Computer Classroom Management

As a future English teacher, I have to be aware that students are interested in technology and that they are thus stimulated by it. Fortunately, it is a good method to help students to enjoy the English course by bringing them to the computer lab and integrating technology. However, in order to be able to make students work properly, I have to be up-to-date with the computer’s software. One problem is that I also have to be able to manage the class, which sometime can be problematic. A few weeks before, in the Computer Applications’ class, a discussion was made concerning “computer classroom management”. This discussion made me think about the real situations that I will face soon. To be honest with you, I am scared of managing, in my future, a computer lab because many problems can occur. The first one is that students who will access inappropriate content on the net during the presentation of the task or during the individual work. Another problem is the chat programs. Teachers of all levels, from elementary school to university, have to be conscious that the majority of students make use of chat programs. For instance, the majority of students at university bring their computer to class and end up chatting. In these cases, I just don’t understand why they are coming to class. They are not at all concentrated on what the teacher is saying and it is distracting to others. When this problem occurs during a computer lab classroom, teachers have to establish with students some sort of punishment. The last problem that I know I will face is the fact that some students will know more than me about computer technology. However, before going to the computer lab, one solution to this problem is to let students know that the computer is not your best friend and then ask the best students to help if the teacher needs help. Linking this idea, students have to know that an English teacher is not a computer teacher. It’s true that all of these problems will probably occur during a computer lab, but teachers have to be ready to face with all of those situations.

One of the roles of a teacher is to manage the class. Teachers have to establish their own rules in the computer lab as much as in the English class. One method that could be effective is to tell students the rules before going to the lab. The first rule could be that students have to ask permission before standing up. Another one is to give assigned places to students. In this way, you can control the students who you do not want sitting near each other. One role of the teacher is to accept noise. Students will not be able to stop talking. Another major rule could be that if you find students are not working properly, you, as the teacher, can bring them back to the classroom.
Technology will be more and more present in the students’ life. To be an up-to-date teacher, bring students to the computer lab will motivate them.