"One of my [most important] rules concerns printing from the Internet," Pat Bihon, a technology specialist at Lincoln Roosevelt School, in Succasunna, New Jersey, told Education World. "I have a rule that students must clear any Internet printing with me before they send material to the printer. Students must know how many pages an article contains and whether they need the entire article or just part of it. There's nothing worse than printing ten pages when only the first two pages contain necessary information. I also encourage students to copy and paste the information they need into a text document or WordPad. That way, they have only the information they need and they create a note page for later reference.
"A second rule," Bihon continued, "is that students record the URLs for the Web sites they use. Again, I encourage them to copy and paste the URLs into a text document and record the Web sites for a bibliography. That also helps them realize that yahoo.com, for example, is not the site the information came from; it's just the search engine they used. This concept is difficult for many students to grasp.
"I also have rules forbidding fooling around with the computer's C drive, removing the mouse ball, and changing icons and wallpaper on the desktop," said Bihon. "I tell students that they are in my living room and shouldn't change things around, any more than I would go into their living rooms and rearrange the furniture. Moving icons in particular drives me crazy. If the icons are left in place, I can easily direct students to the correct column and row for opening a program. If the icons have been moved, it wastes my time and the students' time."
"I post station numbers on disk boxes by each computer," said Libby Adams, a computer resource teacher at Troost Academy, in Kansas City, Missouri. "On the first lab day, each student is assigned a station. After that, the rules are pretty simple."
Remain standing at your station until you're invited to sit down.
Sit quietly until you know what's expected of you.
Turn your station box over if you have a problem.
Never touch another student's computer.
When class is over, close all windows, stand when asked, and push your chair into your lab station.
"Students also know," Adams told Education World, "that sometimes we work solo, often we collaborate, and occasionally we cross-pollinate. This lets them know the permissible noise level."
"The beginning of the school year is a good time to think about rules," said Betty Kistler, computer technology coordinator at Tuckahoe Common School District, in Southampton, New York. "Here are my Big Five!"
Keep your hands off the keyboard and mouse until you know what we're doing. When kids start messing around as soon as they sit down, they invariably end up somewhere other than where they need to be, and they probably aren't listening to instructions.
Work quietly and stay on task. Make every effort to do your best.
Spell-check and proofread before printing. Print to a color printer only when color is needed.
Get permission if you want to use the Internet for anything other than the day's assignment. (I have a brightly colored card to give students who have permission.)
Leave your workspace the way you'd like to find it. This means exit all applications, close the server connection, and put CDs where they belong.
"A second rule," Bihon continued, "is that students record the URLs for the Web sites they use. Again, I encourage them to copy and paste the URLs into a text document and record the Web sites for a bibliography. That also helps them realize that yahoo.com, for example, is not the site the information came from; it's just the search engine they used. This concept is difficult for many students to grasp.
"I also have rules forbidding fooling around with the computer's C drive, removing the mouse ball, and changing icons and wallpaper on the desktop," said Bihon. "I tell students that they are in my living room and shouldn't change things around, any more than I would go into their living rooms and rearrange the furniture. Moving icons in particular drives me crazy. If the icons are left in place, I can easily direct students to the correct column and row for opening a program. If the icons have been moved, it wastes my time and the students' time."
"I post station numbers on disk boxes by each computer," said Libby Adams, a computer resource teacher at Troost Academy, in Kansas City, Missouri. "On the first lab day, each student is assigned a station. After that, the rules are pretty simple."
Remain standing at your station until you're invited to sit down.
Sit quietly until you know what's expected of you.
Turn your station box over if you have a problem.
Never touch another student's computer.
When class is over, close all windows, stand when asked, and push your chair into your lab station.
"Students also know," Adams told Education World, "that sometimes we work solo, often we collaborate, and occasionally we cross-pollinate. This lets them know the permissible noise level."
"The beginning of the school year is a good time to think about rules," said Betty Kistler, computer technology coordinator at Tuckahoe Common School District, in Southampton, New York. "Here are my Big Five!"
Keep your hands off the keyboard and mouse until you know what we're doing. When kids start messing around as soon as they sit down, they invariably end up somewhere other than where they need to be, and they probably aren't listening to instructions.
Work quietly and stay on task. Make every effort to do your best.
Spell-check and proofread before printing. Print to a color printer only when color is needed.
Get permission if you want to use the Internet for anything other than the day's assignment. (I have a brightly colored card to give students who have permission.)
Leave your workspace the way you'd like to find it. This means exit all applications, close the server connection, and put CDs where they belong.
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