If your school has had the latest technology forever, you can most likely skip this post. This post is for newbies and people whose schools have just added new technology. Maybe the Chromebook carts finally arrived. They landed in my school a couple of years ago, although regular teachers had to check out groups of about eight Chromebooks at a time to use in group work. Wealthier districts issue them to students and these devices go back and forth to school daily.

Some administrators especially become enamored of the potential of the new devices. Students working on Chromebooks or tablets look up-to-date. Classrooms filled with devices carry a modern air that appeals to the casual viewer. The potential locked into many software programs can move students forward quickly when the academic level of the program matches the academic level of students.

That said, we wasted a great deal of time with the last program inflicted on my bilingual classrooms. The program began at a rigorous, Common-Core, fifth-grade level, although we were supposed to be working with seven-grade material primarily. In one class, every student but one had MAP scores that placed them mathematically in the 3rd grade somewhere.

Frankly, that program’s main use was showing administrators that I was grouping students. Whole group instruction was verboten — although the class needed this desperately — and the many wandering coaches and administrators expected to always see groups. I had groups. I had kids struggling with a program years over their documented, academic levels working together in a station while I introduced new material to other groups and every so often found time to help the computer group with their software. The whole set-up was essentially mandatory. The whole set-up was ridiculous.

Aside from inappropriate software, the other great problem with computer-based education lies in the student distractability referenced above. Schools have been blocking game sites since we started using computers in the classroom. Students have been finding proxy sites and other ways around those blocks for just as long. When I did my Spanish maternity leave position last year, I started class a few times by saying, “Stop chasing worms.” The students had found a popular site that offered them the opportunity to kill slithery lines. I had to walk around the classroom regularly to make sure worms were not popping up.

I like computer-based instruction when it’s working. Kids enjoy working on tablets and computers. The devices help hold their attention. With the right software and the right supervision, computer-based learning can advance students quickly and easily.

But the wrong software might as well be the wrong book. Software must match or adapt to the learning levels of the kids in the classroom. And the internet’s frankly a swamp monster hiding in the bushes sometimes. The internet problem can’t be solved either, no matter how many searches administrators block. Kids will find “inappropriate” materials.

I remember years ago when a middle-school student preparing a PowerPoint about the life he wanted when he grew up searched “hot girl with car.” The boys streamed over to his machine so fast that I was there right behind them. I had one of those, “Oh, the Principal’s gonna love this story,” moments before I shut down that screen. The boys had all seen the scantily clad women draped across those cars, though, and they’d loved it. I’m not sure some of those women qualified as clothed.

Eduhonesty: To get back to my tip, meant mostly for newbies and those who finally received decent technology, I want to emphasize that the teacher has to look at the hardware and software he or she has been given with critical eyes. Is the program working? Are the kids learning more than they would if you used a PowerPoint up front instead? How will you monitor off-task behavior? Can you monitor off-task behavior? Some schools have installed systems that allow teachers to track student usage, but the vast majority have not.

Don’t feel ashamed if you have thirty-four kids and you are having trouble managing that off-task behavior. I will add tip #8.5 here, though. If you walk around and see too many worms, tell the whole class to shut down. Don’t listen to the wails of, “You can’t punish everyone for a few kids mistakes.” Yes, you can. You must. Because if you don’t, the worms will be dogging you for the rest of the year. If only a student or two seem to be off-task, you can deal with that problem individually. But off-task, computer behavior can steal classroom minutes faster than anything else I can think of offhand so that behavior has to be shut down hard.

Managing technology challenges even the best teachers. If you are struggling, don’t give up, and don’t beat yourself up. The internet’s a wily and seductive creature. Even adults can’t control the beast. Link by link, we click until we find ourselves looking at cute platypus babies discovered in a random, New Zealand dentist’s basement.

Here’s the meat of my tip: You are the teacher. You have to judge if technology is working for you. It helps to ask, could I have done this better without the software? The answer may not be simple and may even vary from class to class. If second period stays on task, but fifth period keeps chasing worms, no rule says that you can’t let second period keep working with the software while you shift fifth period to books, presentations and activity sheets. If fifth starts complaining about the unfairness of your approach, 1) You are the teacher and you do not have to let them do what everyone else does if they cannot manage well, and 2) You might use that complaining as an opportunity to manage behavior, gradually allowing the technology back into the room as students show you they can use their devices responsibly.

Ask yourself, “Is it working?” Look at test and quiz results. Is it working? You might even do some action research with your classes to determine what combination of instruction and technology works best.

And don’t be afraid to ditch the technology when it’s not working.

Tomorrow, I’ll post about phones.