Monitors Off!!!

During teacher prep week, I think the one thing that Mr. Page kept emphasizing was the importance of classroom management for the first week of school. However, during that week, I put most of my focus on the basic skills I wanted to teach my new students. I think this happened because I was so excited to use the knowledge I gained from my edtech master’s program for my computer class. 

After finishing my first week of teaching, I realized I should have focused more on classroom management. My first class with my kindergarteners was hectic because of the lack of training the students had with my classroom procedures. Many students did not stay in their seats or line-up correctly. Some students kept going to their neighbors’ computers so they could not stay on task. As a result, I restructured my lessons throughout the week to focus more on my classroom expectations, rules, and procedures than basic computer skills. This change in focus made my classes more productive and less disruptive toward the end of the week.

Mr. Page told me about a classroom management technique that he uses when he wants to gain the attention of his students who are working on the computer. When he says, “Monitors off!”, all the students turn off their monitors and face him so that he can give more instructions. After he finishes his instructions, he says “Monitors on!” All the students turn on their monitors and go back to what they were working on before. I taught my students this technique and practiced it throughout the week. Gaining the attention of the students and providing them with more instructions were extremely easy to do when I used this technique.

For this week’s classes, I will need explain to the students the difference between “log out” and “monitors off.” Some students turned off their monitors and looked at me when I stated “Log out.”