Setting up the reading classroom
It seems imperative (maybe) that students participate in the classroom free of digital devices. Not because digital devices are bad, but because at least some of student's reading and learning time should be distraction free. And, as people like Carr have made abundantly clear, digital devices are built in distractions even if our intention is to use them otherwise. So, for the class period, being without digital devices seems like the best way to encourage students to do some learning with minimal distractions and to recognize the difference between learning without a digital device and learning with it.
The community classroom: using a circle formation as cumbersome as it may be (and I've had to cram students into small spaces) encourages more active and engaged participation. Not only does it open up the conversation literally, students can see one another and are not directed solely at the teacher for interaction. Also, it's hard to feel either hidden or excluded and this encourages students to participate. While participation is usually seen as active, sometimes there is passive participation happening in this open classroom because students know they are on view so they engage in more active learning behaviors (no heads on desks, no reading or writing when it isn't appropriate, no technology).
Setting up guidelines for the classroom and justifying them so that students feel like the reason you have made those guidelines is in the service of their learning. Guidelines I use: raise your hands so everyone gets a chance to participate; ask questions, no technology, make mistakes, take risks.
I tell students on day one that I make the assumption that everyone is here because they love reading and know how important it is, until they prove otherwise I am operating on that assumption.
The community classroom: using a circle formation as cumbersome as it may be (and I've had to cram students into small spaces) encourages more active and engaged participation. Not only does it open up the conversation literally, students can see one another and are not directed solely at the teacher for interaction. Also, it's hard to feel either hidden or excluded and this encourages students to participate. While participation is usually seen as active, sometimes there is passive participation happening in this open classroom because students know they are on view so they engage in more active learning behaviors (no heads on desks, no reading or writing when it isn't appropriate, no technology).
Setting up guidelines for the classroom and justifying them so that students feel like the reason you have made those guidelines is in the service of their learning. Guidelines I use: raise your hands so everyone gets a chance to participate; ask questions, no technology, make mistakes, take risks.
I tell students on day one that I make the assumption that everyone is here because they love reading and know how important it is, until they prove otherwise I am operating on that assumption.
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