Phones Away, Every Day

Starting this year, math classes and some social studies classes at Anderson have cubbies or phone holders that each student has to put their phone in to start the class every day.

 Mrs. Cook, who once taught math at Nagel, started this rule last year with her Algebra One students.  Mrs. Cook noticed changes in the behavior of her students with this new rule, and decided to go to the math department within Anderson to share what she learned with this new rule. 

“What I saw was not only were they paying attention to the lessons better, but the thing that was the best benefit of it was that they were talking to each other. When you have your phone in your hand, you might be texting your friend who’s in another class or whatever not thinking about the kid sitting next to you,” Mrs. Cook said. 

When students do not have their phones in class, it leads to more productivity and communication. Having phones in class gives students the opportunity to take their attention away from their classmates and the teacher who may be trying to teach a lesson. Being able to reach down to pick up a phone also leads to the temptation of looking up a hard test or homework question that the teacher could explain much better than Photomath. 

“Yesterday when I gave out quizzes I didn't have to worry about the phones anymore. Whereas I would have to watch people like a hawk, yes it could still happen, but it's refreshing not having to worry about cheating,” math teacher Mrs. Miller said. 

However, there has been some pushback from students about the new phone rule. Some students have stated that music helps them focus and not being able to have the beat playing in their ear has caused more distraction in math classes. Others have mentioned at the end of classes when students have finished their work they aren't sure what to do because they don't have their phones and haven't become comfortable with table mates. 

“At the end of the day, everyone just seems tired and unfocused. It could be related to the fact that we do not have our phones, but sometimes I reach down to check the time, and my phone is not there so I just kind of have to keep going not knowing what time it is,” Carson Welker (12) said. 

Some students at Anderson may not like this change of rules in math class because they are no longer able to communicate with their friends in other classes, can't listen to music, or even the fact that they can't as easily figure out how much time until they get to leave the class. Teachers, however, feel that this change has helped the students more than they can see. The classes that once were distracted by phones are now noisy with chit-chat between tablemates. Students are no longer able to see the answers that may be sent group chats as well. This change will help the students become more comfortable with talking to classmates they may never have tried to talk to before, and will help students decrease the amount of cheating on their phones. 

“Yes, [phones are] distracting to their learning, but honestly, the biggest benefit, and the reason why I say everyone should do this is to help the kids start to talk to each other,” Mrs. Cook said.