On Task and on Topic

The girl was sort of watching a video. Her computer sat on a nearby desk. She leaned over, watched something, paused the video, and then sketched something on her paper.

Upon closer examination, I saw the video was instructions for how to draw a gun. And that's what she was drawing on her paper. I moved on.

The boy was watching an episode of Ellen. I caught a glimpse of the show topic. I moved on.

A second boy was watching a basketball game.

Me: "What should you be doing right now...?"

Seventh grade English. Their end of year projects were to create a slide presentation (as a group) and a "creative component" (as individuals) on a topic about protest and activism.

The first girl's topic was Black Lives Matter. The first boy was watching an interview with the Parkland survivors. Other topics included #MeToo, women's rights, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and human trafficking.

Clearly the second boy had been goofing off.

Having computers in class for research is powerful. But it's so easy for them to get off task. I was rather impressed that these kiddos were for the most part actually working. And they were finding some interesting stuff to include in their presentations. (Their presentations in front of the class will be their final.)

I'm sure the fact that this was a co-taught class and the other teacher was there might have helped the situation.