How can I productively act when students misbehave or act up?

This subject is perhaps the least covered of the four questions so far. We have however talked about methods to deal with misbehaving students which includes humor, a certain “cue”, positive reinforcement, acknowledgement, and name usage. We really covered this in class today with Dr. Grace when the discipline pair was talking. It gave us a lot of good ideas and ways to deal with different misbehaviors as well as covering some not-so-great techniques to deal with students. One concern of mine is if you do have a chronically misbehaving child then what do you do? I know we’ve covered this in class a little bit but I’ve heard from some teachers that you need to send them to the office, and then others say that’s just being lazy. So I was really confused what to do in that situation.

Which strategies are most effective for maintaining order in the classroom?

We’ve covered a wealth of strategies to use to maintain order in the classroom. This includes how you set your room up, your daily routines, how you handle (or mishandle) behavior in the classroom, and how you present yourself to the students. I think all the texts we’ve read between Dr. Theresa and Dr. Grace have really covered this subject well. The classroom management book really covered this material in depth, and the MI chapter dealing with classroom management we recently read in Dr. Grace’s class. I also think the activity we did the other day in class where we wrote down one thing we thought we would all agree on and one thing we would all disagree on gave me some insight to other peoples thought process about classroom management. One major concern of mine about teaching in general is making sure I am effective at managing a classroom. Nobody learns in a classroom full of misbehaving students where there is no order.

How can you effectively integrate technology into your teaching and learning?

I think we’ve learned that to successfully integrate technology into our classroom it must assist with the lesson, not be the lesson itself. Also, I think by incorporating an activity a day involving technology it is effective, because it’s allowing kids use the tools they use best, as well as giving you time to teach “traditionally”. The article covering Type 1 and Type 2 technologies gave a lot of insight about this subject, as well as the team presentations regarding the types of technology. By having these examples in class we saw some great ways of integrating technology. One concern I have about this topic is trying to “force” technology into my lessons. I feel there are just some lessons that don’t require the use of technology, but I’ve felt that Dr. Grace is making us use technology where it doesn’t exactly fit so it makes our lessons seem “clunky”.

Why might it be important for students to learn with technology?

We’ve talked about how students we will be teaching will have already have so much exposure to technology that it would make it easier for use to teach while using it. It’s like a language they already know, plus they love it! I myself love using a computer and technology gives them many creative programs and options they can use. It makes kids more INTERESTED. We’ve discussed this several times in the classroom with both Dr. Theresa and Dr. Grace, and I believe what Dr. Grace said really sunk in, something along the lines of we are preparing them for the conceptual age, and they will be improving and fixing technology that hasn’t even been invented yet. One concern I do have however is that I don’t think everything should be used with technology. Honestly I think it’s good for students to do their math homework with paper and pencils because then they can see their own work instead of relying on a computer. I just don’t want us to become dependant on technology.

How to help someone use a computer

One thing you have to tell yourself when helping someone use a computer is "Their knowledge of the computer is grounded in what they can do and see -- "when I do this, it does that". They need to develop a deeper understanding, but this can only happen slowly -- and not through abstract theory but through the real, concrete situations they encounter in their work". An important rule when it comes to helping someone use a computer is "Explain your thinking. Don't make it mysterious. If something is true, show them how they can see it's true. When you don't know, say "I don't know". When you're guessing, say "let's try ... because ...". Resist the temptation to appear all-knowing. Help them learn to think the problem through".
These two facts directly relate to our presentation about interactive whiteboards because we are still learning about them as well. The first thing we did with it was play around it and see how it works, so that directly links with what we have to tell ourselves when we introduce it. The rule I picked out also relates to our presentation because I'm sure there will be a question we don't know the answer to, and we aren't "all-knowing" when it comes to these machines.
Citation: Agre, Phil. How to help someone use a computer. http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/pagre/. Copyright 2006 by Phil Agre.

Type 1 vs Type 2

There are two major differences between Type 1 and Type 2 uses of technology. Type 1 refers to using technology as a tool to help you teach, but it doesn't provide any new ways of learning/teaching, nor does it require the user (mainly the teacher) to be proactive in its use. As for Type 2, the use of technology opens doors to new/imporved ways of teaching a subject, and usually requires the user to be proactive, as they often controls what happens on the screen.

Some examples of Type 1 include electronic flash cards, which you can do without the use of technology anyway, online crossword puzzles, which are the same as the flash cards, and online testing, whose only advantage is rapid return of your results.

Type 2 examples include smartboards, which allows teachers to interact with the board without use of the computer, wikis, which are created by the teacher and the students as a source of information, and power points, which are created and then presented by the teacher as a more interesting way of presenting notes on a subject.

Citation: Johnson, D. LaMont and Cleborne D. Maddux. "Type II Applications of Technology in Education: New and better Ways of Teaching and Learning". Computers in Schools Vol. 22 No. 1/2 2005 pp. 1-5. Copyright 2005 by The Haworth Press, Inc.