Ah.. cell phones.
To me, my cellphone is like an upgraded Tamagotchi – only it’s me that I am tasked with keeping alive. I see that my life revolves around the little device in my hand and that I am both the Sim and the teenage girl who just wants to have the best-looking house. But much like the Sims, it is up to us to give our little Sims (ourselves.. stay with me now…) some help with how to navigate our lives. It’s getting meta I know.
Now, we can’t leave ourselves without a ladder and then complain that we are drowning in technology. Banning cell phones is like removing the ladder once it was already in – a tease and also a big disadvantage – kids don’t know how to leave the pool without one! Teaching students how to use cell phones appropriately is like teaching them how to swim (and pull themselves up) so that there isn’t a need for a ladder at all, they just know how to be safe and to moderate their swimming.
It’s hard to separate life right now from our cell phones (in schools as well) but I don’t think we really need to separate – maybe just a little more moderation. The same can be applied to our students. It’s not a ban that is needed, but an understanding of how to use it responsibly and ultimately that teaching now needs to happen in the classroom.
In the debate we talked about safety, classroom management, effective usage, and mobility. All of these things are important in schools today, and all can be contested that cell phone actually make these things worse – but I don’t think that sentiment is stated with full understanding of the reality that cell phones aren’t going anywhere – and neither are teachers. We just have to try to see them as tools and look to the positive so we don’t all become anti-technology grouches.
Realistically, all of the cell phone issues come down to classroom management. I could tell that classroom management was a heated topic when it came to the debate – and why wouldn’t it be? No one wants to think that they don’t have their classroom under control, and no one wants to hear classroom management criticism from another teacher. That being said, without effective classroom management, even paper, pencils, gum, erasers, and literally whatever else the kids can get their hands on (I’m looking at your paperclips in the outlets) can be huge distraction and detriment to learning. When kids misbehave with those items we simply take them away – it works the same way with cell phones. We don’t punish the many for the acts of the few if we want smooth sailing through the year. That’s how mutiny happens.
Cell phones connect people. They connect me to my administration and to parents. They connect students to their parents. They even at times, connect students to teachers. Not every school is blessed to have 1-1 technology, and even if they were – administration is not letting you take the Chromebooks on a fieldtrip. The mobility that cell phones bring to learning is something that is not matched by anything else right now, so we as teachers should be taking advantage of that – not scorning it because sometimes kids misuse it. I heard in the debate that teaching students how to use their cell phone appropriately wasn’t our job as teachers, but neither (on paper) then are the countless other tasks we do in our day. Teaching is not sitting down (or standing at the front) talking at students and hoping they remember what you said. If that is what is expected then I have a huge surprise – it just is more. Teaching is more than curriculum. Teaching, is at heart, guiding younger people to be slightly more adept older people – and that includes how to use their phone.
It is our responsibility to ensure our students know how to use their cell phones, just like it is our responsibility to ensure that they know how to count, spell, think, and communicate effectively. Banning things historically has never gone well. From sex, abortion, drugs, liquor, or seeing your friends during Covid-19, people are going to do things anyway -they just do it in secret. It is always better to educate and provide safe spaces for people to do the things they want to do, where they are supervised and held responsible, than for things to go awry in the dark with no where to turn. When you think about banning cell phones, I just want you to consider how well human beings handle abstinence from temptation. Especially teenagers! Education on how to use cell phones can save us from being drowning Sims – not everyone wants a graveyard behind their house.