Opinion
Education Opinion

5 Must-Have Classroom Management Apps, Tools, and Resources

By Matthew Lynch — September 26, 2017 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

For most teachers, classroom management is one of the biggest challenges. Managing twenty-six young people with a variety of interests, skill levels, and behaviors is no easy task.

Luckily, edtech can help. Use these five classroom management apps, tools, and resources to minimize classroom management issues and maximize instructional time.

1. NetSupport School

Award-winning NetSupport School Classroom Management software, allow instructors to monitor and interact with any student desktop or device in real-time. Deliver lesson content and assessments, show an instructors screen to all or selected students, and promote digital citizenship & responsibility with internet and application usage controls.

Collaboration tools, including group chat and showcasing screens, allow instructors to demonstrate positive digital interaction while ensuring the safe and ethical use of information technology. Ideal for BYOD with dedicated Windows, Chrome, iOS, and Android versions, plus full support for thin, zero, or virtual client environments

2. ClassDojo

Used in 90% of K-8 schools in the United States, ClassDojo is popular for a reason. It’s a simple, fun way to manage classroom behaviors and keep your lesson on track. On ClassDojo, you award students points for positive behaviors and subtract points for negative behaviors.

Each student has a customizable “monster” avatar with their points total displayed. The app lists predefined positive and negative behaviors, but you can also create your own. Parents are able to track their child’s Dojo points in real time, and the app generates weekly behavior reports for parents as well.

3. Socrative

Socrative is a student response system that engages students in the learning process and gives you immediate insight into student understanding. You can pose multiple choice, true/false, or short answer questions to your students through Socrative. Students respond on any device, and you receive immediate data about their responses.

If needed, you can adjust your lesson to address confusion or misconceptions. Socrative also allows you to assign exit tickets, and it features the game Space Race, in which students race spaceships across the screen by answering questions correctly.

4. Google Classroom

Learning management systems like Google Classroom can help you conduct most of your classroom tasks in one convenient location. Through Google Classroom, you can make announcements, administer quizzes or surveys, and assign and grade classwork and homework.

Classroom is integrated with other Google apps like Google Docs, which automatically saves student work and allows students to collaborate on assignments. Using apps like Google Classroom can help you stay organized and reduce management issues like student forgetfulness and lost papers.

5. Stick Pick

Stick Pick allows you to differentiate instruction and manage student responses. You can categorize students based on their proficiency level, and the app will pair each student to questions that are most suited to his or her ability level. The app also allows you to select students at random, the perfect solution when no hands go up after you ask a question.

Conclusion

Whether your classroom management issue is student engagement, organization, or disruptive behaviors, there’s a classroom management app, tool, or resource for you.

The opinions expressed in Education Futures: Emerging Trends in K-12 are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.