Classroom Management Techniques

and Curriculum Delivery

Peter Hatherley-Greene

First published in Computers in New Zealand Schools, November, 1993

First presented to the Computers in NZ Schools IT Conference, Nelson, New Zealand, 1992

 

Basic Problem

By adding computers to a teacher's repertoire of teaching tools without changing the curriculum framework in which teachers use computers results in the under-utilisation of computer (Information Technology) resources. Computer use in education has passed through two phases in the last decade. The first phase consisted of computers being taught as a subject. The second phase, where most schools are at now, is where computers are being actively integrated into an existing curriculum. This second phase poses a major problem as many teachers view computers as "add-ons" in a curriculum not designed for information technology. Teachers must choose either to:

Use the computers and remove an existing item from their teaching programme;

To ignore the computers and retain existing teaching programme;

To use computers in an integrated way with the emphasis on teaching or imparting knowledge (teacher-centred).

I believe in my class over the last 18 months, we have moved to a third phase of use where computers have become the main medium of learning and expression (child-centred). Using computers therefore to achieve curriculum goals necessitates a new approach to classroom management and resource delivery, resulting in a child-centred environment where the traditional teacher-student model is radically altered.

 

The Solution

One must accept computers and other information technology as being one of the main media of learning and expression (not teaching) in the classroom. The existing current curriculum must be rewritten to integrate technology. Teachers must be prepared to take risks and experiment with different approaches - "man did not discover new oceans until he had the courage to lose sight of the shore". A base level of skills necessary for "free expression" must be established early on. The use of multi-media software for both group and individual research/presentation focuses on the social aspect of learning and emphasis should be placed on collaborative and cooperative activities. Recognition of an individual's input and output both within and outside the group activity must be acknowledged, monitored and assessed. The students should be encouraged to strive for excellence in all group work and presentations. The concept of an audience and sharing in the presentation of technologically-generated projects is important for positive feedback and feelings of self-esteem and self-worth.

 

Waihi School

Waihi School is a small (100 boys) private boarding school situated near Temuka, South Canterbury, New Zealand.   Its six teaching staff caters for Std 3 to Form 2 and offers a traditional prep school curriculum with examinations for all students. Waihi's main strengths lie with its music, reading and maths recovery programme, sport, and its use of computers.

Private prep schools are generally well-resourced in terms of hardware/ software and lack the curriculum constraints imposed on their state-school counterparts. Most teachers have considerable freedom to develop innovative and creative teaching programmes but many have not done so because of their isolation from mainstream educational thinking, "cognitive inertia" created by stable long-term teaching careers and a conservative approach to curriculum development.

Computers have been used at Waihi since 1987 - early use focused on the computer which resulted in a number of undesirable outcomes. Activities were isolated from classroom work, computers were perceived as "add-ons" by the staff and computer lessons were taught by "specialist" teachers - this all resulted in low staff confidence and skills.

Major Restructuring

In 1992, a major restructuring of our approach to computers took place. Computer lessons were discarded as each classroom teacher became responsible for their own IT programme. I was allocated staff training time (two periods each week per teacher) and the focus shifted physically from the isolated network room (eight BBC Masters) to the classrooms where new computers and printers were placed. Many themes and ideas emerged from last year:
Computer activities are best centred on the classroom;
A base level of computer skills needs to be established;
One computer per 24 students severely restricts access;
Computer-phobic students and teachers usually gain confidence in a classroom setting;
Identification of key resource persons, use of pair tutorials and peer tutoring in knowledge acquisition;
Computers within a curriculum not designed for them are "wasted resources".

 

Classroom Management in 2H

In 1993, I was able to implement many of the above ideas on the use of computers in my class. My Form 2 class of 22 boys have PAT Comprehension percentiles ranging from 37 to 98 with an average of 75.

