Cell phone companies will continue to offer extras as long as they are making money hand over fist off of our over-indulged children.
Yeah, that work. :rolleyes: The kids know I don’t have the right to confiscate from their conceiled bags, so they just stick it in their bookbags as soon as I approach. They won’t leave if I tell them to go to the VP’s office, and security and/or the VP’s only come about 15% of the time I call them.
Many times it the damn parents who insist on their children being able to quickly contact them. (This stem from the 9/11 attacks.) My question to one mother (who I talked to on her daughter’s phone) was, “In what situation will your daughter’s input help solve a crisis that can’t be done after school?” She was dumbstruck.
I have another mother that Nextel W/T’s her son in the middle of class. She sees nothing wrong with it.
I’d love to seize one of these kid’s phones and smash it against the wall. But I’d be out of a job pretty darn quick.
Do it the easy way. Get the phone, then give it back. The parental unit can come to the school to get the battery…
Nextel W/T? What’s that?
o I c u & tx u bc it fun
I’m one of those nasty people that leave my cell phone on (on vibrate, in a pocket where it doesn’t rattly against anything noisy), and I do check to see who it is when it goes off.
If it’s something that can wait, I send the call to voice mail, apologize profusely, and put it away.
However, not being a super socialite, if I do get a call during class, it’s usually important…like when my grandmother, who I live with and take care of, had a heart attack and I had to leave immediately.
I imagine that if people actually called my cell phone often (I hate phones), I’d have to change my habits, but so far, most of my instructors have been quite forgiving of this since I explain to them exactly why I leave my phone on, and those that don’t…well…I drop the class and take an instructor who actually realizes that sometimes, there are things more important than their lectures.
Silenus, I now have a mental picture of you as Ray Walston, answering Sean Penn’s cell phone.
“Mr. Spicoli is busy right now.”
Those are those walkie-talkie things that are good for nothing except letting the whole world around you know your business.
Robin
Well, then, it appears that what works at my daughter’s HS won’t work at yours. Different schools have different levels of student compliance and discipline.
On the other hand, I love that 75% of my students have cell phones because it makes it so much easier to reach them. I teach juniors, and sometimes I want to talk to the kid, not the parent: I save talking to the parent for when talking to the kid doesn’t work. Calling their cell phone means I know I can talk to them. And I love text messages. They allow me to be much closer to my kids: kids who would never call me with questions 'cause they are too shy about talking to a teacher will text me. I can nag kids who need nagging without it being too invasive. And I can send out bulk texts for special occasions: I sent “break a leg” to everyone in Musical a hour before opening night curtain; I sent out “Enough studying! Go to bed!” at ten o’clock the night before the AP exam.
As far as using them goes: can you make the kids leave all their stuff (purses, backpacks, etc) at the back of the room everyday? I do this on test days because text-cheating is endemic. It limits access to cell phones, and while some will still have them in their pockets, it makes it harder to hide them.
It’s not the kids’ fault, really. It’s the parents’. If I had kids, and I felt I HAD to have a way to get hold of them, I’d buy them the cheapest pay-as-you-go phone that had a reliable network. I’d put the exact minimum on them every month. And I’d lock the options. If the phone is to be used for emergencies only, then I’m going to take every opportunity available to make sure it’s used for emergencies only. If he wants games, I’ll buy an X-Box. If he wants music, I’ll tell him to turn on the radio. No MP3 ringtones, no text messaging, no walkie-talkie beepies…if I’m paying to keep him in touch with me, he’s going to keep in touch with ME, not spend all my money on cellphone bling that’s absolutely useless.
Then again, I may have a slight bias, given that I think about 90% of available cellphone functionality is useless bling. I own a $60 VirginMobile cheaparooni that I put $20 into every 3 months because that’s the minimum to keep the account open. My partner uses it more often than I do.
