What a different world it is for an elementary teacher like myself to walk around middle and high schools. It’s eye-opening in many ways just from the size of the building to the size of the kids themselves. And when that bell rings, watch out! The hallways are super crowded as students hustle and bustle to class with earbuds on and cell phones in hand, scrolling and texting before their next class begins. Now if it ended there it wouldn’t be a problem but as I observe and coach teachers in classroom management, I am seeing a big problem with teachers effectively managing cell phone use in class.
Students have their phones in hand while teachers are talking and teaching. Students are refusing to do work or are completing their work with little to no effort and of not good quality. Students are engaging with their peers using their cell phones. Students are texting and playing games in class. And to be quite frank, students are being just downright disrespectful. Cell phones are a major problem in classrooms today disrupting and wasting valuable instructional and learning time. At what point did this become acceptable in classrooms?
Some teachers feel that the battle against cell phones is a losing one. Some teachers put the responsibility right onto their students. If students choose to be on their phones during class, not pay attention or engage, then so be it. They won’t learn the content, bomb the exams and as a result, will fail the class. Some teachers threaten to take phones away and call their parents repeatedly throughout the class. Some teachers have a policy that if they see it, they take it. Some teachers call the administration to come to get the students’ phone if they continuously have it out during class. All of these are poor management strategies that do not solve the problem but rather escalate behaviors and weaken teacher-student relationships.
But a group of middle school teachers who were tired and frustrated with the inconsistent policies of managing cell phones in each classroom came up with an excellent solution to put an end to this cell phone craze taking over their instructional time. It’s a solution that gives up the power struggle between teachers and students. It is one that does not involve threats nor taking anyone’s personal property. It is a solution that I have seen with my own eyes that actually works.
Here it is!
The teachers bought this Vinyl Over the Door Shoe Organizer and either hung it on a wall or over their classroom door. Each pocket has a number and each student was given a number to put their phone into the assigned pocket when they walked through the door at the start of class. Then students would grab their phones on the way out of class. That’s it. No fuss, no push back, no problem. The classes that I observed implementing this management solution had much fewer behavior problems, fewer interruptions, more instructional time and more student participation and engagement! Teachers were teaching and students were learning. A win-win! This is a genius and an effective management strategy. I was really impressed with how these teachers found a simple solution to a big problem.
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Be sure to stand firm and convey this management policy to your students and their parents/guardians at the very beginning of the school year. Create a written contract and have both students and parents sign it.
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Remind parents to call the main office if there is an emergency and need to desperately get into contact with their child. All other non-emergencies can wait until class is over.
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Reassure students that you want them to learn to their fullest potential and having all distractions put aside is key to their overall success.
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Tell students that you respect them and their personal property and do not want to take it away from them.
As teachers, we know that there are many problems in schools and in education that we can dwell on but I like to focus on the solutions. And this solution is a smart one for both teachers and students!
What strategies do you use to manage cell phones in the classroom?
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Christine Weis is a passionate educator, classroom management coach, wife, and mom of two busy boys. She enjoys teaching, writing, and creating resources for teachers.
I live in New Zealand and we have taken in exchange students to the last three years from France, Italy, and Chile. Each of them commented on how shocked they were that students had phones in classrooms, as in their countries it’s simply not allowed. No fuss, no arguments, just no phones. New Zealand has it for exams, if you have your phone on you during an exam, it’s an automatic fail – these are the big exams at the end of the year, the ones for passing to the next year. It’s well signposted, rigid, and effective.
I love that you take in exchange students from other countries and I’d love to see that kind of policy in U.S. schools. I think all schools need a rigid policy. Thanks so much for reading!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
Wow, I would have never thought to use a vinyl shoe organizer to place phones! This is truly a genius idea! I’ll have to pass this info along to my teacher friends!
I know, right?! And it works!! Thanks for passing this post along to your teacher friends. Thanks for reading!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
I love these tips for teachers for handling phones! I am forwarding this on to my child’s principal to see if we can implement some of these ideas. Thank you!
Excellent! I’m glad you can share these post ideas. I hope they find them helpful. Thanks for reading!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
This is a genuinely fantastic idea. I’ve heard of teachers getting students to put their phones in a communal box as they enter the room but the shoe holder is so much more safer and then it’s mor elikely to be transparant too. Great idea!
Yes, I think it’s genius too. Kids really like being able to see their phone in the transparent shoe organizer rather than their phone tossed in a box with other phones. This strategy works! Thanks for reading!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
You always want to focus on solving the problem instead of creating one. And organizer can really come in handy
Yes! It’s all about solutions. I do love all kind of organizers. 😉 Thanks for reading!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
teachers at my son’s school use this method as well.. and once he forgot it at the last period and had to rush back.. 🙂 and it does work well..
I’m so glad to hear that! I hope more schools start using this simple solution. Thanks for reading!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
That is a great idea! When I was in school cell phones were just starting to become available for everybody. And not the nice ones!! We had to keep them in our lockers or keep them away. If a teacher saw them, we got it taken away. That was also a private school though.
Yes…keeping the phones in their lockers is another great idea. Some teachers do follow that policy that if they see it, they take it but students seem to have them out anyway. No fear! Thanks for reading!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
This is a great idea to manage phone use! I remember teaching and having kids being on their phones can be a huge distraction not only to them but also to those around them! Thanks for sharing this!
xo – Kam
It’s terribly distracting and disrespectful to the teacher and other classmates. SUch battles these teachers are fighting. I think that this is a great solution for this ongoing battle. Thanks for reading!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
Wow things have really changed. When I was in high school between 2001 and 2005, during the Nokia 3310 era, our phones were kept in our bags to prevent us from playing snake, lolz! Interesting to see that now, a phone policy is needed in classrooms.
Haha! I know, right?! I didn’t have a phone in high school. I think we had beepers though. Remember those? But we never had them out in class. Thanks for reading!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers
I think the vinyl organizer is a really great idea. When I was in elementary and middle, we didn’t have cellphones. I don’t understand why students would bring their phones to school.
Isn’t it?! I’ve been in classrooms where kids are on their phones during class completely ignoring the teacher when told to put their phones away. It’s really sad! Thanks for reading!
Christine at For The Love of Teachers