Fig.1  Educational Model of Technology Use to meet curriculum goals

Figure 1 illustrates my educational philosophy concerning the use of technology within a curriculum. Most learning tasks are goal-centred and utilize technology to achieve curriculum goals. Typical learning tasks include hardware/ software tutorials, music, graphics, book reviews, report writing/publishing, creative writing, applied database and spreadsheet work, data analysis using graphing software, problem solving activities and interactive fiction.

Hardware Requirements

I have three Acorn machines (A3000, A4000, A5000 ), two 24-pin dot matrix printers, hand-held A5 scanner, sound sampler, MIDI interface connected to ROLAND U-20 synthesizer and a stereo system attached to A3000 which acts as a mini recording studio. The stereo setup allows the students to record radio ads, music which they have played and captured on the synthesizer and other special simulations.

Software Requirements

Junior Impression desktop publishing software, Magpie multi-media software, World Map Study and PCGlobe, FontFX, drawing and painting software, Notate and Rhapsody music software, PinPoints database, Crystal Rainforest and ArcVenture 2 - the Egyptians, Bookstore book review software and ancillary software for scanner, etc are the base software requirements.

Fig.2   Classroom layout

Figure 2 depicts my classroom layout which reflects my ideas of easy and unrestricted access to all the technology. Learning is constructed socially, and to reflect this, the 22 students are organized into small groups to facilitate and implement the following key teaching strategies.

Key Teaching Ideas

The following ideas radically alter the traditional teacher-student model as they change the teacher's role in the learning environment from the "sage on the stage" to the "guide on the side".

Pair Tutorials

In the first term, all information about the hardware and software is learnt using pair tutorials. Students work in pairs through a hardware or software tutorial, the successful completion of which is entered on a base skills list. These skills are sequential and must be completed to advance to higher levels. All tutorials are based on curriculum work.

Work-shopping

This technique involves groups monitoring themselves and provides an environment where students edit each other's work within the group structure. Effective workshopping encourages both independence and interdependence as well as contributing to active listening skills. All of the above techniques reduce teacher supervision, remove the "sage on the stage" scenario and allows students to feel they are in control of their own learning.

Peer Tutoring

Once the base skills level has been established, key resource students are identified and used to reinforce and teach skills. This peer tutoring, in which learners help each other and learn by teaching, can be both passive (students spontaneously asking for and receiving help from peer "experts") and active ( I place students together).

Conferencing

To ensure adequate individual assessment within the group activity, I use conferencing where I discuss with each group their aims and the expectations (which are recorded) they have of individual input. During the learning task, I am able to monitor and constantly assess individual performance around each group.

Curriculum Goals

Fig.3   Curriculum Goals in terms of Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes

Figure 3 illustrates the curriculum goals I am attempting to achieve in my class. Many of the goals reflect the emphasis on collaborative group work with its associated development of interpersonal skills.

Curriculum Content

Fig.4   Work plan of Curriculum Content

The work plan for the year can be seen in Figure 4. A creative writing course "Do Frogs Wear Jeans?" (Pam Chessell, Hazel Edwards - published by Longman) provides the focus for much of the students' language, role-play and writing work. The base level skills are replaced in term two and three by creative and multi-media applications.

Base Level Skills

The base level skills are vital if students are to use the technology to freely express themselves. Each base level skill is learnt by pair tutorials and consists of the following:

Word and document processing

Object-based and sprite-based drawing

Font manipulation

World map study

Sound sampling

Scanning

Music and MIDI

Fig.5   The development of Base Skills through Terms 1 and 2

Figure 5 illustrates the relationship between the base skills and the learning tasks which dominate the remainder of the year (terms 2 and 3).

 

Terms 2/3 Activity Tasks

Desktop Publishing

All group written reports from interactive fiction are presented as desktop publications (eg. the environmental impact reports from "Dinosaur Discovery"). Emphasis is placed on simple presentation with careful use of fonts and graphics. Outstanding individual and group pieces of story writing and poetry are enlarged from A4 to A3 for display. The topic is incorporated into a general topic on Media Studies which uses the interactive software "Fleet Street Phantom" and concludes with a visit to the local newspaper.

