The Classroom Cell Phone By: Charley Bittle

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Samuel Casey
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1 The Classroom Cell Phone By: Charley Bittle Most teachers cringe when they hear a student s cell phone goes off during class. That s a normal response when policies and rules have been put in place that limit or restrict cell phone usage in schools. Most, if not all schools, have some kind of policy stated in their handbook regarding the use and possession of cell phones, mp3 players, and portable gaming devices. In fact, my school district has a policy that prohibits cell phone use during academic time. That means kids immediately pull out their cell phones as they exit the classroom and madly text their friends (all of them) as they blindly walk down the hallway toward the actual friends they are texting. It does not matter if they can see their friends of course, they will continue texting one another even at the expense of becoming tardy to their next class. Sound familiar? Our school has adopted a policy (recently mind you) of a zero tolerance for cell phones in the classroom. The teacher confiscates the phone on the first ring or vibrate then returns the phone to the student at the end of the class period. The second infraction causes the phone to be sent to the office and the parent is called to pick up the phone AND student. The third infraction is handled by administration completely and has something to do with a complete ban of the cell phone for that student, parental involvement and student suspension. Whatever happens it is usually a negative experience for the student and an inconvenience for the parent. Now here s the strange thing about our policy: as a staff of educators, we should be teaching students how to make appropriate choices and differentiate between good on-task behavior and poor ontask behavior. This applies to cell phones, music and gaming behavior in the classroom, at home and at the work place. You may be asking: Why give me the background? I find it important that if I am going to convince you to allow limited use of cell phones in the classroom, you need to know that my school is no different than all others in terms of cell phone use. In fact, I used to despise cell phones in the hands of my students. If I had been allowed to grab the phone and snap it in half I would have done it, many many, many, many, times. Breaking another person s phone would be bad on my part no matter how good it would feel. So I started researching other methods of keeping kids off phones such as blocking the signal somehow. Well it is possible to block the signals using special paints, coating on glass surfaces such as windows and even an electronic frequency-jamming device. Unfortunately jamming a cell signal is illegal and NOT recommended, while paint and window coverings are expensive and borderline legal. I mean very shaky ground legally. The FCC regulations 47 U.S.C. 333 states, No person shall willfully or maliciously interfere with or cause interference to any radio communications of any station licensed or authorized by or under this chapter or operated by the United States Government ( So I had to come up with a way to regulate the use of cell phones in my classroom that I could live with. I must stress that I had to be comfortable with the regulation, not the students. Here s what I came up with: First: Begin establishing the classroom climate by creating a Fair Use Cell Phone Policy in your classroom. Clearly state the dos and don ts of using a phone during class. This policy can be a collaboration between student, teacher and parent, although final 1

2 approval is ALWAYS left up to the teacher. You may easily go beyond your classroom and involve the entire community in creating a policy on cell phone use. According to Crystal Kuykendall, by allowing the community to help develop a [policy], administrators can facilitate development of a community of caring (p. 158). This active involvement of all persons affected by cell phone use both public and private can begin setting self-regulatory behaviors in the future workforce. Our students are entering the community and using those cell phones in the workplace, doctor s offices, theatres, funerals, weddings, etc. If schools take a proactive and positive role in appropriate cell phone use, perhaps the students will too. After all, shouldn t we lead by example? The following is an example of a Fair Cell Phone Use policy that can be adapted according to personal standards. Phone use Acceptable Not acceptable Note taking during lecture Use of photos of hand written board notes, text written notes, text spoken notes Texting google, chacha, etc. Finding definitions, explanations, extension research Calculator & stopwatch Music Use during experiments for accuracy Only with ear buds or ear phones and with teacher permission only during work time Video taping of teacher, or use during an exam. Facebook, myspace or any other social networking site Distraction to others or oneself During lecture or experiments Second: Test the waters by giving the appearance of dropping your guard. Allow students to self-regulate the use of their cell phones during lectures, note taking, and work time. I have found that work time is an excellent chance to re-enforce the fair use policy established in the classroom. Students are not allowed to text message a student in another class, but are allowed to take notes on their phones and or text it to themselves or their classmates. By this time, most of my students have their cell phones in plain view and are empowered by the simple fact they can have their phones without the risk of it being confiscated. As I walk around the room answering questions, I monitor which students are feverishly tapping on their phones. It become very obvious which students are text messaging their friends instead of texting definitions/notes/etc. In one simple act, I transformed cell phone use from a covert activity to an overt activity. This may sound simple, but its impact is dramatic. An actual example of a student interaction prior to a Fair Use policy goes as follows: Student A: Hides his phone under his table and texts friends in and out of the school. This student had been warned a couple times during class not to text or use the cell phone. Teacher: I approach and state that I need to confiscate his phone due to our school s No-Tolerance policy on cell phone use in the classroom. Student A: No. This is my phone and you ain t doing sh*t about it. You can t take my property it is against the law. F**k you. 2

