A Simple Fix for Engagement
Ditch the phones in school
Has the power of information at our fingertips run amuck?
While technology has made our lives better in so many ways, I would suggest that the cell phone is a disruptor in schools if its use is not controlled.
My daughter has just begun her third year of teaching at a local high school. She teaches music and performing arts. The district she works in has taken a stand on cell phone use: No cell phones in school. They are NOT to be seen. If they see it, they take it. No questions.
She has shared with me that this simple policy has had a dramatic change on the school culture and student engagement in her classes and beyond. Students are not just paying attention, but also showing authentic engagement. Meaning they are willing to try new things, and explore learning through interaction and conversation. She says, I see their faces!
She also mentioned that the amount of drama she is hearing has significantly decreased. Being a new teacher, she often has a number of students in her room who like to “spill the tea.” Apparently, this means sharing the interesting interactions that occur amongst students in social settings and situations.
I can remember being in school and you would have a disagreement with a classmate. Then you would go home and the next day life would go on because you both had time to process. In today’s world, with a cell phone always in hand, it is nearly impossible to not engage in a constant back and forth engage of words. These words can be carefully crafted to entice a particular response or emotion. Not to mention they are recorded and may be used in future situations or conversations. The internet is forever!
As an adult, I have felt and seen the lure of the social technology algorithms that draw us into a platform with user-curated content. I have been known to get sucked into a tech-based time warp myself, where I will spend an embarrassing amount of time swiping left, right, up and down as content flashes before my eyes. It’s no wonder why cell phones that deliver this kind of content are disrupting our schools and learning.
Amid current concerns around students’ level of engagement and anxiety, schools need to look at and update their cell phone policy, as many are beginning to do.
I would suggest two big reasons for schools to take a strong stance on this issue: The need to help students develop personal success skills (communication, expression, empathy) and to help them become informed citizens who share an understanding of facts versus opinions.
Students need a safe space to be themselves and engage in authentic learning and conversations. Students need to develop their interpersonal skills including listening skills needed to understand — not just hit reply. The ability to take in information to understand a situation (current or in the past), to solve a problem or engage in creative or critical thinking is very important. Especially in this new world of information overload.
In the schools where I coach, I hear teenagers say, This is my truth! When I asked a group of students to explain the meaning of this phrase, they said it means something akin to a phrase that most of us would be familiar with: Agree to disagree.
But as I asked more questions to deepen my understanding, it was apparent that they were conflating their opinion with established fact. The need for students to use information to engage in discourse or at least be able to discern fact from fiction are essential skills that the algorithms have cluttered in the technology bubble that the user has created.
It is no surprise to anyone that there is a lot of disinformation out in our communities that is provoking fear and anxiety (Springfield, Ohio, for example). On Substack, Heather Cox Richardson is a wonderful example of someone who can take a current situation and apply research and evidence to help us discern facts from fiction and just bold-face lies.
Given what we know can happen, it seems to me that schools need to take this step to control cell phone use and create a space for students to develop their personal success skills as well as their ability to be critical consumers of information and productive collaborators.
The gains of creating a space where students can engage in person-to-person interaction without algorithms competing for their attention outweigh the need to get an instant message to a child, as some parents have argued. (I’ve heard teachers and students talk about parents texting students while in class asking about how a test went!)
There’s always the office phone to call and leave a message in an emergency.
Think about what we used to do.
I can remember after practice the pay phone in the lobby would have a line of students waiting to call collect to let our parents know we were ready to be picked up. Of course, our parents wouldn’t accept the charge, but that was the way we let them know. And it worked.