One of the worst decision that the DeBlasio Administration made was rescinding the cellphone ban and allowing students to carry their cellphones into school. The result of this ill-advised decision was an increase in school thefts, fights, and outright violence. At the Lehman campus in the Bronx it got so bad that the six schools at the school require all their students to give up their cellphones before going to class. This policy reversed the DeBlasio cellphone policy after the students at the Lehman campus were using their cellphones to coordinate gang fights outside the school. You can read about it Here.
More importantly, many teachers throughout the City are finding that their students refuse to put their cellphones away in the classroom and in far too many cases it has led to confrontations between the teacher and the disobedient student with bad results. Worse, the cellphone usage is a distraction to good teaching and learning as the student is more interested in his or her cellphone then absorb the lesson and the teacher must frequently interrupt the lesson to ask the student to put away the cellphone, making the instruction less effective to the entire class.
How can a teacher be effective if the school administration fails to take the cellphone issue seriously and calling parents is not the solution since they usually support their children having a cellphone and suffer no consequence when informed that their child was using the cellphone in class?
The only real solution is to do what the Lehman Campus is doing, making the students check their cellphones at the school door or revert back to the cellphone ban that will allow for less classroom distractions and a more peaceful classroom, the main ingredients for successful teaching and learning.
You particularly see a ridiculous amount of cell phone addiction (there is no other word for it---you can't live without a darn electronic gadget for 45 minutes?????) at transfer and "last chance" high schools. Virtually every student's face was glued to their cell phone during many lessons I have observed. They barely ever look up from their electronic pacifier. They actually couldn't tell me what the lesson had been about--surprise! In addition to total student distraction from the lesson, teachers are in danger of being secretly taped or photographed by malicious students who want to "pay them back" for failing them, telling them to put the phone away, etc.
ReplyDeleteMayor DeDumDum is an imbecile for again allowing cell phones in schools. He wants improved grades? Get rid of the cell phones, a chronic distractive influence.
A all out ban is wrong. Some NYC HS students travel 1-2 hours each way and they need it. I wish all schools had the kids drop it off in the morning and pick it up after classes. The kids have it for travel and teachers don’t have to deal with it.
ReplyDeleteStudents are using their cell phones/I-Phones to cheat. Tests given periods in the early morning classes are being used to take photos of exams and then forwarded to students. The integrity of class tests are being compromised a fact that administrators ignore as it fraudulently inflates school scholarship. I am surprised that this has not been reported to the media.
ReplyDeleteThe confluence of two idiotic policies, creating an ATR Pool and letting children bring high-tech gadgets into a NYC public school classroom has had an unintended effect: being a rotating substitute is a lot easier! I remember the pre-phone days, kids pestering me nonstop ( where you from, mister? how come your nose is so big? how much you pay for those New Balance ? you got a wife? we dont do work in this class-SMD! The room would quickly descend into chaos, crumpled busywork thrown to the floor, paper airplanes flying, you name it. Now? everyone drifts off into their own little fake universe of games, chat, porn,selfie taking,and lets not forget the lovely 'music'!
ReplyDeleteTY Kaiser Wilhelm for extending my career. Pension credits stakin, TDA up nicely, Im all Gucci, Son!
95% of NYC public high schools are awful, as are 100% of the charter high schools. I don't even care about the cellphone policy anymore. Just keep the metal detectors or watch out!
ReplyDelete11:27,
ReplyDeleteHitchhiking is easier than walking, until Jeffrey Dahmer gives you a ride. Cellphones could end your career much quicker than paper airplanes. As an ATR and one time teacher, I hate them.
I agree with 11:27 except when assassins show up and write us up for all that bullshit happening - otherwise phones do bring peace
ReplyDeleteAt my school they forbid cell phone usage, but it is so rampant that the staff has largely given up taking them away. It usually leads to headaches, confrontation, endless begging for the phones back. The threats from the admins of taking the phones away for the entire semester have proven ineffectual as parents just come and retrieve them. All of us hope that the kids will put the phones away when we get our flyby "Danielson's" observations. The AP is a beast here, even though she walks past kids in the hall wearing hats and playing with phones. For many of us teachers, the cellphones can keep many of our worst students quiet for most of the lesson, which is priceless.
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ReplyDeleteLISTEN TO BLOOMBERG BULL SHIT CLAIMING TRUMP IS RUNNING A DIVISIVE CAMPAIGN AND PREYING ON PEOPLES PREJUDICES AND FEARS.......Didn't this creep Bloomshit do this to our schoos bY dividing and pitting PEOPLE each other
"Donald Trump has run the most divisive and demagogic presidential campaign I can remember, preying on people’s prejudices and fears. Abraham Lincoln, the father of the Republican Party, appealed to our “better angels.” Trump appeals to our worst im pulses.
BLOOMBERG GOES ON AND SAYS POLITICIANS are beholden to special interests -- YEAH BLOOMBERG SHIT YOUR SUPER PACS LEAD THE WAY FAKE ASS
Thank you so much for this insightful and useful information.
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