Multimedia Applications

These are goal-centred social studies and language projects eg. use of World Map Study to investigate global defence expenditure. The concept of spreadsheets is introduced as part of their maths.  The maths teacher uses "Cars - Maths in Motion" software as a major unit in his programme. He assigns a small team each to a country which they must research and present to the class using Magpie. A spreadsheet is introduced to tabulate an income and expenditure account for each team. The spreadsheet is set up, then managed by the students to record their race winnings, running expenses and engine blow-outs!

Fig.6  A Rat trap -graphics from a multimedia project using Magpie

They are also used as general problem-solving activities across the curriculum (eg. Rat Traps). In our study of a fictitious community of Australian wildlife, the small village of Muddy Creek has been overrun by a plague of rats. Andy Ant, the mayor, tendered designs for an effective rat trap. These rat traps were done in small groups using the multi-media software Magpie (Figure 6). Using this program, it was possible to animate the traps together with sampled sounds of near deceased rats!

The stereo attached to the A3000 is used as a recording studio. Sound cassette tapes are made which incorporate music from Notate or Rhapsody and the synthesizer. Voice-overs are made possible and professional-sounding tapes have been created. One exercise simulated the Opening Ceremony of a fictitious Muddy Creek Games with background cheering, marching bands and interviews with local notaries, such as Andy Ant, the mayor. The small groups encourage collaboration, co-operation, innovation and creativity with a massive input of base level skills.

Creative Applications

The term was coined by Brian Alger in an address in Christchurch in 1992. These are largely individual, self-directed projects on any topic which interests the student. They are not assessed but the presentation to the class is vital to the success of this activity. The computer is brought to the front of the class, the blinds are pulled and everyone gathers on the floor around the computer. The student then introduces his application, presents it and discusses the subject with the class.   Self-esteem and confidence appear to be greatly augmented using this technique.

 

Timetable

Three technology periods each week allows me to introduce new software/ hardware, provide a forum to listen and discuss students' questions and problems and also allows me to learn from the students. A creative writing programme incorporates much use of technology ( computers, music, synthesizer, sound sampling, cassette recording) , multimedia software, and role-play. Five periods a week are given over to creative applications. The boys are able to "book" time either individually or as a group up to three 30 minute slots each day outside of normal classroom time.

 

Resource Delivery

Much of the resources are electronic media but where print media is used, scanning permits access by the computer. Within the RISC OS environment, extraction and placing of resources (flags, music, text, graphs etc) is simple.

I emphasize that there are different computer platforms and use DOS to run PCGlobe. I also use the BBC network to do bulky written assignments then take the work as ASCII files back to the classroom computers to be loaded into the document processors.

 

Conclusion

This setup is confined to just one class of five. Many teachers do not have the confidence (in spite of the IT training) to question and re-appraise their teaching programmes. The change to using computers in this way is retarded if management does not share the vision. A ratio of seven students to one computer is workable - it takes one week for the class to complete a story writing assignment. Self-esteem and confidence are enhanced using computers because they are neutral and produce visually pleasing results! Children love using technology and appear to learn as much about themselves as they do about their world by being immersed in a teaching programme which fully utilizes technology and group work, (only teachers wring and writhe their hands over how to use it!)

The final say should go to a student who, along with six other students, completed his entire India project (128 electronic pages) using the computer last year. In his conclusion, he writes - "this project on India is and most probably will be the most enjoyable thing I will ever do at school apart from leaving school and getting school cert. The only misfortune was that we only had one computer between six students".

Peter Hatherley-Greene is a Teacher at Waihi Preparatory School, North of Timaru, New Zealand (Nov 1993)

Update:  Peter is now teaching at Dubai Men's College, Dubai, United Arab Emirates and has gone on to fully develop his ideas on another computer platform using HyperStudio.

He can be contacted by email at work or at home.