Students texting at school & in class...

I have recently been doing my morning duty for a couple of weeks in the gym, before classes start, where students filter in after breakfast or directly from the bus. This is middle school, grades 6,7,8. I have this morning duty for a month or so, then other team members do their duty. Boy, has THIS been an eye-opener about texting. I had NO idea how pervasive this is with students! We have 60% of students on free and reduced lunches, and yet there are about 2/3 of them sitting bent over their cell phones texting, not interacting with each other. Usually, I see groups of 2 or 3 attending to one person's cell phone. They are allowed to keep their cell phones and other devices till the bell rings and then supposed to put them in their lockers...which they don't.I've also tried an experiment of walking near them while they sit on the bleachers, and as they are texting, they hide their phones!
So...with this awakening, I've begun to discover they are also bringing their phones to my class and texting there. I took two cell phones away from students in my troublesome 8th grade class on Friday, at which a lot of rebellion erupted, with arguments toward me about
WHY they should be able to text. These 8th graders have simply been NOT THERE for me, and I'm feeling a lot of has to do with texting in class. I can't engage them at all.
I'm getting new groups this coming Wed, and I hope they will be more receptive to instruction.
Beyond this, I see this as a societal problem, one which I fear will adversely affect the young generations growing up. They are not interacting with each other, just their electronic devices.
Patty

I don't think they should be allowed to bring cells to school at all. my word their friends are all there! kids younger and younger are getting cell phones. I can see it as a huge disruption to a classroom.

Cell phone usage is ridiculous. People use them constantly... makes such bad drivers, bad listeners, bad students, annoying just to walk around because they're going so slow to text or talk and not watching where they're going. And now people expect everyone to be reachable all the time by cell phone. I can't stand them. It's definitely causing isolation, too. And they certainly should not be allowed in school.

In defense of kids. And parents I am going to say I got my daughter one when my son was ill. I needed to be able to reach her and her me.
Do they text to much Im sure.
Are cells a good thing? imo yes.
I used mine with the kids once again when they were snowed in. They were NOt allowed to use the school phone. My son was out on the road his school is a hour and half away from the home school. When he reached the high school my daughter texted me.
Also there has been many a time when sorry to say there has been shootings at schools where kids and teachers alike have used them to reach the outside world.
nothing in life is perfect.
But I will tell you what........I would like my kids to be able to have the way to reach me if there is a emergency.
Yes ppl do over use them.
I myself am very very grateful we can all choose to have one if we need.

*sits on an orange box with a bubble pipe*

When I was their age at least 60% of the kids didn't even have a cellphone. And when they did they were track phones and the only thing you could do on them was call or mess with your ring tone. And that was only 4 years ago mind you.

Anyways, I agree with Muffy. The problem with my area is that it's mountainous so you don't get service anywhere anyways...and that is a BIG problem if there is an emergency. Like, just a few weeks ago my friend got in a car accident and she was really freaked out because he cellphone had no service and who knows what would have happened to her if someone hadn't stoped by to help. Or last summer when a guy everyone knows and loves around here had a heart attack and nobody had any service and he could have died if a bus driver wasn't there to take him "back to civilization" to get an ambulance.

Texting is the new"normal" teenage thing. But I don't even have a phone anymore and just carry my ipod around with me instead... had my old one taken up in school once but got it back at the end of the week..

oh, i don't think so . it's just a new form of communicating. like most things, kids tend to grow out of it. you just happen to be stuck with the age group which is most prone to all these fads!

i didnt exactly 'grow up' with the technology, but certainly we were all texting each other by year 9 (back in the day with the brick mobile phones, lol). i dont think my age group are particularly maladjusted beings.

the same thing was said for email (instead of hand written letters) and chat (instead of a phone call) 15 years ago. i think it is difficult to understand new technologies and the younger generation's investment in them, unless you have grown up with it yourself.

just my 2c.

muffy I didn't think of those things so yes I agree on that point. however they should not be sitting in class texting. they need to be taught responsibility in the use of cell phones.

No doubt about it, cell phones save lives.

But they also take them.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3379012

Wonder how many of those kids are texting the answers to tests and stuff.

Sexting is now the big thing.

Ya, lol, "sexting" is what I suspect as I walk near students who hide their cell phones as I walk within their vicinity during my morning duty. It really worries me what is going on with their young, impressionable minds.

Of course, an argument can be made for kids having cell phones for emergency contact, but it goes much beyond that. Plus, the school would (or should) allow any student to call home in case of emergencies. If they are not allowing this, then they are at fault. I know our school does allow students to call home when there is a genuine need.

I'm 58, so yeah, I'm definitely out of touch with the need for this texting thing. I harken back to my own middle school age experience, and I recall we all started getting transistor radios which we held to our heads!

I've just had a very bad 9 weeks with the 8th graders. Much of this, I feel is due to texting. They're simply NOT there.

Here's part of an article from Iowa that seems to be on top of the issue:


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Texting in Class Sparks Bill to Ban Cell Phones
DesMoinesRegister.com
3/6/2009

A debate over Iowa students and their cell phones has shifted from the classroom to the Capitol.

Publicity about tech-savvy teenagers who pick fights, cheat on tests and trade racy photographs via text message has prompted a bill that would ban cell phones during school hours. The effort comes at a time when many Iowa school policies have loosened because administrators are tired of fighting cell phones or have embraced them as teaching tools.

"Kids are texting, and they're just not paying attention in class," said state Rep. Deborah Berry, D-Waterloo, who is pushing the bill. "Somebody has to get some control here."

Berry's bill could be a long shot, but it has sparked a widespread debate in Iowa over where schools should draw the line between embracing technology and falling victim to it.

Full Story

Patty

I didn't get a phone until I was in 10th grade, when I started driving. I'm in college now and the way my classmates are attached to their phones/computers at ALL times is ridiculous. I use mine a good bit, but I could go without for a few days and not lose any sleep!