Managing Laptops in the Classroom

Seems like classroom laptop management needs a major upgrade. I've been working in schools for about 10 years now that having roving laptop carts available on a sign-up basis. In the last 10 years, basically nothing has changed: teachers sign up and hope that on the allotted day and time the laptops are there, they're working, and they've been charged.

Management issues here at ISB include making sure no students are injured when the doors inevitably fly open when the cart is being wheeled down the hall; not to mention avoiding the shower of sparks that come out of the plug when the whole thing is connected to a wall outlet.

Once the laptops are in the classroom and working, the real fun begins. I've had the most success with laptops when something new is happening, rather than the same thing in a different way. They can be a distraction, of course. However, I believe I'm seeing a changing attitude towards the laptop by students. More and more they are playing their games and other distractions on hand-held devices. Perhaps the computer is increasingly viewed as a learning instrument. Maybe not. As far as students not listening to direct instruction while the laptops are out, I follow the same "rules" as usual. If some students don't hear or pay attention to instructions because they're distracted, they will have to suffer the consequences, what ever that might be; like most things in middle school, it's simply a skill they'll have to build: realizing when it's time to take the eyes off the screen and put them on the teacher.