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hillbilly

killerbees

Not sure if this is real or not but more power to him.

At my last school students weren't even supposed to HAVE cellphones... ha.

benbaaa

A good way to deal with it is to give a warning at the start of class:

If I see or hear a cellphone while I'm teaching, it gets confiscated for the duration, and if it rings while it's sitting on my desk, I'll answer it.

That's usually enough to get teenagers reaching for the off switch.

__________________
The sleep of reason brings forth monsters.

CSFFan

A teacher in our EP took a ringing cell phone from a student and threw it across the classroom into the trash can. Not sure who paid for the phone, but apparently it was an expensive one and both the school and the parents thought the situation could have been handled differently.

Gave me a bit of a laugh.

Here is how I do it. I have an old Nokia 2600 that looks like shit. I bring it into class on the first day and tell the students its my wife's phone and I'm looking to get her a new one. I then ask the students to show me their phones...its amazing how few of my students have phones in my classes.

If a student's phone does ring, I give them a chance to explain because at times its been their parents letting them know they're at the school to pick them up, etc. If the explaination isn't good enough, I announce my wife has gotten a new cell phone and I take it. After class I give it to the Mistress of Discipline and let her know what student in which class.

Do this 2-3 times in the beginning of the semester and the word spreads.

jandajoy

That's it. Classroom management 101. Establish the precedent from day one and never stray. I always negotiated the rules with a new class and put them, the rules, up on the wall. No arguments later.

kingwilly

really outta have a school wide policy enforced by all teachers,

IMO - breaking a students phone is wrong and show the teacher has failed.

jandajoy

Agreed. In a different lifetime I'd have to visit schools. First question was "Can I see the whole school discipline policy, please?"

Essential for effective management.

mikehunt

The OP didn't appear to be at a Thai school.

I teach adults in Thailand at a government institution. Unlike many of my Thai teaching colleagues, I couldn't care less if students answer their mobile telephones during a lesson. My simple & upheld proviso is that the ringing of the phone must not disrupt the class & nor may they speak for any length of time (apart from answering the phone). They must leave the classroom if they wish to conduct a telephone conversation.
If they wish to have their lesson interrupted & thus miss out on part of the lesson, it's their business as their actions may be reflected in their results.

__________________
Oh for fucks sake! Get a life & stop trying to fuck mine up!

billzant

Cellphones should be switched off during lessons, and only used for emergency contact outside lessons.

Hope you are keeping well,

All the Best

Bill Z

Chairman Mao

It's when you do a 'teach the teachers' novelty class once a year and one just sits there nattering away into hers, is when it gets on my tits.

Only happened once. Didn't happen again.

Mister Fixit

Never mind, you've a year to go until the next class.

Thommo

Captain Cook never had a cell phone

Lord Peter Flint

Small jammer units are cheap and readily available to be stored in a teachers bag next to ones luncheon box rendering all comm's in the classroom strangely inoperable.

kwai73

This term I've screwed up and thrown away a kid's newspaper up that he was reading during a voluntary IELTS class I teach (meaning the daft prick didn't need to be there so could have noisily rustled his newspaper at home) and lobbed another kid's bottle of juice (that he kept annoyingly tapping on his desk) out of the window.

Haven't yet smashed up a mobile phone or PSP - building up to that!

Getting tired of Asian uni kids behaving like fucking 8 year olds back home might

kwai73

One wanker I taught (a teacher doing his Master's) sat there pissing about on his laptop, interrupting occasionally to comment on such weighty issues as women with dark sakin.

Then had the fucking audacity to come on to me after he'd just come out as a batty man.

Gotta love teaching in Thailand.

I did. So much so I'm now teaching in China!

kingwilly

and you think behaving like that a fucking 8 year old yourself is gonna help??



role modeling people.

kwai73

Not really.

Felt better after though.

I may well switch to teaching children rather than young adults, as I've got no problem with children acting like children. It's young adults acting like children that I can't abide.

kwai73

In any case, it's not like I hadn't explained my rules to the 'kids'

kingwilly

so that makes it ok.

i hope one of their parents busts your ass or sues you.

disgrace

kwai73

If you say so mate!