3 Teacher: You have a choice, you can hand over the phone or go to the office right now with a referral. Student A: F**k this sh*t. While kicking his chair violently into the table behind him he stands up and leaves the classroom yelling more profanity. The student did receive a referral and the phone was not confiscated in the office nor was the student suspended. The student returned the next day to class as if nothing ever happened. The circumstances surrounding the return of the student was due to IEP accommodations. I personally was not offended nor surprised by the behavior of the student, as it was expected and I actually counted on the behavior being exhibited. However, one week later I explained to the class that I received permission from administration that I could implement some new rules in my classroom: the Fair Use Policy and the reasoning behind why students should be allowed to use their technology in the classroom. With this new sense of freedom, I held a contest on who can text the fastest. I provided the vocabulary they needed to know for the upcoming chapter and challenged them to text the vocabulary. Five students took me up on this challenge and of course only one student won the Fastest Texter title in the class. I gave the students a couple weeks of cell phone use before I began hitting the unacceptable rules really hard. I waited for the moment that Student A began texting someone when he should have been reading in the textbook. Here s the interaction that followed: Student A: The students was obviously texting someone while his phone was in plain view. Teacher: Student A, you re not texting right now instead of working are you? Student A: Yes I am. I m sorry. I m stopping now and getting back to work. Teacher: Okay, just remember the policy about using the phone in the room. I don t want to lose the privilege of the phones in the classroom. Student A: Yeah that would suck. I m glad at least one teacher lets us use our phones for class stuff. After the initial conversation above, Student A began to self-regulate the behavior and use of the cell phone in my classroom. I know for a fact that Student A was still using the phone to text friends while in other classrooms and getting into confrontations with teachers. After the implementation of the Fair Use Policy, Student A used the phone to take notes in class, which was the first time that the student had ever taken notes in my classroom either written or otherwise. Third: Have students provide a printed copy of the notes taken on a cell phone. I make it a habit to continually tell students that they need to provide a printed copy of the notes in their portfolios. Most students will accept the use of phones for texting notes, but then they do nothing with them much the same way the do nothing with the written notes they take in class. I have set up a portfolio (notebook) requirement in my classes that has a section of notes in it. Since the portfolio is graded, students need a means of getting the information out of their phones to place in their portfolios. Most students can save notes or messages to a small microsd card standard in all new phones. The card can be placed in a reader and transferred to a computer application 3

4 such as MSword, texteditor, etc. Many school computers can handle this transfer as long as the student has the ability to link the phone with the computer via a wire or a reader that will attach to a computer. In fact, some phones have Bluetooth wireless and can connect to newer laptops and desktops for wireless transfer of most files. I view the printing of notes as another form of verification and study material. Students usually need to combine several text messages (notes) into one file for printing. This forces students to read the notes and put them together so they make sense. Furthermore, students can then share their printouts with students who missed a day of class due to illness or other excused absence. Fourth: Get excited about having students use cell phones in the classroom. Show them how to use them too. Don t just assume that all students know the full extent of their phones. Many students do not know they can store large amounts of notes in a phone, nor that they can take pictures through the eyepiece of a microscope. Provide time and opportunity to get yourself and the students comfortable with having cell phones out in the open in the classroom. Set a positive example by getting your own cell phone out and take pictures of student projects. You don t even have to use those images, but lead by example and demonstrate proper use of a cell phone. I have used the first two weeks of class to examine the variety of cell phones in class and give pointers on their use. Students are amazed when a teacher knows the ins and outs of a cell phone. If I encounter a phone I am unfamiliar with, I ask the student to show me the neat features of the phone. I ask about photo quality, video quality, keyboard annoyances, cell signal strength etc. By showing an active interest in their technology, students are not afraid to use it for the intended purpose. After taking into account all the information and suggestions provided here, it is ultimately up to you, the instructor, whether you are comfortable with cell phones in the hands of your students. Not all school policies will allow a Fair Use Policy within a classroom, which would require you to get special permission from your administrator before allowing cell phones in the classroom. Hopefully, all parties involved in student instruction will agree on a Fair Use Policy. Lastly, keep in mind that we still need to provide adolescents with the tools to regulate their behaviors inside and outside the classroom. After all, they are our future leaders. 4

5 Works Cited Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved January 5 th, 2009 from Heacox, Diane (2002). Differentiating Instruction in the Regular Classroom: How to Reach and Teach All Learners, Grades Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing Inc. 5

Chopticon High School Cell Phone Policy Presentation To All Students. January 26, 2017

Chopticon High School Cell Phone Policy Presentation To All Students January 26, 2017 CELL, MOBILE, IPHONE, SMART WHATEVER YOU CALL IT, WE ARE ALL OBSESSED WITH OUR CELL PHONES. NEW CELL PHONE POLICY