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I sat in on David Hebert’s 8th grade social studies class at Northern Middle today for a feature piece I’m working on about paperless education. I’m looking at how education is shifting from pens, paper and books to computers.

I saw something that will probably make it into my article but I wanted to share it here with you guys to see what you think.

The kids were working on a project about American western expansion on their computers in groups of three. Hebert is one of those teachers that believe you can’t have learning without a little noise but when the kids got too loud and he felt they were off task he went over to his computer and clicked the mouse one time.

With that one click, an act that took milliseconds, he turned off the monitors to every desktop and laptop in the room. As soon as the screens went black there was a uniform, “awwww” followed by silent, swiveling heads looking at Hebert.

I’ve been in a lot of classrooms and I can say I’ve never seen a teacher snap students to attention like that without making a sound.