Much of Management is Common Sense...
and YOUR personal and professional style.
Sites to Provide Access to Sites
Young students should NEVER be asked to type in a web address... it is too time consuming, too error producing, and too "dangerous"!
Ways to get them to the sites you want them to use:
1. Set the page as your home page
2. Place a shortcut on the desktop (clear off everything else)
3. Use your class homepage as the launching pad
A few more management ideas...
DON'T wait until you are "totally comfortable"... just take one step forward each day.
Label EVERYTHING.
1. Let students have a limited time to "play" with new technologies, sites, etc BEFORE you give them tight timelines and deadlines.
2. Clearly define your expectations - both process AND product.
3. Being concrete at first will help you to feel more comfortable and help you manage the situations.
This could include using rubrics, examples, step-by-step instructions and deadlines.
Try to avoid lock-step processes where students must do things at the pace of the slowest or fastest in the class.
Provide tools, cues etc to help students work independently.
4. Expect and encourage students to help each other.
No touching others' computers or technologies.
Provide time to discuss and reward processes and also for sharing "student discoveries".
