help you achieve your goal. The key is to construct meaningful activities
that keep the kids engaged and focused.
*Keep the subject moving*. If the activity and conversation are moving fast
enough and the material is engaging and challenging enough, students won=92=
t
have time to mess around. Of course, some students might not be able to kee=
p
up. Use this one carefully, and think about whether the primary purpose at
that moment is for the students to amass information or reflect upon it to
gain understanding. If it=92s the latter, consider asking the students to
lower their laptop screens and focus more acutely on the conversation.
*For better discussion, lower laptop screens or close desktop monitors*.
Whenever you want to just have a discussion with students to flush out an
issue, make them lower their screens. If you use laptops, teach your
students to =93close to a thumb=94 which means that they don=92t quite clos=
e the
laptop, keeping a thumb=92s width between the keyboard and the screen so th=
at
the computer doesn=92t go into sleep mode. When the conversation ends and y=
ou
want them to start taking notes again, give them a few minutes to type up a
summary of the important points from your conversation before moving on. If
you are in a computer lab where students are working with computers, have
them shut off the monitors when you want to speak to them.
*Create small group activities.* If students are immersed in collaborative
small group activities they often keep in each other in "check" and focused
on completing the assignment at hand.
*Designate a scribe.* Consider designating a student as scribe for the day
and have him/her take notes for the class. Allow other students to use the
laptop only during student-centered activities and not during
teacher-centered lessons.
*Hold students accountable*. If you do have problems with students misusing
machines, often punishing one or two can have a quieting effect on the rest
of the group, at least for a little while. If you do so early in the year,
you send a strong message to the students that the computers are to be used
for academic purposes and nothing else.
*Remember, it's about them; not you.* You don't have to be a master of
technology, nor do you have to understand everything kids can do with
technology. Create a framework for an engaging, student-centered assignment
and let students surprise you with their innovative contributions!
Tom
On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 8:52 AM, Patricia Moser <moserp@sidwell.edu> wrote:
> Friends,
>
>
>
> We've been running a one-to-one laptop pilot this year in the sixth
> grade. The evaluations we've gotten from students, teachers, and
> parents have been great, but a few have noted the distraction problem.
> A parent of one of the students asked if there are any "experts" out
> there who could teach children how to handle the tantalizing distraction
> of the laptop. She wrote, "Even when [my daughter] was not using [her
> laptop], she said, she felt like it was 'calling out her name to play a
> game or something.'" I suspect that this has a lot to do with study
> skills and maturity, but I wonder if any of you have any lesson plans or
> ideas that we could use to help students in the 6th and 7th grades
> better manage the distraction aspects of the laptop. We use DyKnow in
> the classroom, so teachers have the option to restrict student use, but
> I am looking for effective ways of helping students monitor their own
> use in constructive ways, not only in the classroom but when they take
> their laptops home. These would be lessons that we would teach early on
> in the school year when they first get their laptops. Any thoughts?
>
>
>
> Patt
>
>
>
> Patt Moser
>
> Director of Information Services and Upper School Librarian
>
> Sidwell Friends School
>
> 3825 Wisconsin Ave. NW
>
> Washington DC 20016
>
> Office: 202-537-8164
>
> Mobile: 202-595-4941
>
> Email: moserp@sidwell.edu
>
> Skype: moserp
>
>
>
>
> [ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ]
> Submissions to ISED-L are released under a creative commons, attribution,
> non-commercial, share-alike license.
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>
--=20
Tom Daccord -- educational technology trainer, speaker, and author.
Co-Director, EdTechTeacher
Chestnut Hill, MA
tom@edtechteacher.org
http://edtechteacher.org/
http://besthistorysites.net/
twitter: thomasdaccord
c: 617-455-8716
EdTechTeacher.org & Boston University Summer Workshops:
http://edtechteacher.org/workshops.html
[ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ]
Submissions to ISED-L are released under a creative commons, attribution, non-commercial, share-alike license.
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