Questions to ASk About Tech In Your Class
- When is it appropriate to use technology in your classroom? What times during class? Activities?
- How would you prefer students to power down?
- What is your signal to them to power down?
- What are your group work expectations for devices?
- When is it appropriate to have a phone out?
- When is it appropriate to have a computer out?
- What apps and sites will you use regularly that students need to bookmark?
- What template would be useful to students for emailing you?
- When can you use technology to teach work flow to students?
- When can you use technology to collect fast data?
- When can you use technology to enhance a student product?
I have a new puppy. She doesn't mean any harm, but everything at eye level for her looks like a great chew toy. We are in the process of training her in recognizing the difference between her dog chew toys and a household item....or my shoe! Our students aren't too different when they have a device in their hands. They think every app and site is to be used. Part of our job as educators is beyond our content; we should be teaching students how to use devices to be productive in the world, beyond their social interactions.
Behaviors
This begins with expectations in the classroom. Our expectations have to be more specific than "no phone zone". Although this rhyming phrase is catchy, it is not realistic. Students also know this is not realistic. There are in deed times in class that it is reasonable to use a phone. In one class I modeled a lesson that was about Hemingway. I asked the kids to quickly Google up anything and everything they could find on Ernest Hemingway. They shared their findings and then I knew where to begin teaching. I didn't need to teach them what they can Google about Hemingway. I needed to teach them what they didn't find in the fast "Google Minute". Phones today are mini computers. Having a "one device only" policy is reasonable. Anything they can do on their phone, they can do on their computer. Therefore, they should only need one device at a time. Training students to recognize when to "power down" devices is a skill they need to learn. I prefer, screens to the nose. I have seen many creative means for what behavior teachers want from their students, but students need to know what you want them to do with their devices in your classroom. Not every hour of their day is the same expectation. There may be specific times that computers are acceptable, these times need to be strongly communicated and practiced the first few weeks of school. One expectation that I like to set is that when they are having discussions, they need to power down, make eye contact and respond to the speaker. I find it interesting that students have their devices out at lunch, when they should be talking to one another and interacting. This never seems to bother teachers or parents. My daughter asks to bring her device to camp. I refuse to let her, even though many of the other kids have them. She needs to be socializing. Our rules for device use are interesting. Teaching our students to balance technology with social skills is important. Technology is part of the world that we live in, we cannot pretend that our students will have jobs in the world that make them use a legal pad and a pencil every day.
Student Work Flow
Students often are very aware of how technology and their social lives over lap. They are not as savvy when it comes to using technology to stay organized and keep records. The first week of school let students know what apps and programs they need to have on their phone or saved as a book mark on their computer. They often do not know how to organize their bookmarks either, so a demonstration of that goes a long way. If you want students to turn things in digitally or in one location, do not accept work in another way. If you have a Google Form for submission of work, do not accept it if it is emailed to you. If a business has online applications, they are not going to allow one person to fill it out on paper. We need our students to follow our work flow expectations. Teaching students how to use Google Drive to save images and scan documents is another skill. This will help them stay more organized. Showing them how to color code their Google Drive Folders is another trick they will appreciate. Finally, providing students with a template on how you expect them to write you an email or communicate with you will prevent many frustrations for you through the year. It is okay for you to say you will not respond unless they use the provided template.
So many teachers are frustrated with technology in our classrooms, but it is a part of our every day life now. The frustration often comes from not knowing how to shift our instruction and our classroom management techniques to accommodate this feature. Technology has been in our schools for at least ten years now. Fighting this growth in our industry is not going to be a productive fight. Embracing git and learning how to adapt in our profession will be more productive.
Behaviors
This begins with expectations in the classroom. Our expectations have to be more specific than "no phone zone". Although this rhyming phrase is catchy, it is not realistic. Students also know this is not realistic. There are in deed times in class that it is reasonable to use a phone. In one class I modeled a lesson that was about Hemingway. I asked the kids to quickly Google up anything and everything they could find on Ernest Hemingway. They shared their findings and then I knew where to begin teaching. I didn't need to teach them what they can Google about Hemingway. I needed to teach them what they didn't find in the fast "Google Minute". Phones today are mini computers. Having a "one device only" policy is reasonable. Anything they can do on their phone, they can do on their computer. Therefore, they should only need one device at a time. Training students to recognize when to "power down" devices is a skill they need to learn. I prefer, screens to the nose. I have seen many creative means for what behavior teachers want from their students, but students need to know what you want them to do with their devices in your classroom. Not every hour of their day is the same expectation. There may be specific times that computers are acceptable, these times need to be strongly communicated and practiced the first few weeks of school. One expectation that I like to set is that when they are having discussions, they need to power down, make eye contact and respond to the speaker. I find it interesting that students have their devices out at lunch, when they should be talking to one another and interacting. This never seems to bother teachers or parents. My daughter asks to bring her device to camp. I refuse to let her, even though many of the other kids have them. She needs to be socializing. Our rules for device use are interesting. Teaching our students to balance technology with social skills is important. Technology is part of the world that we live in, we cannot pretend that our students will have jobs in the world that make them use a legal pad and a pencil every day.
Student Work Flow
Students often are very aware of how technology and their social lives over lap. They are not as savvy when it comes to using technology to stay organized and keep records. The first week of school let students know what apps and programs they need to have on their phone or saved as a book mark on their computer. They often do not know how to organize their bookmarks either, so a demonstration of that goes a long way. If you want students to turn things in digitally or in one location, do not accept work in another way. If you have a Google Form for submission of work, do not accept it if it is emailed to you. If a business has online applications, they are not going to allow one person to fill it out on paper. We need our students to follow our work flow expectations. Teaching students how to use Google Drive to save images and scan documents is another skill. This will help them stay more organized. Showing them how to color code their Google Drive Folders is another trick they will appreciate. Finally, providing students with a template on how you expect them to write you an email or communicate with you will prevent many frustrations for you through the year. It is okay for you to say you will not respond unless they use the provided template.
So many teachers are frustrated with technology in our classrooms, but it is a part of our every day life now. The frustration often comes from not knowing how to shift our instruction and our classroom management techniques to accommodate this feature. Technology has been in our schools for at least ten years now. Fighting this growth in our industry is not going to be a productive fight. Embracing git and learning how to adapt in our profession will be more productive.