I have been using Google Classroom and Reading Plus for several years, but only a day or two a week because of the lack of access to technology. (Our school has three desktop computer labs, a mobile laptop lab, and a ancient set of iPads.) As of this past week, our district is now 1:1 Chromebooks for grades 8-12, and I’m looking for some tips to make it go smoothly. I’m trying to transition to as much as possible online. We have known this was coming for a few years, so I have been trying to put things into place to prepare. I’m pretty good with technology, and I’m Level 2 Google certified. I’m now trying to get the logistics of it all figured out. I have answers to these questions in my head, but I want to hear other options. 1. What do I do with kids who do not have a Chromebook? (We have a few parents who will not allow their child to have one.) 2. What are some good methods for dealing with off-task behavior? (We have Go Guardian to monitor screens, but there are always some kids who are off task.) 3. What about kids who don’t bring their Chromebook to class or don’t have it charged? 4. Any great sites to use with kids for ELA? 5. Your best tips for 1:1 classrooms in general?
We've been 1:1 for five years. I'll answer with my experience. I teach grades 11-12. 1. Will they allow them to have one just for classroom use but it stays there? We have some kids who cannot take Chromebooks home, but they can use them during the day. If not, that is annoying. I guess I would say try to print all the online stuff and the kid has to do it on paper. For things like looking at a video or researching online, does the library have any desktop computers the student could go to use? Or what did you do before the Chromebooks when you needed them to do something online? Is that still an option? 2. Definitely Go Guardian but also I typically will do the first time you are off task it's a warning, and then after that the Chromebook goes away. In that case, it may be a natural consequence of the student now has to do that work as HW instead of in class, or possibly I print it and they do it on paper. Honestly after the first year, I don't have a ton of issues with off-task behavior anymore. Go Guardian helped IMMENSELY with that! 3. Are you able to have a spare charger in the room that you can lend out? If not, I would probably circle back to my advice in #1. I also would probably assign consequences if a student repeatedly is forgetting their device and/or charger. For me, they will owe me a classroom detention once it has happened three times. Most of the time if a student forgets a charger, they just borrow one from a friend. Also our Chromebooks can stay charged for 14 hours, so the need for chargers is few and far between. 4. Hmm maybe things like No Red Ink for grammar practice or Newsela. 5. My best advice, which I was told at a technology conference right after we went 1:1, is that tech should make our lives easier, not harder. If something works way better on paper, do it on paper. If it will make your life a hassle by going digital with an assignment, then don't. Tech should be a tool and it should assist us, but it doesn't replace us and if doing something online doesn't make logistical sense, then don't. I would say 90% of my work is now online, but 10% still remains on paper because it just makes sense to do so.
I need to find out if we have any additional devices to check out, and I hope that we will get some extra chargers for when kids need to charge them at school. We were not in charge of handing them out, and we weren't given any information. Kids were sent a contract parents and kids signed. Our textbook is online, and I have used ReadWorks often. I have most of my materials digitally, so it should be easy to transfer items to online use. Some things will still remain on paper, like the daily grammar, vocabulary, and writing bellringers. Any time we do things online, I have a few paper copies available in case any issues arise. Before kids had the Chromebooks, we had to reserve a computer lab. I had laptops reserved two days a week. One was for Reading Plus, and the other was for my weekly quizzes. Getting it other times was tricky, and keep them charged an entire day was next to impossible. For other things we did online, it was usually whole group with the SmartBoard, then paper activities.
My favorite thing about using Chromebooks (my department had shared carts, but one “lived” in my room) was being able to give students quick feedback while they worked on a writing assignment in class. By creating the blank Doc they would use and attaching it to the assignment in Classroom, I was able to look in on each student’s work in real time from my desk. Sometimes I would make comments to the class as a whole, or I’d highlight a section on a Doc and ask that student to add more detail, etc. I was able to peek in on every paper in a class of 36 about three times, more than if I had physically looked over shoulders. It kept them on their toes, too, since they didn’t know whose work I was reviewing at any given moment! Can you tell that I kind of miss teaching?
Go Guardian is usually for kids who are chronic problems with misuse. Is your school also investing in Securly or something similar? We are getting access to that this year. As a teacher, it will allow me to see all screens in my classroom (including hidden tabs and chat). It will also allow me to lock all screens in the room or to lock them to a specific site for online tests.
We just have Go Guardian. I used it to restrict students to one tab with a press signed URL for a quiz. I also shut down tabs for a couple of kids who were off task. Seems easy to use. We are a small district. I don’t know how much they are planning to add. All kids in grades 8 to 12 have Chromebooks. So do the teachers of those grades. About 1200 machines, I’d say.
Sounds very similar to my district in size. We are 1:1 in grades 4-12, and that amount to about 1400 machines. Do you have a district LMS? That allowed me to transfer much of my content online with ease. However, I do still have a few students who require paper copies.
Students in my school have county issued iPads and lots of teachers use Apple Classroom to monitor iPad use during class.
I would teach a procedure where they half close their computers (to a 45 degree angle) when you are talking or giving directions.
