#13 Guide to Creating Tech-Friendly Classroom Management Strategies

This article discusses how to use technology in the classroom and maintain classroom management while doing so. It is oftentimes hard to use technology without students becoming off task and beginning to do something that they weren't designed to do, but this article shows what steps teachers need to take to prevent this. For example, the first step was for teachers to do their homework by doing all of the lesson planning, leg work, and troubleshooting all before considering getting up in front of a classroom. This means not only know what you are going to teach, but knowing how you can teach it, preparing each workstation for students, and ensuring that if there is a problem that you know how to solve it and have a back up plan.  The second strategy was identifying learning goals and stating objectives out loud. This gives students a bit more motivation and as the article says, "sharpens them." The third strategy was stepping away from the computer.  Of course, in today's time, it is incredibly important to use technology but an overload of it can cause behavior problems and attention issues. The fourth strategy capitalizing on their desire to explore, which can be hard, but giving them time to find answers for themselves while monitoring them and giving them an objective is good for their brain and learning.
In my classroom, I believe technology will be used a lot. It is often hard to expect issues and realize how much work must be put into a lesson using a computer, because in our lives we use our personal laptop and can do whatever we please, but when using a computer in a classroom we must make sure they have to software and much more. Also, in my classroom I think it is important to state goals before a lesson has begun, so I can definitely see myself using that. One thing that I do find very difficult is allowing for free exploration. I remember in school, there were always certain students that would do just about anything to get onto a website that they shouldn't have. I think that as a teacher, especially upper elementary, that it would be difficult to monitor each students screen and make sure that they are behaving properly at all times.