They lose points if they eat or drink at a computer station, surf the Web, do email, or talk socially during a class discussion or lecture. Within the daily, planned program of study, the same general structure is used for all class lessons. First, a topic such as looping is explained. Afterwards, while the idea is fresh, the class does a program using the lesson topic. The daily assignment will follow the same topic and objective.
Students do weekly vocabulary lists and homework questions linked to textbook subjects.
Then the students turn the monitors on to do the demo program on their system following along as the teacher demonstrates. As I give points for a demo program that they can run successfully, they all participate. Students who do not follow class etiquette or use the computer improperly are restricted from computer use for the day. As we have more students than computers in most classes, this works well because someone else is ready to grab the system. Advanced students help to manage the classes, give lectures, and visually check off program runs.