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Maybe I have misconstrued the environment in your classroom. You seemed to have described an environment where the students that did not care to listen were basically allowed to text. Now you are saying that if you see the phone you do take it. So that changes my perception dramatically.
I don't play a game I can't win. If I see the phone, I take the phone but by the time I can walk to where they are texting, they put it away and I don't see the phone. I have habitual offenders and I'm content with letting them fail because they didn't pay attention. I think that teaches them far more than my distrupting class and looking like a fool because all they're going to do is lie about using the phone anyway.
If it is convenient (if I can do so without disrupting class) I will walk to where they are and that motion results in them putting the phone away. If I see it, I take it. 95% of the time, I don't see it.
I think I'll get to work on that Faraday cage now...
here this an much much worse. k12 a giant social experiment gone south. w/o respect & discipline there is no learning. the parents back and support bad behavior. voucher sooner the better.
here this an much much worse. k12 a giant social experiment gone south. w/o respect & discipline there is no learning. the parents back and support bad behavior. voucher sooner the better.
How will vouchers help the problem of parents not backing teachers and defending everything their kids do?
It's the parents I fear. I have to be, absolutely, certain of what I'm doing and even then it's likely my administrators will side with the parents. It's just easier to replace a teacher than deal with an irate parent for years on end. Especially if they have multiple children in the district.
Several teachers would go through a students texts to see if they had texted anyone at school, and then that person could get in trouble as well. I never did just because I felt it was too invasive. Just as it is not invasion of privacy to search a students backpack, I do not think it's against the law to go through their text messages. In loco parentis gives school officials some parental rights while the child is at school.
New Jersery vs TLO gives the best guidance on this issue though (Tinker vs Des Moines too):
"Determining the reasonableness of [a student] search involves a twofold inquiry: first, one must consider "whether the . . . action was justified at its inception"; [and] second, one must determine whether the search as actually conducted "was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place," Under ordinary circumstances, a search of a student by a teacher or other school official will be "justified at its inception" when there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the search will turn up evidence that the student has violated or is violating either the law or the rules of the school. Such a search will be permissible in its scope when the measures adopted are reasonably related to the objectives of the search and not excessively intrusive in light of the age and sex of the student and the nature of the infraction."
I have 2 kids in HS now. My experience is that it depends on the teacher. My daughter could get away with texting during class now. It may also have something to do with the fact that she's a senior. She never used to do that earlier on. My son who is a sophomore will never attempt this.
My question is whether it's common in high school to be this lenient towards electronic devices in the classroom? I'd like to get perspective from teachers and parents.
No way! Generally if we see it (even if it's off), we would turn it into the office and it costs the kid $15 to get back. They also received a detention.
"Picking your battles" in this manner (overlooking serious distractions to learning) is done because A) teachers are too overwhelmed and/or lazy to enforce, B) teachers want the kids to like them a bit too much, or (most likely) C) teachers get so much disrespect and intimidation from the kids and zero back-up from administration in enforcing school rules that they just give up.
I taught high school for 17 years in a bunch of different settings.
I actually am a teacher. I'll try to say this politely as possible. Your attitude is certain to come across to your students. Not all kids that struggle don't care. Some of them are not as smart (low IQ), some of them don't have support at home, and some are unmotivated. Teachers that have your attitude NEVER reach the unmotivated ones. If you have 10 unmotivated students in your classroom, and you put forth honest effort (offer after school tutoring), then you will get through to a few of them. Students will often put forth more effort when the teacher connects with them on a personal level. If they trust you and know you care they will try harder for you. Most of them will still struggle and not be receptive to your efforts. But if you reach 2 out of 10 in each class then you've made a huge difference. With your attitude it's safe to say that you will reach zero out of 10.
Maybe not everyone should be put in a chemistry class, then. I've taught Chem also and many of these kids have no chance in hell of ever getting chemistry.
RTT uses student passing scores as part of a teacher's evaluation.
How will that affect teachers looking for a job ? Will the best of the best avoid those schools with high dropout/failing rates ?
Ummm, ya think??
Look at the flight of teachers from these schools beginning last year. These schools now have a new 21 year old teacher who lasts 1 year, and then is fired. (or quits in the middle of the year)
I keep a close watch on the staffing reports from my district and I noticed this last summer. It has always been the case to some extent, but now more than ever. Plus, with our new (FL) evaluation, the tests are not yet available for grades K-2, so those teachers have 50% of their evaluation based on the FCAT scores for the school as a whole. Nothing like having 1/2 of your evaluation based on something that you have zero control over, esp if you are at a high poverty, highly transient school (and we have a LOT of those here in my district). Why would anyone sign up for that? You have $20-30k+ student loans for your education degree and the state of FL wants to revoke your certification if your evaluation isn't up to snuff, but 50% of it is totally out of your conrol? No thanks!
Maybe not everyone should be put in a chemistry class, then. I've taught Chem also and many of these kids have no chance in hell of ever getting chemistry.
Interesting, because again in FL, every student now has to pass chemistry or physics to graduate! Nice, huh? (and of course, they also have to pass the Biology end of course exam).
My 99% white high school had a no cell phone policy. They could be kept turned off, in your locker or backpack but never on or they would be taken away for the day. We had excellent standardized testing scores
But then, I went to high school just before smartphones swept across the nation and became expected of every person over the age of 12.
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