Phones in the High School Classroom

Each year, I try to come up with something new to improve in my classroom. My first year teaching, I had like a zillion things I wanted to try, which is totally natural, but totally unrealistic! First year is all about figuring out your teaching style and, honestly, surviving. My second year, I took on a coaching position that took all of my extra time, so I had another year of survival. My third year, I quit my coaching job and decided I needed a fresh start. I wanted to totally revamp my room. You can see my room décor and setup here. (A few things have changed, but not too many). I am definitely not trying to be Debbie Downer for one of my first truly teacherly blogposts, but I want to be upfront and real with you all. You cannot fight every battle in your classroom, and you have to leave new things for some future years, or what will you have to look forward to?

So this year, I picked something new. My room is exactly how I want it (well, pretty much), I am finally learning to efficiently lesson plan (which I will definitely post about later...seriously one of the hardest things for me), now what? So I looked back at my past few years and chose something that truly befuddles me (yes, befuddles): how am I going to deal with cell phones in class?

No matter how many times I Google this, the same ideas come up. One that seems great, but in reality makes me nervous because of the liability, is having the students put their phones in a hanging shoe holder at the front of the room. I don’t want my kids to feel like they’re in jail. I want them to flourish in their environment and learn how to function no matter the distractions around them.

In the past, it has been battle after daily battle trying to get my kids to keep them put away completely, which has always been my rule. By the first day of school a couple weeks ago, I literally still had no clue what I was going to do about phones this year. Our school is on a one-to-one iPad program, which can be either disastrous or amazing, but because of the iPads, kids felt like they could have their phones out at all times. I was tired of taking phones to the office, and tired of telling them to put them away and pay attention.

The first day of school rolls around, and within the first five minutes of sixth hour, I see a phone in the hands of one of my repeat offenders from last year. We were in a transition, so (oh my gosh, you’re going to think I am NUTS), I said, “Okay, you guys, we are switching gears, so if your hands are just itching to check your phone, you have 30 seconds to do so.” And you know what? I didn’t see a phone the rest of the hour after that.

So I tried it again the next day. I am trying this thing where either I read to them in Spanish or they read silently in Spanish for 10 minutes. If I am the one reading, I allow them to lay their heads down, and I tell them no phones for 10 minutes. These kids never get a break. High school, in my opinion, needs recess just as badly as elementary school. After we read, they know they’ll have 30 seconds to check their messages or whatever it is they do. I would estimate that I have seen about 75% less of cell phones in my class than I have in the past.

Two reasons why I think this works, or why I think it’s necessary:

• You see, teens love to do things they’re told not to do. So when you tell them no phones, they are automatically thinking about the next time they can sneak a peak. With my Spanish 3 class, which is mostly juniors and seniors, I was even more straight-forward with them about phones. Instead of the 30-second rule, I told them, “You guys are going to be leaving here for college soon. And you know what? No one is going to tell you to put your phone away and pay attention. Many professors (not all) will not care whether you pass or fail. Because you’re an adult. And you have to choose when is the best time to check your technology, and when is the best time to put it away and pay attention.” I want to treat my juniors and seniors like adults, so I ask that they act like adults and use their phones respectfully and appropriately. I set one rule: If it’s distracting and you are foundering in my class, I will take it. If you are mature, working hard, and maybe checking it every so often, then I don’t have an issue with it. It’s only been a week, but I have not had to take one phone.

• Whether teachers like to admit it or not, we are moving into an era that functions because of technology. Most of my kids can outsmart me when it comes to working on the iPads, AppleTV, or phones. Last year, I had some kids help me with an app on my phone where I couldn’t get it to delete the weather for different cities I had visited. They love to help you with your technology. Bottom line: they have to learn to function with their phones in their pocket, or they will fail later on in life. I want them to learn from me when it is respectful to have it out, and when it is not.

So, bottom line from all my babbling, here's what I do:

1. I tell them I will treat them like adults.

2. I tell them the phone should not be out while I am teaching/talking or another student is sharing (and I remind them that this is a general rule of society...that it's rude to text while someone is talking to you). I remind them that they wouldn't like it if they were sharing something they felt was important and I was sitting there texting with the occasional, "Mmhmm." (OMG, this would be such an awesome experiment to try with them and see how they react to me being on my phone while they're talking to me....just as a reminder to stay off while someone's talking to you....making a mental note and possibly trying and blogging about it later. Principal approval will be solicited so I don't get an angry parent call).

3. I tell them that if they can work and check messages efficiently, I'm fine with that. If they zone out and are scrolling Twitter instead of working on their assignment, the phone is mine and it goes to phone jail in the office.

I have taken one phone in 3 full weeks of school. And once he realized it was a privilege to have it out in class, I haven't seen it at the inappropriate times since. Pretty good, honestly.

I hope all of this makes sense. I honestly was sort of afraid to post it because I have brought my ideas on phones up before and been blasted because of it, but obviously the methods we are trying aren’t working. For me, this has been a wonderful weight lifted off my shoulders. The responsibility is now placed on my students. To clarify, I do not teach freshmen, which I think may be a little bit different, but this works amazingly for my upperclassmen. What do you think? How do you deal with phones (or technology in general) in your classroom?

#technology #classroommanagement