I have written extensively on the topic of cellphones in the classroom (including the so-called ban in Ontario in 2019) both in this blog and in my books, Social LEADia: Moving Students from Digital Citizenship to Digital Leadership and my book for parents, Raising Digital Leaders: Practical Advice for Families Navigating Today’s Technology. Recently, it feels like every day, friends and educators are sending me links to articles about whole-school bans on cell phones and/or podcasts and radio shows focusing on the topic.
I am propelled to write this post because of my own experiences this past semester at my own high school. I have been using a Green Light, Yellow Light, Red Light system with much success for the past several years. When I am transparent and explicit with kids about when their phones are to be used, they are generally pretty respectful; but not always.
A few weeks ago, I had a group of grade 11 students come to the Library for a podcasting lesson. It is a lesson I have done before: students share their favourite podcasts, we listen to a few student-created podcasts, we co-construct the elements of an effective podcast, I show them an overview of the tool (in this case, Soundtrap) with the assistance of student techsperts (students who have used the platform before and have knowledge to share), students spend the rest of the period trouble shooting and playing-to-learn the nuances of the platform. I noticed they were super engaged and afterwards a few students came up to me and shared how much they enjoyed the lesson (which when the compliment comes from grade 11 boys you literally want to do the dance of joy). It was only in my debrief afterwards with their teacher that I realized that I never had to ask students to put their cellphones away because the teacher had taken student phones and placed them in a “cellphone palace”. I love this teacher; she is dedicated, passionate, and knowledgeable and quite simply, sick of having to tell kids to put their devices away and competing with the pull from their friends and their phones. And the fact that the students were so engaged and actually looked at me or each other throughout the lesson really gave me pause; was I rethinking the whole cellphone in the classroom rule? Are students better off without a device? I know I am often drawn to my phone if I am bored…
Later that week, when students were unable to sign in to the Library because their phones were back in their classroom (and I use a QR code system for signing in which triggers an email to the teacher to let them know students have arrived in the Library), I needed to scramble to find a way for those students to sign in. I then asked students about their opinions: Are you less distracted? Are you finding it beneficial?
Answers ranged from:
“Absolutely, I am finding it easier to pay attention and I am way more focused”
“In some ways, but sometimes, if I want to look something up, it is kind of a pain”
“No, I just fall asleep now instead of going on my phone.”
I also asked if students were able to more easily put their phones away in other classes and the resounding answer was no.
You may think I am a nerd, but I spent lots of nights tossing and turning and wondering, If the end goal is for students to be more engaged, more mindful of the pull of their phones then are we doing our kids a benefit or dis-service by taking their phones away? It is easier from a teaching stand point, but is it better practice? I believe that if my students all have access to a device, then not having cell phones is definitely not needed. But what about when you are not in a 1 to 1 school? What about when I want them to jump on a Figjam or a quick survey via a QR code? Will removing devices naturally translate into kids talking to one another more? Are kids even cognitively mature enough to resist the pull of a device we know has been designed to be addictive? I also wonder if an all-out ban might be beneficial for younger students who are developing communication skills, but because I am in a high school, I have no way of testing that.
Luckily, I have been co-teaching with another fabulous English teacher this year as we pilot the new grade 9 destreamed curriculum which explicitly embeds Digital Literacy. We decided to try a Do-Not-Disturb Challenge. Quite simply, we challenged kids to put Do Not Disturb on for their school day for 5 days. And we had to try it too. We asked kids to reflect on whether or not they managed it and how they felt. I didn’t journal about it, but I know I missed several calls & texts from teachers who needed help (but who interestingly were able to figure it out when I didn’t respond). The results were really interesting and I have included a few of the screenshots below:
Unfortunately, we did this at the end of the semester instead of in the first week and we did not have follow up conversations. Not all students completed the challenge, and because we were at the end of the semester, I could not find out why.
The reality is that devices are not going away anytime soon and social media use continues to increase, even for young users. The research around metacognition is abundant: when we ask kids to think about their thinking and learning, students are better able to set goals and strategies for themselves. So rather than putting devices in a “palace” perhaps we invite kids to put their phones on Do Not Disturb and reflect on how (or if) this helps. And while we are at it, set this same challenge for ourselves during the school day.
Would love to hear about your own practices around cell phones in the classroom and whether or not you are rethinking your stance.