Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Cell Phones
Our school, like all of yours I'm sure, has wrestled with the whole cell phone dilema. When they first came onto the scene as a problem we said they could not be in the school, period. When a phone would ring in class the phone was taken away and sent to the principle's office to retrieve from him. Then we tried another approach- students were given the option of giving it to the teacher and get it back in 3 days or if they would not hand it over they were suspended for 1 day. Well, some students really don't consider being suspended as punishment so that didn't work, plus the whole refusal thing was actually insubordination. Now the policy is that they are allowed in the school and students may use them before and after school hours but they must be out of sight during school hours. When the text problem developed that has thrown a monkey wrench into the deal but we are all adjusting, perhaps a little of frustration and we've got teaching to do rather than always fighting the issues of the cell phones.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
.jpg)
Students may bring cell phones to school but not to class. Its up to the teacher as to weather they take them from students or not. I will admite that I have only taken students phones away until the end of the day or hour and other times I have told them to put it away and I do not want to see it any more in class. It one of those battles that you have to pick and chose as to how ou want to fight it.
ReplyDeleteCell phones, iPods, and texting are problems in the classroom. That is why I am trying to do more reading about how to incorporate the iPods into the actual instruction. I do take the phones if they ring and keep them on my desk until the end of the hour. If I am talking or we are doing something the whole class should listen to, the iPods have to go. I am beginning to think, though, the kids have long wires growing out of their ears! I watched a couple of kids walking down the hall sharing the earset so they were connected by this wire. It really looked funny and made me laugh! I don't know what the answer is.
ReplyDeleteThe gadgets that our kids have now days is amazing! I always like shocking my fifth graders, the majority of which have cell phones, by telling them that I didn't get my first cell phone until my freshman year of college. They think this is hilarious because to them it is a way of life. I think that your school's test and revise policy regarding cell phones is good. With new technology coming out all the time and becoming more widespread, affordable, and available I think that schools are going to need to be willing to try a few things and then make adaptations! Flexability is key!
ReplyDeleteThe past two years when I taught at Grand Ledge High School I dealt with texting and iPod issues a lot. Our school's policy for cell phones was if you see a student's phone you confiscate it and take it to the office. The office would keep track of how many times this would happen to each particular student, and they would give out progressively worse consequences each time. Although this policy seemed like a good one, students are definitely good at being sneaky so it is sometimes hard to catch them. There were times when I would see a student texting, go up to them to take their phone away, but then they would say that it wasn't fair because other people text in the class and don't get their phones taken away. Sometimes I would take their phones away, other times I would just ask them to put it away.
ReplyDeleteI just switched to middle school this year and one thing I love about it is that inappropriate cell phone usage throughout the school day seems to be much less of an issue. I know it could probably be mostly because not as many kids this age have their own cell phones, but it may also have to do with a good policy being in place, that teachers actually consistently follow. At this school our policy is to take cell phones to the office right away, no questions asked. I forgot what happens from there, but I know the office people are the ones who handle it.
I definitely feel so relieved that I don't have to worry about cell phones as much this year!