Porch Views: Cellphones in the classroom

It’s March Break. After a few days in Montreal, I returned to the Bay to relax, read, take in a few St. Patrick’s Day events, do a bit of marking, work on my column and nurse the cold that has returned. I did not expect to be thinking or writing about cellphones, but I am – thanks to Doug Ford who just gave me the power to ban cellphones in my classroom.

Banning cellphones

It was leaked early this week that the Ontario government was planning to ban cellphones in Ontario classrooms. That was confirmed by an official announcement on Friday March 15 and explained further in a tweet issued by the Ministry of Education:

Cellphones are a powerful tool, but they have the power to be disruptive if used in the wrong setting. That’s why we are implementing a cellphone ban that’s empowering teachers and students to embrace today’s technology.

I’ve seen comments on social media from folks who support the ban. Several years ago I would have supported it without question, but now I find myself agreeing with colleagues across the province who are speaking against the ban.

The language the government is using suggests that teachers, schools and school boards have been oblivious to the distraction and academic risk cellphones pose for students. Now that’s ridiculous! For years, teachers and schools have been trying to find ways to control cellphones in the classroom.

Jammer or hammer?

At a teachers’ conference seven years ago, I met a Toronto high school teacher who had created a jammer and installed it under his desk. He had great fun watching students exchange bewildered looks when they lost service in his classroom and his room was nicknamed “the dead zone.” The jammer was effective but had parents or school administrators got wind of it, he would be in trouble since he was preventing emergency calls and parental contact. As his school embraced today’s technology he had to abandon his jammer since it also blocked his access to online attendance and the students’ learning resources such as research databases and documentaries that in many schools are now exclusively online.

Five years ago, frustrated by the amount of time I was wasting policing phones in my classroom, I dreamed-up a rather complicated plan to teach my students a lesson. First, I would obtain some long-abandoned and unclaimed cellphones from a friend’s school. Then I would put them in one of two identical cloth bags. The second bag was reserved for the phones I would confiscate in my classroom that period. After having collected several, I would feign anger – a spittle-flecked nutty if you will – and, in front of my students, drop their phones into the second bag. With a little sleight of hand, I would switch bags, draw a hammer from my desk and pound those phones to smithereens. Then I would walk calmly to the corner and shake the fragments into the wastebasket. After a few moments of shocked silence, I would get the original bag with the real cellphones out and return them to the students. It seemed perfect: the students would learn an important lesson and I could release my inner thespian. I abandoned this fantasy, however, after a trusted colleague and friend issued a stern warning:

At the very least you will receive parental complaints for causing emotional trauma, he said. More importantly, I am afraid you will get stabbed.

So I confiscated phones for the day returning them at the final bell. When that didn’t work very well – students became angry and the problem escalated; parents were annoyed that they could not reach their children, administrators were worried that expensive devices would be lost or stolen from my unlockable desk drawer, and I didn’t want to be on the hook for the cost of a device – I tried something else. Students, I decided, would put their phones in a basket at the front of the classroom. This also posed security risks as it was hard to monitor the basket while students were working in groups or I was conferencing with a student. More annoyingly, however, the basket would vibrate or ring during my lesson and students would be up and down grabbing their phones to turn them off. Ultimately my attempt to eradicate cellphones from my classroom was an exercise in futility.

Teach the proper use of this technology

It took some time to realize that there is no way, short of patting them down at the door, to prevent students from bringing phones into my classroom. They put them on vibrate and conceal them in their pockets and their bras, and when they suddenly pop up for washroom-permission, I am pretty sure they have received texts to meet their friends somewhere. Several times a day, students inform me they’ve received a text from a parent who is waiting in the parking lot so they can sign out and go to an appointment. So, if students and their parents persist in using cellphones despite the prohibitions and warnings, the only option left is to teach them the proper use of this form of technology.

Teachers, schools and school boards across Ontario have already figured out ways to deliver curricula on the wise and ethical use of technology and social media. For the last three years, for example, the school board I work for has mandated age-appropriate training in safe and proper use of digital technology at every grade.  In addition to this, teachers still monitor the use of cellphones in the classroom.

Disruptive power of cellphones not limited to schools

Of course, cellphones can be misused by students. Students can be distracted by games, videos, sports statistics, tweets from celebrities and unnecessary texting with friends. More seriously, students can use their phones to cheat on tests, send or view inappropriate images, and bully other students. Without a doubt these choices can compromise opportunities for success and do great harm, but a classroom ban is not the solution.

Whether we like it or not, students have come to rely on their phones to communicate with their families and friends, follow the news, access learning tools and entertain themselves. Engaging students and helping them make better choices around cellphone use will only be achieved through a respectful, rational, co-operative and educational approach.

Let’s remember too that the misuse of cellphones is not limited to schools but extends to workplaces, cars and homes.

A pseudo-ban

After all that, I think we have to recognize the so-called ban for what it is. “Ban” means to forbid, prohibit or refuse something, yet the Ministry of Education has identified exceptions for teachers who want to use cellphones for educational purposes and for students with special and medical needs. So it is not really a ban. I wonder if the real purpose of this pseudo-ban and “back to basics” language is diversionary – to keep  Ontarians from considering the negative effects other policies, like changes to autism funding or an increase in average class size in grades 4 to 12, will have on Ontario’s youth.

Photos from pexels: pixabay (top),  skitterphoto (middle)

About the author: Descended from railroaders and hotel keepers, Mark Woermke has deep roots in the Madawaska Valley. A high school teacher in Ottawa, Mark spends as much time as he can in the Madawaska Valley gardening, writing and enjoying its cultural wealth and natural beauty. For earlier Porch Views columns, just type “Porch Views” into the search button at the top of The Current’s menu.