Although the physical classroom has entered the virtual realm, the student body and staff stay the same. Which means that with every set of well-mannered students come a few mischievous ones, who disrupt the smooth flow of lessons and can be a source of stress for teachers! Especially with technological intelligence rising among the youth, the possibilities of online mischief are unlimited.
Often a quality that teachers require is “Withitness”, which is a term coined by Jacob S. Kounin, an educational psychologist, researcher, and classroom management theorist. Kounin described ‘withitness’ as awareness of what is going on in all parts of the classroom at all times. Virtual Withitness is a must have for teachers of the digital classroom!
If you would like to be prepared for any potential online misdemeanor by students, read these tips that would provide you a holistic solution to address not only the child’s behaviour but also the psychology behind classroom misbehavior:
Communicate expectations clearly in written text and audio visuals
Create a PDF of the student hand-book or a common virtual platform where students can access classroom agenda’s, schedules, announcements, assignment deadlines, submission portal, lesson notes and grading rubrics. Provide your students an instructional class on how to navigate the virtual platform or document. Provide a common space for them to submit their queries as well as informing them about the consequences of virtual classroom misconduct. Take a recording of the instructions provided and save it in an instructional folder for students to re-open any time they require. Break down the larger sets of instructions to smaller chunks to help address each on specifically. These steps provide little room left for miscommunication and chances for students to avoid following guidelines.
Creatively engage with students to maintain attention
If you notice students zoning out during lessons. Create a ‘fun’ activity where you have a spinning wheel or name shuffling software, which can call out the names of any student during the classroom to answer a quick question or ask them to restate the lesson points. This keeps students alert and prevents a lackadaisical attitude from spreading in the classroom.
Stay technologically prepared for notorious behaviour
These are few practical examples of virtual classroom misconduct and how to tackle them:
Often teachers make use of the annotation option on ZOOM to convey lesson points. However, there can be few students who dare to notoriously annotate on the screen during the lesson, which can be quite disrespectful and stressful since it is difficult to identify who is behind the marker. Follow this link to follow the instructions of disabling students from annotating as well to identify the names of the students responsible. https://www.guidingtech.com/who-is-drawing-in-zoom-pc-mobile/.
In case students decide to change their names to mislead the teachers from identifying them, send a warning to the unidentified students that you require their parents to email an apology letter for their classroom misconduct.
Incase students make excuses for being late to class due to internet connectivity, inform them that after three occurrences, you will be taking it forward to discuss with parents on the matter of ‘investing in good internet connectivity for better education”.
Use healthy communication as a tool for change
When reprimanding students, aim to do it privately than calling them out in front of the whole classroom, start a dialogue about why they felt the need to misbehave using a friendly tone, identify if they are acting out of their own personal challenges at home or otherwise and provide constructive criticism to help them take simple steps for improvement. Student are more likely to respond positively and take personal responsibility when they are given a safe space to voice out their concerns, feeling unheard and receiving unsuitable attention is often the underlying causes for students misconduct.
These simple tips can go a long way, however, remember to not take unnecessary responsibility on yourself as a Teacher because remote learning has its limitations. Keep a growth mindset and use mistakes as opportunities for improvement. When you hit a dead end with your efforts, talk to management or seek professional help to ensure you are on top of your game!
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