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Scooped by
John Evans
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My social media feed and my phone went crazy today because of the issue of a cellphone ban which will apparently become law in Ontario in the 2019/2020 school year, released interestingly during March Break.
I’m certain that many people will think banning cellphones is a great idea. In fact, there may be a few teachers who think this is a great idea. After all, kids these days are distracted addicted, and apathetic right???
I have spoken to thousands of teachers and students about thinking differently about the powerful devices which fit in our pockets.
Here, in essence are my concerns with a cellphone ban:
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Scooped by
John Evans
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When students arrive in Matthew Acheson’s high-school classroom this week, they’ll be allowed to take their phones to their desks, but only once they’ve tucked them inside a specialized pouch that then locks, blocking any access to WiFi and social media apps. Similar to an ink tag to prevent shoplifting, the cases can only be opened at an unlocking device controlled by their teacher. It’s just another attempt at the seemingly impossible: separating teens from their smartphones.
"This has been the one thing that has actually worked,” said Mr. Acheson, who teaches Grade 11 and 12 at St. Mary’s High School in Kitchener, Ont. Over the past few years, Mr. Acheson said he has been struggling with students’ distracting phone use in the classroom.
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Scooped by
John Evans
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Cellphones in schools is a subject I’ve discussed at length before and one that doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon. It’s a bellweather issue, an issue that indicates clearly where you sit on the educational spectrum. Do schools teach students “the rules” or help students learn effectively?
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Scooped by
John Evans
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Each year, more parents send their young child to elementary school equipped with a smartphone.
For instance, the percentage of third-graders who reported having their own cellphone more than doubled from 19 percent in 2013 to 45 percent in 2017. Similar increases took place for fourth-graders and fifth-graders. About half of fourth-graders and 70 percent of fifth-graders went to school with a phone in 2017.
Parents often cite the ability to easily reach their child as the major advantage of giving them a device, which they view as a safety issue. “Stranger danger” and sexual predators are often the first risks that occur to parents. Some public schools are adopting policies that limit personal contact between students and teachers. But bullying and cyberbullying are more common concerns, and in my 2017 research, I found that that giving a young child a cellphone increases the likelihood that the child will either become a victim of bullying or a bully themselves. This study of approximately 4,500 elementary school children in the U.S. found that having a cellphone in elementary school was associated with being involved with both bullying and cyberbullying, both as a bully and as a bully/victim. A “bully/victim” is a child who is, at different times, both a bully and a victim of bullying.
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Scooped by
John Evans
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Several years ago, I was a part of a community network of parents who brought Barbara Coloroso to our school community to talk about parenting from her book, “Kids are Worth It”.
I will NEVER forget her talk as it really resonated with me as a daughter, a mother, and an educator. Now, as I prepare my own talk for a school community in a few weeks (kind of crazy how it has come full circle for me), I am thinking about Coloroso’s parenting message as it applies to cell phone conversations.
She talks about three kinds of parenting styles: the brickwall parent, the jellyfish parent and the backbone parent.
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Scooped by
John Evans
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Some teachers are now moving to incorporate smartphones and other technology into lesson, but research shows many school still try to ban the devices
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