This New York Times article is from 2007, but it is still as relevant today as it was then. Like I’ve been saying in my posts thus far, teachers and professors from a different generation than ours are not used to the technology that we’re used to. We are used to having the internet and the ability to talk to anyone at our disposal at any given time. Older generations of teachers who are stuck in an era of chalkboards and clapping erasers don’t realize the necessity that we have associated with our cell phones and the perks that come with them.
In the article a professor takes a students (fake) phone and smashes it with a hammer because it went off in class. Ten years ago, I would have been in sixth grade and nobody would have had a cell phone going off. Now I know students as young as second and third graders are carrying cell phones, and no doubt trying to use them during class. Sitting in a college classroom, 9 out of 10 people are on their cell phones, most likely checking their social media site or texting their boyfriend/girlfriend about how they’d rather be anywhere but in that class. I am one of those people, but I only do it until the class starts, then I put my phone away.
With this increase in technology within the classroom, not counting the ones that the teachers uses, there has been a serious decrease in respect. I’m not sure if it’s the parenting or the lack there of maybe that’s forcing students into completely ignoring their superiors and blatantly disregarding the feelings of the people around them. I know that when I’m a teacher I will let my students have one cell phone slide, but that’s it. More than once and something has to be done or the student will continue to walk all over me, and I will not have that. My theory is that if I’m putting in the effort to teach you without having my cell phone blowing up my pocket, you can do the same thing. Nothing huge is going to happen in 45 minutes, and if it does, you’ll either find out from me or after class is out.
Shelby, I do agree with some of the points you've made here. On one hand, as a future educator, I want my students to want to be in my classroom, and I also want them to want to pay attention. I would hope that my lesson plans (hopefully by integrating technology) can do that for them.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I'm not sure if students zoning out and onto Facebook is an epidemic. Firstly, students should want to learn, and if they don't and they'd rather sit on their phones and never take notes, then realistically, they've also just chosen to fail. Secondly, if a student is bored or simply not buying into the material, they will find a way to zone out. I will guiltily admit that when I was in middle and high school, where I did not have my phone out to distract me, I would often stare out of the window, doodle on my paper, or start to nod off. Truly, students will find a way to not pay attention, if they feel that paying attention is not in their favor. Therefore, it is our challenge as professionals to provide our students with the kind of dynamic lessons we would want to be apart of and avoid the cell phone distraction.
Shelby, I agree with Lizz here. It would be wonderful if our students were always as enthusiastic as us during our lessons, but the true epidemic is not technology in classrooms, it's students not paying attention, period. This is simply the norm, because I also often did what Liz was talking about, and before I ever got a cellphone. If lessons are made truly interesting and interactive, even if they don't woo every student, they will be doing more work than simply removing extraneous devices.
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