Lab Management Strategies

Here is a list of strategies that Cyndi Bailey, a CTAP Professional Development Consultant, has developed over time. Cyndi is teacher at Bidwell Jr. High School in Chico. She teaches computer skills as well as multimedia classes and the yearbook. Cyndi has experience with multiple lab setups and students of all skill levels. Cyndi also supports teachers on her staff that use technology in their classrooms for both teaching and student use.
These strategies refer to moving to and from a lab- so you will need to modify slightly to manage a seven computer classroom.

Prepare the lab beforehand.
1. Check the software beforehand.
2. Test with a student account if need be. Sometimes things work differently when you are logged in as a student vs. a teacher. You need to know what your students will see.
3. Test the projection system. Do the lights need to be out?
4. Do all the keyboards work? Are there enough work stations?
5. Does your school require an authorization/consent form before students can be online? Check with your administrator if you are unsure.
6. Check all the hyperlinks students will be using. Do they all work? How will students get there? 7. Avoid having students type the address. Prepare a word document or a web page that gives students the links you want them to use.

Create a seating chart.
1. This holds students accountable for equipment.
2. Try boy-girl-boy-girl. In middle school especially, this will help with the chatting!
3. Try sitting high knowledge students next to students who need help.
4. Sit second language learners together so they can help each other.

Starting class or station activity

1. Have something quick and easy for the students to do as soon as they arrive; perhaps a problem of the day or practice game. This will get them on task

Giving Instructions
1. It is critical students can SEE you doing the process as well as hear you.
2. Give students small steps to complete.
3. Have them watch you, then do it with you. Then have them try it on their own.
4. Create a practice assignment or a credit/no credit assignment. Students need time experiment with the new software without the added pressure of their skills being graded the first time they are exposed to the software.

Helping students
1. Place an item on the computer to indicate student needs help such as a cup, beanie baby, piece of fabric, etc.
2. Students should ask neighbors to right and left for help before asking the teacher for help.
3. Students should not get up to help someone across the room without your permission.
4. Tell students you want them to help their neighbor, but ONLY by pointing to the screen, rather than saying anything or doing it for them.
5. Students should not touch their neighbor’s mouse or keyboard (this goes for the adults in the room as well…let the student navigate their own computer..tell them what to do by pointing).

Printing
1. Give student work a quick glance before they are allowed to print.
2. Look at the number of pages in the document…does it say 1/65? This might mean 65 pages will come out of the printer!!
3. Teach students to use print preview and show them how to print only one page even if the document has more than one page.
4. Have a collection box where students turn in papers. Require them to pick up papers out of the printer and turn them in. This gives them the responsibility of LOOKING at their paper before turning it in. It may not look the same on the hard copy as it did on the computer.

Absent or lower level students
1. Have a plan for absent students. Make a copy of another student’s file and give it to the absent student, so they don’t fall behind. Or, give them a copy of your demonstration file. With extra time, they can then make the necessary changes to make it their own. Have this copy ready.
2. Modify assignments so that students complete less if they are lower level students who might struggle with typing or reading. They still do the project, just less of it.

Behavior Issues and the “I’m done’ Issue
1. Have an alternative, non-computer related assignment for students off task. It won’t take long for others in the class to realize you mean business when they see one student pulled of the computer for misbehaving. You will find students do not want to lose their privileges. Remind them often that using the computer is a privilege, not a right.
2. Use the history button on the Internet to track where students have been. Use this to talk with students privately if they have been off task.
3. Have a plan for students who finish first. One idea is to not show students a few items in a piece of software, for example, font color or shapes. Then as students finish, introduce them to these advanced features and ask them to include them in their project. Have these students demonstrate their use of these advanced features to the entire class.
4. Create a “free time’ web site. I created a web page with activities they could do on or off the computer when they were done. These were the only activities they could choose from.

Leaving the computers

1. Use the “Camping Rule” – leave your campsite better than you found it!
Have students clean up their station, stand and push chairs in. Have them wait at their stations for dismissal. This way, you can look at each station to be sure it is clean. The teacher following you into the lab will appreciate your efforts.
2. Assign a student or two to be the “clean up crew” that can stay behind to clean up any areas that go missed.
3. Check the printer. Recycle any papers that are in the printer.

Use the comments area to list any questions or modifications that you have.