keegan

my phone comes to class with me.
i don't allow students to recieve calls in the room.
if they get a call, they put up their hand with the phone in it,
and then go outside.
same for me.
the phone must be on vibrate.
a rule we, as a group devised, and it seems to be working well.
have had calls from home where i have had the students talk, very breifly, with my aunt or uncle. the students loved it, as did my relatives.
if the students are playing games on their phone, it is mine, until their parents come to claim it.
has happened twice this year. so, i think pretty successful.
came to this decision after acting the heavy last school year.
a phone rang in the middle of an oral test where the kids had to listen and evaluate their peers.
told por, the student, to put the phone away, turn it off.
her mom had just been killed in a car accident. her aunt was calling her.
por, because she is a good girl, did what i said, turned off her phone.
i know that whether she found out during or after the lesson really made no difference, her mom was dead.
but seeing her after class, so upset, made me realise, that things can happen, and the phone is an important tool.
again, if used for entertainment, it's mine.
also have a no phone rule for tests, something the s's came up with.