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Hmm tough one. I subbed at one school for three years. I was the mean substitute. The school rule was no electronics and I enforced it. But I could tell when I was in a classroom where the teacher did not enforce the rule as the kids would take them out and start using them. Mist kids I was able to win over with the substitute logic, I know he/she usually lets you but I am just a measly sub and don't have the privilege of breaking the rules.
I too found it distracting as a teacher. But in retrospect, if I'd let the one girl I (and all teachers) had major problems with text all period I would have had less behavior issues. It wasn't like she was passing the class. She was coasting until she was old enough to quit school. So I get the pick your battle argument.
I teach World and American Literature (11th and 12th grade), and I only allow the use of electronic devices with my express permission at certain times.
I look at it this way. When I coach, I don't allow my athletes to even have a cell phone on the field, so I know for a fact that the kids can go 45 - 90 minutes without using their electronics. In my estimation their time in the classroom far exceeds their time on the field in terms of importance, so there is absolutely no reason to use them during class unless you have planned them in as an academic tool.
Many of my colleagues plan for the use of cell phones for quick surveys, and even as clickers, during their lessons. They say that it is easier to monitor the use of the devices since they should be sitting idle on the students' desks unless they are being used for academics. I haven't done this, but it does sound interesting.
I taught for 6 years in Arizona at a K-8 elementary school. My certification is secondary so I taught 7th and 8th grade Social Studies. We recently moved to Missouri and I have yet to get my Missouri certificate. This year I'm teaching an ACT Prep course at a high school here in Missouri. The high school has poor test scores (a 1 rating on great schools, and average ACT score of 15). The student population is 98% African-American, but it is not in the inner city, it's actually in a northern suburb of St. Louis. I mainly bring this up to exhibit the difference in demographics from the school that I taught at in Arizona that was 75% white, and pretty middle class.
At this high school the students use their cell phones and MP3 players during class. The student handbook states it is prohibited, but the teachers don't really enforce it. I asked one teacher why and she said that she picks her battles and that one wasn't worth fighting. Now they aren't talking on their phone while the teacher is lecturing. And I have seen teacher ask them to turn them off when they could hear the music. Where I taught in Arizona it was strictly prohibited and it was most definitely enforced. It was zero tolerance. If your cell phone even vibrated in class it was taken away until the end of the day and you received and after-school detention. The rule was that all electronic devices had to be turned off until you walked off the school grounds.
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.
Ask for the parents' cell phone numbers. With your own cell phone, take a photo of the student texting/talking/playing music in class and shoot a message to the parent (and the student) with the photo that if you have to do it again, you're taking their phone and they will have to come to school during the daytime to pick it up if they want it back.
Ask for the parents' cell phone numbers. With your own cell phone, take a photo of the student texting/talking/playing music in class and shoot a message to the parent (and the student) with the photo that if you have to do it again, you're taking their phone and they will have to come to school during the daytime to pick it up if they want it back.
At my school, teachers are not allowed to have their phones out either. You can't call the parents on the spot, which in my mind, would be a real deterrent to bad behavior. When I did my student teaching, a quarter of a century ago, my supervising teacher would leave the room to call the parents from the phone across the hall right then and there. She had almost no problems. But then again, a quarter of a century ago, we had a different kind of student and parent.
With our district's new discipline plan, teachers may not refer students until they have four or more infractions. When you multiply that times the number of students in a class who are disruptive, that means that there can be well over twenty disruptions in a class period before the teacher can ask for administrative intervention.
Needless to say, disruptions have increased, parents are sick of hearing about it, and administrators are happy because they can report fewer out-of-class placements to the central office on their discipline reports. The students are happy because they know that they can get away with disrupting class up to a point. It is the teachers who are suffering, and those whose jobs depend on the state test results are hurting the most. Also suffering are the good students who are tired of having to sit in class with jerks who are stealing their educational services. Meanwhile, some consultants are cashing big checks for yet another sale to a district who buys their wonderful new plan to cut disruptive behavior.
It's probably not the same one then because this district only has one high school.
Ah, yeah, it's not. Though I suspect the district you are talking about has the same transportation issues; not sure if they take the same stance towards detentions.
My wife had a great idea for dealing with electronic devices though.
She brought in a couple of power strips.
She sets up the power strips next to her computer. Any student can plug in their device to charge them for the duration of class. Most students take her up on the offer, since there is so little chance to charge their devices during the day. The assistant principal saw this during a class visit, and did not like it until my wife explained that devices plugged in are devices completely out of the reach of the students throughout class.
Ask for the parents' cell phone numbers. With your own cell phone, take a photo of the student texting/talking/playing music in class and shoot a message to the parent (and the student) with the photo that if you have to do it again, you're taking their phone and they will have to come to school during the daytime to pick it up if they want it back.
Make sure you know your state's laws extremely well before doing that!
More than a few states make it illegal for teachers to take pictures or video of their students without their express permissions... and you would not only be breaking the law but handing the evidence off to parents without having any clue if they will crack down on their kid... or crack down on you instead.
Ah, yeah, it's not. Though I suspect the district you are talking about has the same transportation issues; not sure if they take the same stance towards detentions.
My wife had a great idea for dealing with electronic devices though.
She brought in a couple of power strips.
She sets up the power strips next to her computer. Any student can plug in their device to charge them for the duration of class. Most students take her up on the offer, since there is so little chance to charge their devices during the day. The assistant principal saw this during a class visit, and did not like it until my wife explained that devices plugged in are devices completely out of the reach of the students throughout class.
Now THAT's Clever! Good 'carrot'!
At our school, the students are requested to have their phones out and on the desks on 'silent'. Since most students can text in their pockets, unobtrusively, it just makes sense to have them out and visible. Our school uses a lot of technological devices - virtual classrooms, distance learning, Mobis, etc - so the cell phones are an integral part of teaching the kids responsible use. Plus a lot of students work after school, either on their own ranches or others, or 'in town', and their employers and family will text schedule changes, even weather alerts and changes, to the kids, so having them is a necessity. They are allowed to use them during study hall, during passing time, and at the end of class if the teacher has finished the lesson. It is all about mutual respect, and most of the kids police each other as well as themselves. Teachers and students are part of a mutual learning 'team'.
It's so funny when we have an 'early dismissal' because of weather - the kids' cell phones are on the electronic message and text calling device we use to alert families, and you can hear the muted cheers when they get the message that they're being released or that there's no practice after school! It's also a safety measure; we can alert students and teachers immediately if we go into lockdown -which we did once last year, when the police were called because someone (not a student) but not-wrapped-too-tightly was displaying aggression on campus. The kids, trained to respond, did exactly what they needed to do; closed doors, blinds, went silent, and got away from the windows. Ultimately there was no danger, but it was good practice!
Oftentimes overweening 'controls' are put in place only to please a bureaucratic mindset or as a power play, or because some administrations do not grasp all of the various uses of immediate technology including safety, and rules are not put in place out of understanding or respect. JMHO.
you're a science teacher. Turn you room into a faraday cage
I could do that....
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Good 'carrot'!
