This year we have gone to
a one to one iPad environment for our high school. We were able to hand out 500
iPads in less then 30 minutes to all of our students with the help of our
teachers and IT department. Everyone has been working hard to make this a smooth
and trouble free process for our teachers and students. With this in
mind, we have had some difficulties one of which has been classroom
management. Students have been and are easily distracted with social networking
apps and games. But this is nothing new, whether it's been students texting,
social networking on their own devices or doodling in their notebooks. For
our teaching staff we created a digital classroom management sheet to refresh
everyone's classroom management strategies. Here is what we handed out:
Digital Classroom
Management Tips
Teachers and students must
be organized to have a successful classroom and learning environment. This
tenant remains the same whether or not technology is in use. For a digital
classroom here are some specific strategies for you to consider. Remember, each
teacher will have different strategies that will work for him or her, not
everything will work for you. Individual teachers need to find what works for
them!
Lesson Plan Development
- Foremost to any classroom
management technique is your lesson plan. A good lesson plan that keeps the
students involved will reduced classroom problems whether you are using an iPad
or not. In your lesson plans, spell out exactly what you expect your
students to do with their iPad. Create your own expectations and furthermore
make sure any use of the iPad in class is appropriate and not it's own
distraction.
Consistency - Isn't that what you're always told about classroom
management? It’s the same with iPads, be consistent with rules and how iPads
are used! One way to reduce this is to have Q and A posters in your classroom.
They are simple posters with instructions for iPad use. Some examples are basic
iPad navigation, how to get handouts and how to hand in work, and how to virtual
share. Posters should always address the most asked questions and all you
have to do is, calmly and coolly point to the poster on a wall instead of being
distracted by answering the same question hundred times. Keeping a cool
attitude also impressive students.
Expectations – At the beginning of the year, we tell our students
what we expect from them. Good pedagogy require this be done for every class
and every lesson, whether or not iPads are involved. As for the iPad, tell them
clearly what you expect, such as no idle surfing, no instant messaging, etc.
Classroom arrangement - This is important and goes hand-in-hand with
classroom management. Walking around, you have students with iPads, management
by walking around is imperative! You want to arrange your room so that you can
see all the iPad screen it once.
Downtime – If students finished their work for the day, or
some are done and others are not, let them do their own thing. They can do work
for another class use a different app as reward for completing their
assignments. If they know you will let them have the extra time to do their own
thing at the end of class, they’ll be less likely to get off-task during
class.
Specific management ideas:
1. Students need to be organized on their iPads. Create
folders for Apps. You need to model this too!
2. Have students make shortcuts on their iPads to sites that they
go to often in your classroom. Put these sites in folders labeled
specifically for your class.
3. Students should be creating folders inside of Pages, Keynote,
and Numbers for different classes. (Need two files first to do this)
4. You need to evaluate their classroom setting including
desk/table arrangements so that they can better see what students are doing
with their iPads.
5. How are you distributing electronic documents now? You
should be able to do this through dropbox, EdModo or through the WebDav.
This has to become routine for the both you and your students.
6. Are you using survey sites like Socrative.com to get
quick feedback from an activity/lesson? Are they using tools like this to
get feedback from the day? You need to do this to keep student on task and off
distracting apps!
7. Are you using Google docs, forms, or other app to get
real time questions answered in class to keep your students engaged? It lets
you know who is on task and who is not in real time.
8. Have you changed the way they are teaching since the arrival of
the iPad? Know that students have iPads you can’t teach like you did last year!
9. To see what students have been doing or what Apps they have
been in lately, you can do a 4-finger swipe up or double tap a students home
button. This will show the multitasking bar. Maybe you should make it a
rule that all Apps need to be closed at the beginning and end of each
class. This way when they go to the next class, the only Apps that are
open, are the Apps that you want.
10. Group work is still OK. Not everyone has to use their iPad at
the same time or at all during specific activities.
11. Have students turn over or put to sleep their iPads when not
in use.
12. You need to get up and move around to see what is going on in
their classroom.
13. Engage students by having them share their work via the
projector (VGA Cable, Reflection Application).
Questions to consider as
we move forward:
1. How can I use the built in camera to engage students
in creating meaningful work?
2. How can I use iTunesU to help students learn or
reinforce what was taught?
3. Can I assign a video to be watched the night
before so students can come in with some background on a topic?
4. What creative ways can I use the iPad for
learning?
5. How can I make the iPad a tool for creativity?
