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To be honest, I didn't read all the responses, but IMHO, unless you are a teacher and have lived through this technological change, I really don't think you can respond appropriately, for what you THINK should happen, like phones teaching kids responsibility or leaving them on a corner of their desk and remain untouched, really does not work. Shadow any teacher and you will see what I mean. They are a distraction and a cheating device, plain and simple. YES, having the ability to get on the net to check something out or to write down on the calendar what is due or to take a pic of an assignment is all beneficial, but those who will just do that are far too few to allow them in class. BUT what the OP described is INSANE and takes away from the time needed for instruction.
I'm not a teacher. I have quite a few friends who are high school teachers though.
Most of them do not confiscate cells, tablets, smartphones unless given due cause to do so. It isn't as difficult as you are making it out to be.
I think you'd be a better teacher by pushing personal responsibility rather than nannying the entire class.
That's exactly what teachers are teaching them when they take away their phones: what they should be focusing on rather than what they want to focus on; the punishment should be what convinces them and teaches them personal responsibility: if you break the rule, there are consequences, so don't break the rule.
If you don't take away the phones, those students will just end up failing, for which the teacher whodidn't take away the phone will be blamed. As teachers, it is our jobs to make sure that we discipline to ensure that students are learning the material; if we don't discipline, and they don't learn the material, the teachers are blamed, not the students.
Moreover, I agree that, if you're a good teacher, you are making sure that they learn the material, you are not allowing them to hang themselves, especially b/c they're still kids, they don't have that much self-control yet, nor should they be expected to; they are still impressionable and susceptible, it's the teacher's job as an adult to provide them with a positive role model as well as the enforcement of the self-control that they have not yet cultivated. It's the same reason why we have curfews and age laws for marriage, smoking, drinking and voting.
I think you'd be a better teacher by pushing personal responsibility rather than nannying the entire class.
Here's some personal responsibility:
"I went into class with my phone, knowing it wasn't allowed in class. It got confiscated because I chose not to follow the rule. I no longer have the phone."
"I went into class with my phone, knowing it wasn't allowed in class. It got confiscated because I chose not to follow the rule. I no longer have the phone."
Nah. Sounds more like nannying than teaching any sort of REAL responsibility.
I'm not a teacher. I have quite a few friends who are high school teachers though.
Most of them do not confiscate cells, tablets, smartphones unless given due cause to do so. It isn't as difficult as you are making it out to be.
Well, I think it depends on where/what you teach and what the rules are in place for cell phone usage, and if the administration backs up the policy or not. So I am sticking to my guns on this one due to my own personal experience as well as my son's as he almost lost his job over a student using a cell phone in middle school as he took a photo of his penis and sent it to girl, and he didn't see it happening as they were in the back of his packed room, and he was teaching in the front of the classroom using the the board.
However, I am not for confiscating them as I had said in my post.
Last edited by Sagitarrius48; 10-04-2011 at 07:34 PM..
Seriously, rules are designed with the purpose of maintaining order and teaching student accountability.
It's life 101. There are rules, you follow them. You choose not to, you suffer consequences. "Nanny state." Pffft. The real babying comes in when kids are given the message that a. every forum is an appropriate venue for entertaining one's self with electronic gadgets (as opposed to legitimate academic usage), or b. rules, in general, don't apply to them.
At the beginning of the class and put sticky notes on them with the students' name on it so they will know who they belong to in order to know that the students are not texting or listening to ipod in class behind the teachers' back and will probably pay more attention in class w/o their cell phones,ipods,etc. And then the teachers would give them back to the students at the end of class. Should teachers be allowed to do this?
In my room I will take any cell phones that are out without my permission. I allow Ipods if the students are working on something individually, and I have had no problems so far. Otherwise they are not to be out. I've told students that if they need to contact a parent for any reason, they can go to the office with my permission, knowing full well that the office doesn't allow it in an emergency. So nobody has tried that with me. My policies work pretty well since my kids are well behaved anyway--it's a nice community.
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