Managing Devices within the Classroom

Device Management Infographic

Within the first few weeks of school, much time is devoted to routines and procedures that keep a classroom running smoothly throughout the entire year.  Whether you are establishing guidelines for reading or math workshop, teaching routines for independence while the teacher is working with a guided group, informing students where supplies can be found, or helping kids know what to do when they have a question or emergency, devices or no devices these procedures need to be explicitly taught and retaught throughout the year to keep the classroom running without a hitch.  

As a classroom teacher, I always devoted time to teaching my students expectations for behavior and work habits.  Now that my role is more of support staff and we have introduced devices as tools in the classroom, I partner closely with classroom teachers to teach our mutual students expectations and limitations around using the iPads.  

At the beginning of the school year, our Teachers on Special Assignment along with our Teacher-Librarians visited every 1:1 classroom to review the district's Acceptable Use Agreement with students.  This document that parents had already signed and agreed to was presented to students in

kid-friendly lingo, so the kids know exactly what the expectations are around the use of the device.  

Students need to be aware of when they are to use devices for an assignment.  Can they use their device, are they expected to use their device, or are devices expected to be put away for a particular assignment?  Students have to be taught how to physically manage the devices.  Where can they use the device, how are they expected to carry the device, how should they store it?  

Along with the district expectations, each teacher or team of teachers have to agree on whether or not the devices go home and when they go home.  The grades that I work with only allow devices to go home if there is a need for the devices to go home - students have an assignment for which they need the device.  Otherwise, students leave the device at school on the charging station within the classroom.  Students keep their devices in a centralized charging location until needed.  Again, as a school, we have a consistent way of letting students know their attention is needed away from the screen.  Teachers say, "Apple Up," and students know to place the screen face down on their desks and bring their attention to the teacher. 

To go along with the acceptable use agreement and other classroom policies established at our school, I created an infographic that can be given to students or posted in the classroom as a quick visual reminder of those device expectations.  In creating this document, I really had to think about which expectations were important to include and what visuals could easily represent each.  It was actually quite fun to create the graphics.  I created the graphics in Keynote using the shapes tool.  Then I took screenshots of those slides and uploaded those as photos into a Pages flyer template to create the infographic.  My favorite part of the process was layering the shapes to create the graphics and adding the small details like the 100% on the charge your device section and the apple icon on the "Apple Up" section.  With the purpose of establishing and enforcing expectations in mind, my goal is that this visual will help students become more responsible digital citizens as they grow up using these tools to enhance their learning.

Without expectations in place, devices can wreak havoc within a classroom.  It is imperative to set a clear purpose for the use of the device, set limitations & boundaries for use, and manage those boundaries.