What exactly are your rules?
My rules are the same as what the school expects to enforce. If my employer says these are the rules that you need to enforce in your classroom, that’s what I’m going to do. I don’t have anything new or novel or outside of the realm of what the school asks.
If the school lifted their rules, would you lift yours?
No. I won’t. I feel like I’m competing for their attention. If I’m looking at my phone, and I’m trying to actively engage and listen and learn something, I’m not there. I’m not mentally there. So I would still have a very similar expectation.
How much backlash have you gotten from kids about it?
I’ve had a few nasty glares and comments. I’ve had a handful of students look at me and say, I’m not giving you my phone. And they will blatantly refuse to do it. Then it gets awkward, and I have to stop, call the office and have an administrator come to my room and have the student removed from my room. That’s just very uncomfortable for everyone involved.
If someone criticized your rules like a student, what would you want to say to them?
At the beginning of every semester, I have, like, the philosophical reason why we have that rule that West Albany, like admin handed me and it’s one of my slides and my agenda is that we’re going to go over it. And there’s research to support if you’re trying to be in an educational setting, and you’re consuming technology, you’re going to divide your attention and you’re not going to know and understand the material the way you would if you were engaged.
Has there ever been any teachers that have said anything about your rules like the phone jail?
Well I know that some kids have told me, ‘I kind of, I bring my phone out way more in other classrooms because I know the teachers are a little bit more like, just put it away. Whereas you’ll actually take it.’ Do I think that people look down on me or think, ‘Oh, she’s not my favorite teacher because of that.’ I’m sure there are some people that don’t like any sort of authority. And they feel like I’m pushing that, but it’s my job.
