It seems building a road on a foundation of sand doesn’t stand much of a chance against a major hurricane….

Likewise, a classroom built on a shaky foundation— one that is not well organized, that’s missing compassionate policies, or that doesn’t consider best practices is destined to crumble too. I’ve become a fan of several blogs that help teachers think through their own classroom practices including Successful Teaching, Practical Theory, and Teachers at Risk.  All are good reads for new teachers or for those who want a new perspective on classroom practices.  Looking back at my own teaching career, I’ve discovered that there are a half dozen statements that have served as my guideposts.  They’ve evolved somewhat over the years, but they serve as my foundation – so much so that I used to write them at the front of my plan book every semester. I’m not in a classroom full time anymore, but these principles still guide my work.

My Foundations:

• Help students learn instead of teaching them a lesson. Early on in my career, I had the pleasure of teaching Eric.  Eric was a mustached fifth grader who should have passed onto middle school at least 3 years before. He towered over me and over his fellow fifth graders.  According to his previous teachers, he had a reputation for throwing desks at teachers and spending more time in the principal’s office or on suspension than in the classroom.  Great.  On the first day of class, I pulled Eric aside and asked “What do I have to do to help you stay in my class and keep from getting a desk thrown at me?” His reply? “Mrs. B, when I say ‘I’ve taken a mood’ just let me be.”  True to his word, whenever he’d utter that statement, we had an agreement that he could go to the back of the room until he was able to rejoin us.  I’m happy to say that Eric didn’t miss a day of class that year due to suspension. Plus, he competed in science fair, worked in groups and passed fifth grade; if not with flying colors, then at least with pride.
• Give second chances. We all fail sometimes.  It’s learning to deal with failure that means the most. Enacting compassionate policies in a classroom doesn’t make you a push-over; it makes you a realist. Kids mess up sometimes – they forget a book, miss a homework assignment. A “no-exceptions, no makeups” policy only teaches students that unless it’s learned according to a set schedule, it’s not worth learning. In my Algebra class, I used to allow students the opportunity to receive half credit for any test question that they reworked and turned in along with an explanation of their error.  It gave a student who failed a test the opportunity to pass if they were willing to put in a little extra effort. In the long run, they probably learned as much from their mistakes as they did from their successes.
• Leave room at the top. As many of you probably do, I often use rubrics to assess projects.  Sometimes, however, my rubric would end at the “B” level.  When students would ask what would earn them an A, I’d say “Amaze me.”  Funny how often they exceeded my expectations when I left room for them to go beyond.
• Be amazed. Be willing to show your awe when your students impress you. Look for the moments when they go beyond your expectations and celebrate them publicly.
• Be amused. Forget the rule “Don’t smile before Christmas.”  It’s not wrong to show students you care, especially if it’s backed with clear classroom expectations.  Smile at them and laugh with them when you get the chance.
• Never assume you are the smartest person in the room. Enough said.

Those are my foundation statements. What would yours be?

Picture from the National Park Service.

One topic where lots of questions arose was how to manage a classroom in which every student had their own laptop.  What would happen, they asked, when students weren’t paying attention, were using laptops to cheat on tests, were too busy chatting online to contribute to classroom discussions?  What about students who forgot their laptop, didn’t charge them before class, or had a problem serious enough to render their laptop inoperable?

During our Digital Learning Summer Institute, teachers got a chance to think more about these questions and how their own teaching style would mesh with managing a 1:1 classroom.  Here’s how we got the conversations started…

Our institutes are known for keeping teachers engaged and interested in the content through lots of interactive and kinesthetic activities.  To begin this discussion, we placed several plastic “bugs” at each table while they were at lunch.  When the teachers returned, we began with the premise “What bugs you about teaching in a 1:1 classroom?”  and shared the responses we had received via the Google Doc:

We then tried to put each concern into context.  What we wanted them to see was that the problems are nothing new – kids have been socializing, cheating, and coming to class unprepared as long as there have been classrooms.  The technology isn’t changing the problems we see – it’s just changing the tools students use to do the things that have always bugged teachers.  To bring this point home, we invited them to watch as we showed video clips from “Modern Classrooms” and used those to discuss the issues at hand…

The clips were from the Prelinger Collection at the Internet Archive.  Remember those cheesy 1950s and 60s educational videos?  Seems that many of them document the same issues our teachers are worried about in a laptop environment.  What we wanted our teachers to see was that for the most part, what worked for them before will work for them now.  The discipline structures needed to manage a classroom well don’t go out the window just because every student is sitting in front of a 13″ screen.

Here’s an example from our talk on keeping students on task – the clip is from the Young America Films entitled “The Procrastinaor“

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After the video we talked about what used to distract students from their work:  Comics tucked inside a binder, notes from friends, listening to music, and more.  We then talked about the new distractions that come with a laptop like playing games or surfing shopping websites.  We asked teachers, “How did you manage these distractions before and will the same strategies work now?”  For the most part, they found that most issues could be resolved using the same strategies they were already using:

After going through each of the 7 issues that teachers identified (Preparation, Socializing, Keeping on Task, Forgetting Materials, Cheating, and Bullying) we gave them a chance to talk to one another and to share strategies that had worked for them.

You can see a video version of the entire presentation here (be patient, it takes a while to download) or you can download a pdf copy of the presentation on my website under Files to Share.

To culminate, we placed “bug boxes” on each table to collect all the things that were bugging them and then asked them to continue their discussions throughout the week by writing their personal bugs on slips of paper to share with others.  By keeping the topic on the light side and making sure to give them time to talk to one another, they began to realize that they truly will be in this together when the year begins. They also realized that if they prepare lessons that are engaging while developing a management strategy that matches their own classroom philosophy, their chance of a successful rollout is much higher.

Do I think that this one activity will solve all the problems that come with managing a 1:1 classroom?  No.  But I do hope that if nothing else, it gave teachers a chance to think about what they need to do to get their own classroom ready.

How do you prepare your teachers to manage a technology-rich classroom?  I’d love to hear your ideas and strategies!