In today's classroom, teachers find that they often have to compete with technology to keep students interest. It's important to recognize that a) students use this technology b) they will use it in class. Short of taking students' smart phones, tablets, etc. away from them at the beginning of each class, most teachers have to learn to work with technology in the classroom. The struggle to deal with inappropriate technology use in the classroom can be mitigated to some degree by integrating its use into the lesson. Below you will find a number of suggestions.
Tip 3: Use Email to Your Advantage
It's often useful to send out an email to students with resources that you want to use during the lesson. If you want to use web resources, create a class email list to send out a short update with clickable URLs that students can use to access materials. There is nothing that will slow a class down more than writing a long, unwieldy URL on the board and asking students to type it into their smart phone, iPad, etc. to access.
Tip 4: Set Up a Class Blog / Learning Site
There are numerous online services that allow teachers to set up an easy to maintain class blog / site. You can use this to post assignments, give homework, keep students informed with resources, etc. Ask students to bookmark the homepage and you can provide a short blog posts with resources students can use during a specific lesson as suggested in using email. This makes using students' gadgets even easier!
Tip 5: Revisit Common Software in Terms of Learning Possibilities
Take time to find out what software packages students are using on a daily basis. Once you have a short list, spend some time with the packages to find out what tools they provide to help out with English learning. For example, using a text editor such as Word for Windows you can help students set up spell check in English as students type. Instruct learners to try to correct their own spelling mistakes signaled by red underling BEFORE they check the correct spelling. With a few simple instructions these tools can become powerful self-study aids.
Tip 6: Keep Technology Use Limited and On Task
This principal is similar to any teaching task. The more general an objective or activity is, the easier it becomes to lose focus. For example, imagine that you are using a video in class to work on comprehension. Instead of watching an entire episode of a sitcom, use a service such as Hulu or English Attack! to watch individual scenes. This will help you students keep integrate new vocabulary, improve their comprehension through repetition.
Tip 7: Have a Backup Plan
Always have a backup plan in place when technology fails. Unfortunately, this still happens and it's a shame to have to change lesson focus entirely just because Windows needs to install the latest version of Flash to play a video.
Tip 8: Use an Interactive Whiteboard
If you work at a school with deep pockets, I highly recommend working with an interactive whiteboard.
Related Teaching ResourcesTips for Classroom ManagementShort Activities for the ESL / EFL TeacherESL Conversation Lesson Plans Focusing on Technology
Related ArticlesClassroom Rules for TeachersFive Important Classroom ProceduresNew Teacher Survival GuideTech Tools - Essential Tools for TeachersWelcome to the Elementary Education Site on About.com
Kenneth Beare
About.com English as 2nd Language
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