Cell Phones in the Classroom

Cell phones, specifically smart phones have become a permanent appendage to students hands. This issue has gone through stages that many people in my age group have experienced. At first cell phones had basic features, and weren't a major problem in class, considering many students even up to grade 9 did not have them. Then we saw them explode in high school. Classes were riddled with disruptions and unengaged students on their phones. We are now moving into a time where classrooms are starting to embrace technology. We have everything we could possibly need to know at the tips of our fingers with a smart phone, and if used appropriately it can help transform our lessons.

Ben Johnson, a long time teacher wrote a blog on edutopia about how he manages cell phones in the classroom. When he asked students why they insisted on having their cellphones with them at all times, and they cant just disconnect for class, the invariable answer he got was something along the line of "it's my life". Some of the major issuse he addresses is the disengagement in class material because of the full engagement in whatever is on their phones, the texting language creeping into school work, and the inability for students to have downtime without going straight to their phones. You can read more about Ben Johnson's experience here http://www.edutopia.org/blog/how-manage-cell-phones-classroom-ben-johnson

I personally feel like this is the age of technology and fighting against it in classroom has and will prove futile. The "you take it out, I take it" approach hasn't really gotten us anywhere because student will be right back on their phones when they get them back, and this really hasn't motivated them to engage in material, it's instead causing them anxiety about who could be texting them or a number of other things. The curriculum in place as of 2007 addresses media within language arts, and this is a step in the right direction towards a technologically engage classroom. If we could include a lesson on how to use technology appropriately in a classroom setting, apply strict ground rules, and supervision the possibilities of taking our curriculum far beyond pen and paper are endless. 

However, like with any new system, there will be some foreseeable issues. 

What subjects can we allow technology in?

What if a student does not have or cannot afford the technology their peers have?
How will the teacher monitor up to 35 devices to make sure the students are being appropriate and productive.

There is not easy answer for any of these questions, but they are something we can work on to work towards a technological inclusive classroom, and yes, that means BYOSM (Bring Your Own Smart Phone)

Drake S. M., Reid, J. L., & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving curriculum and classroom assessment: Engaging the 21st century learner. 

          
Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.

Hodas, Steven. 1993. “Technology Refusal and the Organizational Culture of Schools.” Educational Policy Analysis Archives:1(10).