1:1: How To Use Our Time

Two things have been on my mind lately: how incorporating devices into my classroom will affect the the way that my students and I learn together; and how to navigate some of the pitfalls that inevitably come with this environment.  The former fills me with excitement and hope.  The latter makes me anxious and uncertain, especially as I think about my goal of going paperless.

Here's my concern: I plan on making a good deal of what we read available as Google Docs, like excerpts from Emerson's "Self-Reliance."  If we are going to talk about these in class and I want them to take some notes on what he says, their Chromebooks will have to be open.  Once those Chromebooks are open, however, the internet with its multitude of choices and distractions, is a click away.  Of course, I understand that distractions have always abounded, even when students sat with hard copies in front of them. Just because they have a book or packet on their desks did not guarantee their attention, let alone thinking.  But the access to the internet represents a different kind of temptation.

So what can I do?  Here's a few possibilities:

Talk honestly with the kids about an online routine centered on mindfulness and responsibility.
Absolutely I plan on doing this and on describing my own efforts at using digital tools in useful ways. I've reflected on my routine on a Google doc here, which I will share.  When I've talked to students about a establishing a routine, they have responded positively. Still, they tend to see the choice to pay attention or not, whether online or off, as a personal one the student makes, over which the teacher has little control. Typically they are quick to point out that the student must deal with the consequences of deciding to not pay attention.  But their is a resigned tone to these conversations regarding how much a teacher can affect students' choices.  So I think I will need a something more proactive on my part.

One option would be to only allow a certain number of computers to be open at a time.  I've used this to varying to degrees of success.  On the positive side, it does make them aware of how they use their devices and instills a sense of shared responsibility.  The drawback, however, is that a student might want to access an article to contribute to the conversation, but be unable to because of a glut of users. Perhaps a way around this would be to have a revolving supervisory position responsible for noting which students wish to use devices to access articles and notes and can keep track of people's time spent online.  This would not be an "enforcement" position because I would not want students to feel that they need to police their peers.  Instead, the role could function almost like front of the house staff at a restaurant, noting reservations and moving people along.  Another problem might be that the person in this role would not be able to pay as much attention to the discussion or could miss some important points because the micromanagement of the class would probably demand quite a bit of attention.  Allowing people to share notes or ideas at the end of class could also help allay some students fears that they might have missed something due to not taking notes.

Another idea relates to 20% time.  Like many other educators, I find these methods very attractive for bringing genuine, self-directed learning into the classroom.  Thinking about how to integrate it, I am reminded of Stefan Sagmeister's Ted talk, "The Power of Time Off."  In the midst of explaining why he closes his design firm and embraces semi-annual sabbaticals, Sagmeister showed this graphic:

His point is that by the time we are done learning and working, we have little time and energy left to pursue our passions.  Instead of this common way of breaking up the stages of one's life, he proposes that we take this approach:

Sagmeister argues that we should break up the chunk of time typically saved for the end of one's life and integrate it throughout our most productive years.  He believes that this keeps one enthusiastic, engaged, and creative.  

Taking this as a cue, I wonder how students would respond to knowing that in each class period they would have a certain amount of free time to play on the Chromebook.  And by free time, I mean free time. They could use it to check in with  friends, explore some personally relevant idea or question, hit a website or two that they like, maybe even play a quick game: it would be their time.  The hope is that if they know they will have time for themselves, this could sharpen their focus and motivation during the time that I want them engaged on the curriculum.  When I think about how I work, I know there are times when I need short mental respites in between more intensive rounds of reading, writing, and thinking.  So instead of leaving these breaks for the end of class, they can look forward to them periodically during class.

Quite possibly I am delusional to think that providing this independent time will dissuade them from surfing when they should be otherwise engaged.  Then again, a conversation regarding all of these possibilities is worth having with the students.  Perhaps they have some suggestions that I have not considered.  That would be the best potentiality, for it would give us all a stake in negotiating how to make the classroom function as the powerful learning space I hope it can be.