to tech classroom management is promulgating firm, clear, consistent expectations. If students shouldn't be on their laptops, the laptops should be closed. If students have no reason to be using a cell phone, the phone should be out of sight. Some teachers effectively employ phone jails or collection boxes students voluntarily use. You are the boss, the setter of tones and paces in your room. Model your expectations. Practice your expectations. Reinforce your expectation again and again. When students need to be called out or parents need to be called, be a proactive, consistent communicator. Live by your rules and make them an intrinsic part of your learning environment. Beth Brocato offers this iPad checklist as a great way to begin the conversation about your classroom expectations.

There are steps that educators can take immediately to help manage the high tech classroom. I offer this slightly dated classroom management article as a conversation starter, where Author Mike Hasley opines,

Let the kids know when and when not to have their laptops out for use. If you are doing a non-laptop activity, no kids should be using laptops.

The article is vintage 2007, around the birthday of the smartphone, so does not mention smart phones at all. Yet the new gadgets are in your classroom adding to your list of concerns. Maybe we can sequel the article with modern best practices that reflect classroom technology as it stands today. What are your best practices to effectively manage classroom technology?