I rolled out some online activities in 2nd period today. They are slightly ahead of all of my other classes and we have a good rapport built so it felt like a safe place to start exploring. I told them I had never had a chromecart in my classroom before so that’s why it’s taken me awhile to get started with computers, but that I was ready now and excited.
Side note: Early in the period one student said, “Ms. I definitely thought you were in your twenties.” And let me tell you, this thirty-one year old was thrilled to hear that! However, shortly thereafter we launched the computers and the same student said, “It’s okay Ms., computers can be really hard to navigate if you didn’t grow up with them.” Dagger! He thinks knows I am older than computers! I laughed all day.
Every one of my students knew how to get into Google classroom. It was very second nature to them. I had printed all of my different Google classroom codes ahead of time to leave up in the classroom and I just pointed them toward it. Having students add to our class was effortless!
Before students arrived, I had created a google doc that had a simple table (pictured below) with links to practice on Khan academy. Then I shared this google doc as an announcement on our classroom homepage.
Here are some of my major takeaways from Day 1:
- Have students sign a computer agreement. Here is a copy of the agreement I had students sign in my class outlining my expectations of how they will use the computers.
- Check the document settings before you link a google doc in your google classroom. Students went to click on the links in the google doc I shared with them and the google “access denied” page came up. Turns out I didn’t have the “anyone with link can view” setting on. Note to self!
- Make scratch paper mandatory. I didn’t do this the first day and I’m glad I learned the lesson quick. I might even change this to a journal so they can also track and keep their practice problems. We need to encourage our students to use computers as an educational tool, not just for entertainment and that is going to require we coach them on how to be students behind a computer.
- Make headphones mandatory. I have been fortunate to be in a lot of classrooms over the last 3 years and teachers who make headphones mandatory during computer time are far better managed than those who do not. It encouraged students to actually listen to the instruction if they are unsure and it helps drown out other classroom noise and distractions to allow for more focused work time.
Once the kids left I was able to log into Khan academy and sync with Google classroom. This was EFFORTLESS and SO easy! Thank you Khan and Google! Now all of the students who registered in our google classroom have Khan accounts and I can assign them work through Khan Academy and track their progress with reports!
Reflection:
I was going back and forth on the computer agreements, but I’m really glad I did them. It felt a little awkward going through them with the students and a little overly strict, but from what I’ve seen in classrooms, students struggle to be responsible online learners. They are so used to the computer being entertainment, immediate, and for multi-tasking. It’s hard for them to use it as an educational tool; to listen, persevere, be patient, and be focused. They need boundaries and they need coaching on how to do this, that is our job as we take on education technology in our classrooms.