Back in 2001, when I started as a teacher, the technology boom was in its nascent stage. I remember toting a large bag filled with papers home most nights and going to sleep drowning under a vast sea of student homework that needed grading. My classroom was even worse, cluttered with books, manipulatives, globes, maps, and learning stations that left little room for anything else. However, as I write this in 2018, things have changed dramatically. Today’s teachers have edtech in their corners.
Digital teaching and learning tools have streamlined education processes and provide learning experiences that stretch far beyond the materials that were available for me back in 2001. If the edtech of today were available back in 2001, I could have used classroom management tools to help me deal with my sometimes unruly 4th period class. I could have used behavior management tools to develop and manage a student reward system. Parents could have logged on to an app to see whether or not their child was behaving themselves. Yes, sir, edtech would have saved me a lot of time, effort, and stress. If I were still in the classroom today, I’d use these classroom management apps, tools, and resources:
ClassDojo: This classroom management app can be a powerful tool when it comes to motivating students to maintain exemplary behavior. Teachers can give points or take them away when students don’t comply with the set expectations and rules of the classroom. Even better, parents can see this information quickly and easily.
Too Noisy: Do you have a rowdy class that often allows their volume to swirl out of control? Particularly for educators who have students with auditory sensitivities, the noise of the classroom may be overwhelming. Too Noisy demonstrates when the room is getting too loud with unique graphics that show how close you are getting to an intolerable level.itivities in their classrooms who may find a high noise level distressing.
Lan School – Lan School is a classroom management tool that works on Windows, Android, Mac, and iOS. It is a management software built to keep students engaged and learning while staying within the walls of a safe digital environment. It provides tools to monitor students’ screens to make sure that they stay on task. It also has a chat function that allows instructors to communicate with students and help them with their projects. The broadcast feature allows the teacher to broadcast his/her screen to the rest of the class.
The Great Behavior Game: This game is designed for educators who work with students in fifth grade or lower. The game allows teachers to award points and penalties for specific behaviors. The scoreboard can be used to issue rewards to winning students at intervals during the day. The app also allows educators to generate reports and collect data for future reference.
Classtime – Classtime is a classroom management solution designed for students and teachers; it includes analytics, real-time grading, and libraries. It allows teachers to create, share, and download lessons and assessments from over 30,000 available materials. It provides a time-effective solution for teachers in the classroom.
DyKnow – DyKnow is a classroom management software solution that helps you monitor devices, reduce distractions, and keep students on task. This software enables teachers to see how students are spending time on their devices in class. It can restrict the students’ access; i.e., it can manage what a student can and cannot access during a course through a customizable blocking plan.
Eduphoria! – It is a classroom management tool that enables a learning environment through budget maintenance and education enhancement. Eduphoria! empowers teachers. The integrated apps assist in every aspect of the school day, from lesson planning to monitor student progress, streamlining administrative duties, and providing a collaborative platform for education professionals.
HiClass – This is a variable room management solution through monitoring, broadcasting, and more. HiClass computer classroom management software is very easy to use and offers a rich set of functions that enable teachers to broadcast, control, communicate, monitor, or collaborate with students individually or as a group, to ensure that every student gets the most out of class time.
Stop Go!: The time between classroom activity changes can be very disruptive with disorderly behavior. Using this app, you can bring order to the process. The app functions like a traffic light, signaling to students when the time is right to move or get to their seats. When the light changes, a bell also chimes in case some students might have missed the visual prompt.
Did we miss any?