Phone follies

Audrey playing a word game on my phone

About five years ago, I was teaching a group of fourth grade students and, while reaching into her book bag for a folder, Miranda's cell phone fell out.  OH NO! Our school had a policy much akin to old-school parenting: cell phones were not to be seen nor heard. The look of horror on poor Miranda's face-  and it was an honest mistake, so like any decent teacher, I mouthed "put it back" and gave her a wink.
She did.  Of course she did.  Miranda is a great kid and had learned to follow the rules at school.

I looked around the room and I wondered how many other fourth graders had a cell phone.  So I asked (premised with a promise that I was not going to confiscate the phones) who had a phone.  Twenty two hands went up.  Two stayed down.  In a Title I, rural, 85% free and reduced lunch school, 92% of our fourth graders had a cell phone.   I ventured further. "Who do you call?" "Why do you need that?" "Is it nicer than my phone?"   I discovered that they call their parents to check in and siblings to pick them up, they are allowed a certain amount of texts, and most have to fork the phone over to Mom or Dad by about 9:00 PM.

At first I thought of my own second grader and how there was no way she would need a phone until she was out driving.  And then did I really want her in the car with a phone?!? What if she tried to text while driving?!? Maybe she can wait until she is 25 before she needs a phone...  Then I stopped snowballing and thought of my reasons for her not having a phone, like she is too young, I never had one at that age, she does not need to be making calls, she should be under adult supervision at that age (and the adult would have a phone if need be).  I realized I was comparing my childhood experiences with hers.   The reason I didn't have a phone were because they did not exist.  It was a much slower-paced, disconnected time and place.  One pro of her having a phone are that she could contact Wayne or I if need be, which is no small pro.  She has grown up in a world of immediacy that is unlikely to go backward, for one.  It would be nice to have her text me when she is ready to be picked up, forgets her gym shoes, etc.   I understand that there are procedures in place for that like stand in line to use a phone, leave class to go to the office to make a call, set predetermined pick-up times.  But as a teacher, I much preferred to let a student fire off a quick text to Mom to bring shoes or tell Dad track was cancelled than to miss the class time going back and forth to the office.  

Of course, this is taboo to talk about for some folks.   The freedoms that come with a cell phone invoke images of students ignoring instruction, instigating fights, and setting up drug deals on the playground in the minds of digital immigrant educators.  I would argue, though that the reason students do not know how to use cell phones with proper etiquette is because we don't teach them.  All of a sudden they don't have to hide them in high school and they have no idea how to appropriately function with a cell phone at school.  Perhaps if we started early by teaching them that turning off phones during instruction is just like turning them off at church, a wedding, the dinner table, in a meeting at work, or a movie.  The same as I would never endorse a teacher answering a call in the middle of class, students learn quickly from proper modeling.  Why not start modeling proper use at the younger ages?  The kids clearly already have the devices and these devices are becoming much more easily controlled by parent restrictions.

You see, Miranda was a responsible, mature student who could have benefitted from BYOD policies had she been able to actually use it.  Phones are not just for calls and texts anymore. Students use their phones to organize themselves with calendars and file storage.  My students accessed our learning management system through the My Big Campus app to have 24/7 access to resources and schoolwork.  They also use their phones to take notes, set reminders, calculate, time, and record.  As I looked around my classroom at the five-pack of desktops, I thought about how beneficial it would be to let students use their own devices instead of relying solely on those the school-provided.  Both the have and have-nots would profit from lower tech to student ratios.

Jason Ohler, Author of Digital Community, Digital Citizen, has this to say about technology in the classroom, "Digital citizenship is impossible until we help students live one life instead two. Right now they live two-a digitally unplugged life at school and a digitally deluged life outside school.” Banning phones from schools not only strips students of the very tools they need to function in school, but also robs us of an opportunity to teach them proper use of cell phones.  I want my kids to learn cell phone etiquette,  budgeting time, and not being distracted by the phone when their attention should be elsewhere.  Our children will need these skills whether they enter the workforce or go on to higher learning- and I believe that even at the elementary level, our students are ready for these lessons.