Interview: Cell Phones in the classroom

Cell phones are currently not a part of the educational setting that I am a part of. I don't have any connections to any middle-school or high-school teachers, as I'm not from the area in which I currently reside. I did reach out on Twitter as well as Facebook several times in hopes of finding someone to speak with, no luck. I looked over the provided list of educators that use cell phones in the classroom, but I wanted a more personal discussion for this assignment. So, I thought back to my undergraduate days, and tried to think of friends that were working on a degree in Secondary Education. Alas, I finally came up with someone, Mrs. Amanda Shaffer.

Amanda and I did not attend the same school, but we did work together at A.C. Moore in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. A.C. Moore is a wonderful craft store, as well as a great place for education majors to work. That employee discount always came in handy for school projects. :) Amanda was pursuing her Secondary Education degree in Mathematics while I was pursuing my Elementary degree. While we haven't seen one another face-to-face in more than eight years, we have been connected on Facebook for awhile.

Amanda Shaffer is a math teacher at Donegal High School in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania. She's been teaching for eight years. I conducted this interview in a Facebook chat.

Me: How many of your students have a cellphone? Cell phone with data plan?

Amanda: "I would say 95% at least. It's rare to find a kid without one [a data plan] they all talk about texting and facebooking on their phones."

I unfortunately did not ask Mrs. Shaffer about the socio-economic background of the high school population at Donegal High school, but I was able to find school report card from last year. This report card shares test scores for eleventh graders last year, in which the economically disadvantaged students did not meet the target goal. This group of students makes up about 30% of the eleventh grade class. I also noticed that Donegal High School only had one subgroup based on race or ethnicity, this group includes eleven Latin/Hispanic students.

Next question:

Me: How do you view student cell-phone usage in the school setting, meaning....is it a big nuisance...or are you ok with it...?

Amanda: "It used to be a huge nuisance for me (I was nicknamed the cell phone nazi at my old school)...but now I'm pretty much ok with it.. I consider the hallway a "safezone" and won't take it from anyone that has it out even though I'm supposed to.
And in class, I only take it if it's interfering with anyone's learning."

Me: What changed?

Amanda: "Mainly I was just tired of fighting a fight I hadn't really thought about..and also, I got tired of being so hard on the kids about it, and nothing happening to them when I would take one. So I just thought, I'm only going to deal with it when it's a problem (which it rarely is) and I'm not going to just do things that the administration tells me to, and then doesn't back it up with discipline."

So, while the school system had a policy in place for cell phones, and punishment, Amanda received little support, and therefore relaxed her management style in the classroom.

Me: Would you say that other teachers feel the same way....as in they let things lie unless there is a problem?

Amanda: "No I think teachers are almost 50/50 on the issue..either they're very anti cell phones, or they don't care.
It also seems to correspond with age..younger teachers seem not to care as much about it."

Me: You said you rarely have misuse problems...why do you think that is?

Amanda: "Most of it is the rapport I have with most of my kids...a small part of it may be that i'm not creating an environment where it's a focus."

I love this insight! Mrs. Shaffer has created an environment in her classroom in which the student-teacher relationship is valued among teacher and students. As such, the mutual respect is apparent, and therefore cell-phone misusage is not a problem!

She goes on to say: "It all comes down to how you manage your class...if you have an excellent rapport and positive environment the kids usually don't try to pull stuff [cheating] like that on you."

Mrs. Shaffer does share that cellphones are constantly visible throughout the school, but this wasn't always the case. She states that just last year the school's cell-phone policy was one that assigned one day of in-school suspension if a phone was seen. She said that she didn't see one single phone that year. She said that cell phones are not a problem in her classroom, but the school as a whole does have a cell phone problem. The problems that arise school-wide include off campus bullying, theft, loss, and refusal to submit phones to teachers.

The current Student Code of Conduct states that cell phones should be turned off and put away during the day, unless they are being used in an academic fashion supervised by a teacher.

Me: Would you consider assigning a project in which students used their cell phones to create a video/presentation?

Amanda: "I would be fine with that..I actually had 2 students who knew how to rap, write this awesome rap about the class and then performed it. Everyone wanted to record it on their phones." "The most I let them do is listen to music, use their calculator apps and show me a relevant YouTube video..."

While this interview is not specifically about a project designed around the use of cell-phones, I feel Mrs. Shaffer shared great insight on practical ways to address the use of cell-phones in a typical classroom. Just like any other classroom issue, the best way to combat the problem starts on the first day of school, by creating an environment in which trust, respect, and safety is the number one priority. If these aspects of the teacher-student relationship are developed early on, then classroom problems will be minimal.