Guilty...as charged!

I confess that I'm totally at fault for being lax with my classroom reflections. Despite being MIA for the past eight months, I'm pleased to acknowledge that I'm still very much engaged in the classroom. Yes, I have legitimate excuses....from being forced from my classroom as a result of the massive construction project taking place in our school, to being overwhelmed with putting too much on my plate while donating my time and efforts to extra-curricular activities, and then interlacing it with commitments to our marriage. Yes, they're all there.....but excuses don't legitimize my shortcomings. Shame on me!

With five years of teaching now behind my belt, I still have an ongoing passion and commitment to teach high school students. They give me hope for the world, while also inciting fear for their shortcomings. However this year, more than ever, electronics continue to dominate their free time. In many instances, I fear, iPhones have become their best friend. As a result I sense they're becoming more disengaged with face-to-face socialization, many times using it as a barrier to socializing. When I arrive to school at 6:30 AM everyday, I always find 3-4 students sitting in the commons area, totally unaware of the surroundings but thoroughly immersed in games on their phones. I contend this generation's addiction to games will impact test scores as some point in their education, if not post-school performance.

A psychology professor at San Diego State, Jean Twenge, recently wrote an article in The Atlantic noting that the rise of cell phones and social media has created a generation that spends less time with friends and more time alone in their rooms on their phones. Citing data from the 'Monitoring the Future' survey, Twenge said that teenagers who spend more time online than they do with their friends are the most likely to report being lonely and feeling left out.

While I acknowledge that electronics can enhance learning in the classroom, I also know from personal experience that when students have phones or unrestricted laptops out in class — and are texting, surfing the web, or posting on social media — they are only half-present (if that). I do everything I can in attempting to make my classes as interactive as possible, with students engaged in discussions, group work, or other tasks. When I have a roomful of half-present students who are distracted, it detracts from what we as a class can accomplish on any given day.

Once school resumes after the Christmas break, I sometimes dread going back to the classroom, knowing that many students will have new phones with which I now have to contend with. While it might sound as if I favor the banning of all devices from schools, I am anything but of that opinion. Such a ban can single out students with accommodations who need those devices to participate in class, so the conversation regarding responsible use and between students and Mr. D will continue into the foreseeable future.