Tips for managing mobile phones in the classroom
21 November 2016
Every teacher in today’s classroom understands how frustrating mobile phones can be.
Over the last ten years, smartphones have gone from something that students had as a minor distraction, to something that runs their entire social lives, both inside and outside of school. Though this piece of technology was built to improve productivity and communication, when it comes to learning, it largely fails to do so. In fact, it’s not unfair to say that for students and teachers, mobile phones create more problems than they solve.
We know that they constantly distract students, reduce their ability to concentrate and connect with others, worsen the quality of their sleep, and sometimes, unfortunately, fostering cyber-bullying.
Managing mobile phone use in the classroom is important for the learning experience of all of your students, here are some tips for managing mobile phone use in the classroom.
1. Lead by example
The number one thing to keep in mind when trying to manage phones in the classroom is to lead by examples.
If students see you setting rules and not following them, they’ll believe that it’s not fair and will lose respect for both the rules and you as a teacher. Conversely, if you tell them that you want to check your phone too, but you’re not going to do it because it would disrupt their experience, they’ll respect your effort.
2. Make sure students know your rules
Often teachers will have different rules and students will think that they apply in all classrooms. For this reason, it’s important to reflect on the rules at the start of every term, and frequently throughout the term if need be.
3. Put it in a plastic or paper bag
When it becomes necessary to take away a phone, it’s good to give them the option of keeping it on their desk, preferably in a plastic or paper bag. This does two things. Firstly, the student feels that their phone is safe, that you’re not going to see anything personal or that it won’t get lost or stolen, and secondly the noise that the bag makes should the student try to open it, will discourage them from reaching out to do so.
4. Set windows for mobile phone use
Sometimes you can’t stop mobile phone use, particularly if the students need to look up information and you don’t have enough computers to go around the class. Using mobile apps can even be helpful to the learning process. What you can do in this case is set specific times for when they are able to use the phone, and even offer 5 minutes free phone time as a reward.
5. Encourage them to put it on silent and turn off wifi
Sometimes, particularly in large classrooms, it will be difficult to completely stop students from attending to their phone. In this scenario encourage them to put the phone on silent, and lay out the consequences for not doing so.
This will make sure that at least ringing phones aren’t disrupting the momentum of the classroom, and their peers are still able to learn effectively.
Interested in hiring a minibus for your next school trip? Contact us today and work with a company whose specialty is minibuses for schools, universities,
colleges, and other educational institutions.
Back to Blog listings