NEW GROUP! Includes discussions from the Administrators and Professional Development groups. What will it take to move our schools into the 21st century? Please share your thoughts and leadership strategies here.
Cell phones in school
I'm planning on talking to my building leadership team about changing our policy on student cell phones. Currently students are to have their cell phones off and placed in their lockers when they enter the building. Guess what? Probably 99.9% of the student body has his or her own cell phone. This is what brought me to this possible policy change. There has to be something more productive and exciting to do with this technology. Has anyone taken this step to embrace the cell phones in their school by incorporating them into certain content areas / lessons- and if so would you mind sharing some ideas that you've found to be successful or unsuccessful.
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I have a similar problem
I actually got permission at the beginning of the year to use cell phones in class, but then had it taken away. I think it is better for the students to be open about using their phone in class and using to use them responsibly. One way to handle it is that students have to take out their phones when they come in to class and put them on their desks with their screens down. When it is appropriate or their is a time to use their phones the teacher says, "Screens Up." If students are on their phones at the wrong time it is easy to see and you can address it. If staff members are afraid of students going off task, they have to ask, "What am I doing to not keep them engaged and made them think that their action was okay?"
Responses from our Facebook Community
Hi Joe,
Great question! We decided to open this question to our Facebook community as well and we received over 40 responses. See them here. Hope they're helpful :)