By Suzy Bowden

Behavior management can be different for each and every classroom and is something that we have to practice and figure out as we go. It involves trial and error, and we all have to discover what works for us and our students.

However, it’s easy to get stuck when your current strategies no longer seem effective.

Luckily, technology can be a valuable tool for you to turn to when you need assistance in managing your classroom. We often hear about the negative effects of technology on kids—constant texting and the lack of daily social interaction—and it’s easy to forget about the incredible benefits and opportunities technology has to offer in the classroom.

There are many different apps, games, tools, and gadgets that engage students and help you effectively manage student behavior in the classroom.

For teachers that would like a little extra guidance on behavior management in the classroom, here are the tools, strategies, and products I’ve found most helpful for engaging students, therefore helping to maintain control of the classroom.

More: 13 Necessary Classroom Management Apps

Socrative

While this program may not seem like a behavior management tool at first glance, you’ll quickly see how engaging it is for students. Socrative is a formative assessment tool that allows you to design questionnaires, polls, exit tickets and much more.

Students can log in along with the teacher and participate. The class can instantly discuss student responses and become engaged in learning through technology. When students are excited, and focused on learning, their behavior may become more manageable.

PowerPoints

Traditional PowerPoint presentations are not quite as flashy as the SMARTboard, but still have much to offer in keeping students engaged. Your classroom presentations can be filled with different types of media such as images, animations, sounds and more.

This is an effective tool for reaching different types of learners (multiple intelligences). Students can also design their own multimedia presentations using audio and visual elements. This is a great option for classrooms that do not provide SMARTboards.

More: 8 New Presentation Tools for Teachers

Interactive Whiteboard 

The interactive whiteboard has touch recognition with erasing and writing capabilities. You can design interactive presentations where students can come up to the board and answer questions or manipulate different objects and features.

New interactive whiteboard models now provide real-time, multi-way collaboration as well. Syncing to individual mobile devices, iPad, or classroom laptops, students don’t even have to leave their seats to participate. Use these six new ways to engage students with interactive white boards if you’re not sure where to get started.

Too Noisy!

The Too Noisy app has a noise meter that tracks the sound level in your classroom. The smiley face changes along with the noise meter if it becomes too loud. The paid app version is $3.99 and comes with upgrades, including different graphics for the holidays and fun new characters.

ClassDojo

ClassDojo helps you can encourage positive behaviors with gamification and reward elements. You can also communicate more effectively with parents with built-in instant messaging and daily reports.

Timelines of students’ progress can be designed and monitored throughout the year and if used effectively, can also save teachers time. Students love designing their monster that they use to communicate with others within the tool.

The Great Behavior Game

The Great Behavior Game contains game pieces for each student with their name surrounded by stars and points are awarded to students when you click on their stars. You can assign behavior points (as well as take away points) while your teaching your lessons.

You can monitor student progress over time and see summaries of their scores each week. You can also print scores for weekly progress reports to parents.

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