Cell phones in class

• Mr. Crumrine’s Electronic Device Experiment
  Semester Two
  2008-2009 School Year
  Chemistry and Its Applications and Anatomy and Physiology Classes
  
  There has been much discussion this year about electronic devices and their place in the Concord High School community. While some would limit or outlaw electronic devices I come down firmly on the other side. Electronic devices are powerful tools that can connect us to each other and the work. The iPod touch, to highlight one, has thousands of educational applications. Some of them are as simple as the built in calculator while others provide students with interactive x-rays of the human body.
  
  Electronic devices can be used improperly—by both students and adults. I become pretty upset when I am giving a presentation and see people tapping away on their email accounts. And I really don’t like it when someone is ostensibly talking to me but in reality looking at their BlackBerry the whole time. But both students and adults can use these powerful tools in responsible ways. When I was in high school teachers had to teach us that our graphing calculators were appropriate for use in certain ways. In math class—OK. Playing tetris in English—not OK. We can do the same kind of teaching with electronic devices.
  
  During the second semester of this year my students and I came up with the following plan. We talked first about the value of electronic devices and then we talked about ways they could be used improperly.
  
  Here is the plan:
  
  
  Why would a student be allowed to use a cell phone/electronic device?
  
  ¨ Effective communication.
  ¨ Active self directed learner.
  
  In order to be successful after high school students need to know how to use modern technological tools. These include cell phones and other pocket electronic devices.
  
  The use of these tools however must be done in an appropriate way. Just as it would not be OK for an adult to text while a colleague is explaining something to them—it is not OK for a student to do the same.
  
  What do we do?
  • Use the calculator on your phone—OK at appropriate times.
  • Use the agenda feature—OK at appropriate times.
  • No texting at any time—because could disturb others outside of our class.
  
  Please ask for permission to:
  --use the calculator feature.
  --use the agenda feature in the last 5 minutes of class.
  
  In certain cases, with permission, you may be allowed to:
  --play games—work must be done.
  --listen to music—work must be done.
  --use the internet—you must use it for something related to class.
  
  Penalties
  • First offense—teacher takes cell phone—student gets it at end of class.
  • Second offense—teacher takes device—student gets it at end of school day.
  • Third offense—teacher takes device and turns it in to administration.
  
  
  I agree to this revised cell phone policy for our classroom only.
  
  Print Name:_______________________
  
  
  Sign Name:________________________
  

Reflections

The plan worked extremely well with the Anatomy and Physiology group.

• I warned one student one time about improper use.
  
• Nine or ten students had iPod touches (iPods touch?). Several of them used the anatomy flash card applications that are available for free or $0.99. One of them purchased a ten dollar application which was basically a digital textbook. They said they found it very helpful.
  
• During our end of the year project several students used text messaging in an appropriate way to communicate with partners. An example is a group where 3 people were dissecting a cat and one person was in the library researching cat dissection.

The plan worked better than I expected with Chemistry and Its Applications
In a very cute and funny way students would always ask if they could use the calculator functions on their phones. I found this to be effective and it saved me money because I usually buy about 10 calculators per year with my own money.

• A higher percentage of students in ChemApps had iPod touches when compared with Anatomy. But they did not take advantage of flash cards or other applications to my knowledge.
• One notable exception was a student who had, on his own, downloaded a ten dollar spreadsheet application. We were doing a lab where the students had to take the temperature of a substance every 30 seconds. He asked if he could put the data in his phone. Not only did he input the data but he was able to quickly create a graph when he was done. While other students took about ten-15 minutes to create the graph he was able to immediately start answering the post lab questions. The most important part of this lab was not making but interpreting the graph so this was a plus.
• There were several first offense violations during the semester (10) but students surrendered their phones for the period and I did not see repeat offenses except for the next bullet.
• I encountered major issues with 2 students. They did not follow the cell phone policy at all even though they had signed the sheet. They would not surrender their phones when asked and used them pretty much whenever they wanted. I should have done a better job working with administration with these two students. I will say that these two students were the same ones who did not follow any of the other rules of our classroom. They walked out of class without asking, swore at me and other students, used racial slurs, and sometimes screamed. I don’t think any cell phone policy would cure them of their other ills.

Quick Conclusion:

I would be willing to work hard on a cell phone/electronic device policy that emphasizes proper use of these powerful tools. For our students these are the tools that they have used for communication since they first learned to communicate. Teaching proper use will not be easy but I would rather work on that than tell students they can never use the computer that is right there in their pocket.