Why? And I am honestly curious. Why is having “cell phone bling” a level of wasteful extravagance that an Xbox isn’t? I mean, yes, cell phones are luxuries, not neccesities. but so are most of the things we surround ourselves with. Now, people do need to be taught good cell phone manners–obnoxious ringtones make you look immature, turn off your phone in audience-situaitons (class, movies, whatever)–but if it isn’t a finacial hardship, how is having a phone so much more wasteful and indulgent than all the other luxuries we enjoy?
I also think that in 15 years not having a cell phone will be as bizarre as not having a phone at all would be today: like I said, 75% of my kids have them, and I teach in an “inner city” school. Hell, kids with more complicated lives often prioritize having a phone and find a way to do so, just because when your address and home phone change regularly, it’s nice to have some consistient way for people to reach you.
Because I have early-onset Old Codgerism and, in general, find the phone to be something that I don’t have much use for most of the time anyway. I just don’t understand saddling yourself to constant availability unless you’re a doctor or something that requires you to be on-call. Add in the flashy/trendy/annoying stuff and I hate cell phones in general and only own one for emergencies.
The only way this would work is if the lessons included showing porn.
And then they would want to call their friends and tell them that they were watching porn.
Well, one thing I think that is developing in response to the constant avalibility issue is a growing sense (especially among the kidlings) that it is OK not to answer the thing, and no excuse is needed later. It’s uncouth to ask later why someone didn’t pick up. Just assume they weren’t in a position to talk and don’t take it personally. If it’s an emergency leave a message. Text messages are even better about this–it’s the same advantage as email, in that when you need to convey information you can do so without having to go through the rituals of small talk. The advantage it has over email is that you can do it from anywhere.
I am not trying to sell you on cell phones, I’m just pointing out that there are some non-crazy advantages to having them. Again, as a teacher, it’s my job to communicate with my students, and this is an efficient way I have found to do that. Had I gone into a different profession, I might be Codgerville with you on this one.
You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile … the skull implants are inevitable … become one with us … become one with us …
The problem is not the kids, they’ve been unthinking and inconsiderate since the beginning of recorded history. It’s not the cellphones, they are perfectly benign when used properly. It’s your management of the classroom. I’m more than a little disturbed that you cannot regulate who is or is not in your class, or what they are doing in the class. I’m sure that a lack of principal support contributes to that, but you need to come up with some ideas to deal with it. You don’t have the right to do X, you need to control their behavior with Y or Z.
On the cellphone issue, here is one possible solution:
:RING RING:
AWB - Ok, class, good news, we’re going to have another Cellphone Quiz™. Offer your thanks to your beloved classmate who forgot to turn his phone off. :golf clap:
Have a few ready made stacks of quizzes with Cellphone Quiz in nice bold lettering across the top. Tell them in advance that the Cellphone Quiz will be a permanent part of the curriculum. When the class files in ask “Who wants to have a quiz today? Nobody? Great, turn off your cellphones.” I’d be surprised if you had to deal with more than a handful of quizzes over the course of a year.
I was trying to think of one of the old “punish everybody for one person’s sins” techniques; this one looks pretty good, but, as always, there are still going to be a few rebels who just don’t care and don’t mind being hated.
I’m with jayjay. Yes, my family finally went to a family plan (four lines, four phones, 1100 shared minutes, free mobile-to-mobile, national plan–about 80 bucks a month, which is far cheaper than when we each had our own plan with a different provider and is still probably more than we all need) but I never use the thing. It’s kept me from getting long distance on my landline but that’s about it. The phone is a brick (can’t stand flip phones) which is mostly devoid of most of the “features” which I’d never use anyway. But yeah, if I want to take pictures, I’ll buy a digital camera. If I want to listen to music, I’ve got my iPod and some other older tech as well. If I want to watch video, well someday I’m going to have to replace the iPod, so I’ll get one of those new video iPods. If I want to play complex games (and not cell phone timewasters) I’ve got a GBA and I could always get a DS. And I can’t stand text messaging on the computer so I’d really hate it on a phone. This all-in-one convergence strikes me as a bad idea.