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Cellphones

How do you deal with cellphones in your class? I seriously need some ideas.

Last year, I did the prescripted "if I see or it goes off, it's mine routine," but it left me doing A LOT of monitoring. Kids can send text messages through their pockets, you know. Also the "vibrate" setting is noisy and disruptive. It drives me to distraction. This year I started with the cute little baskets. I already have students not putting them in the basket (hiding them) and I just want it to stop being a policing issue. Parents are no help at all. Half the phone calls and texts during class are from the parent.

I don't know if parents just don't care that their child attempts to send a text message every 30 seconds during EVERY class or if they're just oblivious. Last year a teacher had a little contest. He gathered all the phones on his desk and then asked the student to bet on how many text messages any one student would recieve. The highest number? 101. In a 50 minute period. Taking a little time out of class?

Another class... 18 students flunking with cell phones available to them. After getting rid of all of them, only 3 were flunking. Can you imagine having to friends and family members that your child didn't graduate because they were texting over 100 times a day? Of course not. But check the bill, my friends... check the bill.

Please send any ideas my way.
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cupcake said…
Cell phones are as big an aggravation as anything I have. Today, I confiscated three of them.

My general rule is: the first time, I take it and return it at the end of class. The second time, I return it at the end of school. The third time, I will read your text messages out loud to the class, and I will return it to you the following day.

I've also been known to text message the people text messaging my students to tell the loathsome creatures that they must stop texting my students in my class.

One teacher I know has the kid call his/her parents from his/her phone and say that he/she was caught using it in class and must stay after for detention. And another one returns the phone but removes and keeps the battery.

I might try the battery thing next.
6:05 PM
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