Use of Devices in the Classroom

The sequence and process of: Rule, Consequence, Fresh Start, resonates with me. It’s a concept I practice subconsciously in the classroom and have never heard broken down this way or given a name before. What I can feed back is it’s a logical framework that is consistently successful when implemented from my experience.

One example of how I use this idea is in relation to students and their use of devices in the classroom. The rule I work by is that students are not to open their laptops unless they have been asked to. If a student opens their laptop before being asked, the first time, like a yellow card in soccer, I shut the student’s laptop lid. If they open the laptop a second time before being asked, the consequence is that I take their laptop for the remainder of the period and to comply with school policy, a negative level is written up on the student’s profile listing the student’s indiscretion (don’t worry, we also award positive levels when students do great things too!). A fresh start is then provided with the student’s laptop returned at the end of the class. The additional benefit of being consistent with my implementation of this process is that students learn quickly and then buy in as they understand the process and expectations.