Classroom Management
The students who enroll in your course will have a wide range of computing backgrounds, interests, motivation levels, and confidence levels. Some students will finish their work early and some will need more time. Having a plan for each class period and a plan for managing your classroom environment, especially what students will do if they finish work early, is essential to meeting everyone's needs.
Here are some classroom management ideas to consider:
Post each day's agenda on the dry erase board and/or on your teacher website
Discuss the agenda at the beginning of each class period, even if it is just a continuation of what the class worked on the day before. Students should never wonder what they should be working on.
Pair Programming
Designate some (or all, if you would like) programming assignments to be completed in pairs. As I mentioned on the Instruction Methods page, pair programming promotes students learning with and from each other, and it builds confidence in students as their ideas are validated by a peer. This method works especially well for students who need to grow confidence in their programming abilities and students who are on the brink of understanding a topic and would benefit from hearing it from a peer's perspective. The female students in my classes also enjoyed pair programming, particularly when they were able to partner with another female student.
Guru
Some of your students may consistently finish their programming assignments early, and some may want to help other students. Use their expertise and enthusiasm to the advantage of the rest of the class! Train these students to be your class "gurus" by showing them how to help classmates with their questions or assignment without giving classmates the answer or solution. Also train them on helping classmates build confidence in their programming abilities. And who knows...you might be training a future Computer Science teacher in the process!
Video Producer
Another option for students who consistently finish their work early is to have them record explanation or demonstration videos on each programming concept. This is an excellent way for advanced students to help their classmates in another format. This will also help you build a classroom or course video library. Publish these videos on your district/campus/teacher video server, YouTube channel, SchoolTube channel, or TeacherTube channel, and link to them from your teacher website. Your students will enjoy and learn from watching a classmate explain a topic. See the Flipped Classroom page of this site for more information on student screencasting or video recording.
Continue a Project: Scratch or Alice
Hour of Code
Point students toward the self-paced Hour of Code activities to learn a new language or develop apps. However, if you plan to do a class activity with one of the Hour of Code tutorials, be sure to specify which tutorials or activities students should avoid or should focus on. See the Hour of Code page of this site for more information.
Here are some classroom management ideas to consider:
Post each day's agenda on the dry erase board and/or on your teacher website
Discuss the agenda at the beginning of each class period, even if it is just a continuation of what the class worked on the day before. Students should never wonder what they should be working on.
Pair Programming
Designate some (or all, if you would like) programming assignments to be completed in pairs. As I mentioned on the Instruction Methods page, pair programming promotes students learning with and from each other, and it builds confidence in students as their ideas are validated by a peer. This method works especially well for students who need to grow confidence in their programming abilities and students who are on the brink of understanding a topic and would benefit from hearing it from a peer's perspective. The female students in my classes also enjoyed pair programming, particularly when they were able to partner with another female student.
Guru
Some of your students may consistently finish their programming assignments early, and some may want to help other students. Use their expertise and enthusiasm to the advantage of the rest of the class! Train these students to be your class "gurus" by showing them how to help classmates with their questions or assignment without giving classmates the answer or solution. Also train them on helping classmates build confidence in their programming abilities. And who knows...you might be training a future Computer Science teacher in the process!
Video Producer
Another option for students who consistently finish their work early is to have them record explanation or demonstration videos on each programming concept. This is an excellent way for advanced students to help their classmates in another format. This will also help you build a classroom or course video library. Publish these videos on your district/campus/teacher video server, YouTube channel, SchoolTube channel, or TeacherTube channel, and link to them from your teacher website. Your students will enjoy and learn from watching a classmate explain a topic. See the Flipped Classroom page of this site for more information on student screencasting or video recording.
Continue a Project: Scratch or Alice
- If you started the year with the Scratch or Alice visual programming environment, you could have students work on an ongoing project that culminates on a specific date with a specific product. Students who finish their work early can continue working on the project at the end of each class period. Be sure to consider students who need the entire class period for their original programming assignment. Have a plan for how they will find time to finish this project.
- You could also allow students to develop their Scratch or Alice skills at their own pace by having them work through an online tutorial site. See the Visual Programming Environments page of this site for Scratch and Alice tutorials links.
Hour of Code
Point students toward the self-paced Hour of Code activities to learn a new language or develop apps. However, if you plan to do a class activity with one of the Hour of Code tutorials, be sure to specify which tutorials or activities students should avoid or should focus on. See the Hour of Code page of this site for more information.
