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Out of curiosity, Why not just ban those devices from school in general? Students drop them off in the morning and pick them up when they leave for the day?
In NYC they are banned. However, my principal graciously allows kids to have gadgets as long as they are not seen/used. Naturally the 8th graders abuse this and whip out their phones/ipods whenever they want. However, I have few issues with my 6th graders. I would never randomly collect these things, but when I see them being used in class I confiscate them and the parents have to come in. Sometimes I have these things for months before the parents show up. I know there are many kids in my classes who have these things and are smart enough to be quiet about it. I work in a not-so-great area and I am sure that parents feel safer with their kids having phones (of course, $300 dollar phones that set up kids to be mugged is another story, but many of them seem to have very basic ones.)
And frankly, for a kid to be texting/on the phone/listening to music when I am teaching is just rude. I never talk on my phone while teaching unless I need to reach my principal for an emergency type situation, and order the occasional pizza for a class party.
I think the best way to explain this situation is to equate today's cell phones with yesterday's toys. When students used to bring/have toys in class, the teacher took them away b/c they were a distraction to learning, just as cell phones are now.
Out of curiosity, Why not just ban those devices from school in general? Students drop them off in the morning and pick them up when they leave for the day?
Do you understand the logistics and paying some staff member to put each of these phones in a slot in the morning and pick them up in the evening. Do you want to pay for that time in your taxes.
Better they keep them in their lockers and lose them if caught.
Do you understand the logistics and paying some staff member to put each of these phones in a slot in the morning and pick them up in the evening. Do you want to pay for that time in your taxes.
Better they keep them in their lockers and lose them if caught.
You don't have to pay anyone.
Have a 'you have to leave it in your locker all the time' policy, and if you break the policy and are caught with it, the phone is confiscated for the rest of the semester.
Have a 'you have to leave it in your locker all the time' policy, and if you break the policy and are caught with it, the phone is confiscated for the rest of the semester.
Easy!
You bring up a good point about the lack of consequences as part of the problem.
When I was teaching, phones were confiscated until the end of the school day, which wasn't much of a punishment. It also meant that my last class texted all throughout class b/c they knew it was pointless for me to take the phone away. Moreover, they would hide them so that you couldn't really catch them.
The real problem here, though, is the parents. Students get cell phones from their parents, who are adament that their children always have the phone on them. I know these parents would pitch a hissy fit if phones were taken away for an entire semester. Even if the school punishes them for having the cell on them, the parents don't, so it just happens again and again. Ironically, these are the same parents who also fault teachers when cell phones are not confiscated and their children are receiving poor marks as a result.
I used to work with someone who regularly texted her high school daughters during the school day. She intentionally texted instead of calling because she knew they were in class! I don't know what people are thinking (or not thinking). I agree that the consequences need to be higher, and parents need to be fully informed about the policy and the reasoning behind it. They might not agree or understand, but -- and this is, unfortunately, probably just wishful thinking -- maybe their kids will actually have a shot at growing up to have a better appreciation of cell phone etiquette. Better to learn it in school then when they get out into the "real" world and try getting away with that during the wrong place and the wrong time. Most bosses, even the ones who might be inappropriately texting and calling their teenagers during the school day, wouldn't put up with that during meetings at their own work.
What happens if you have an emergency event, like a shooting, and all the phones are locked up, and say something happens to the teacher?
Why just just have a rule in class, no using cell phones, no texting, no nothing. They remain in the student's bag. Rather than confiscating the phone for the class.
What happens if you have an emergency event, like a shooting, and all the phones are locked up, and say something happens to the teacher?
Why just just have a rule in class, no using cell phones, no texting, no nothing. They remain in the student's bag. Rather than confiscating the phone for the class.
If there is an emergency, like a shooting, then I am sure that the faculty is more than capable of whipping out their cells to alert authorities, if necessary. There is no reason why that should be the responsibility of a student and it is weak justification for all students to be able to have their cellphones in class, given how frequently cells are not used for emergencies but are used as a distraction.
Great idea. You don't need them for anything while you are in class. Generations of people actually made it through school before they were even invented.
What happens if you have an emergency event, like a shooting, and all the phones are locked up, and say something happens to the teacher?
Why just just have a rule in class, no using cell phones, no texting, no nothing. They remain in the student's bag. Rather than confiscating the phone for the class.
I actually agree with you at least at the high school level. Children need to learn how to responsibly use technology and part of that is learning the consequences of using those technologies inappropriately.
Smart phones, laptops, iPods all have great educational potential but can also be abused. I think it is a combination of laziness on the part of administrators and not enough time for teachers that leads to these broad "no item _________" type of rules. In the long run I think they do more damage than good. For example in my schools there is a no iPod policy but since its downright unreasonable that they cannot use them during their lunch periods most of the teachers (myself included) look the other way if they are not being used in class. The upshot is we are teaching kids that it is ok to break rules.
It would be better to allow technology but with real consequences for its misuse.
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