One of the courses I’m teaching this semester takes place in a small room with computers lining the perimeter. The teacher’s podium is in the center of the classroom, making it impossible to face all the students at once. I have had more discipline problems in this classroom in the first week of school than I had for an entire year in a traditional classroom.
1. You must look at me when I’m speaking, not at the blank computer screen, not out the window, not at your desk, not at each other.
2. You may not use your cell phone to show pictures of your girlfriend to a classmate. Especially not while I am lecturing.
3. You may not use the class computers for personal reasons, including looking up homework for another class. No, really, you may not use the computers for anything except typing your paper. No printing either. This is a computer classroom, not an open computer lab.
4. You must read your homework and come to class prepared. The computer is not going to cover for the fact that you have no idea what we’re talking about.
I am frustrated by these behavior issues and find it tiring constantly to remind students that this is a composition course, not a computer course. I believe I will plan a week of class where we do not use the computers at all in an effort to counteract the students’ instinct to use/abuse them.
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