Most students in school have phones that they use for the entire day, some to keep in touch with their family and friends, others use them to watch movies and play games. With phones being so accessible, they can cause distractions in classrooms and take away from students’ learning. Teachers have to deal with these distractions in their classes and have different ways of enforcing how phones are used in class.
Maddison Phelps, who teaches English, shares how she feels when someone is using a phone in her class when she is lecturing, “having conversation with someone who’s just staring at a screen, it gets really hard.”
Being a highschool teacher and working with teenagers everyday can be difficult sometimes. And now teachers have to worry about not only students talking to their friends, but also having to tell students to put their phones away. Some teachers in the school have decided to have a place for students to put their phones for the class period.
Kristina Bruton, a veteran DHS English teacher, decided to implement a system for students to put their phones in assigned spots “in order to help students make better decisions.”
While students may not like putting their phones in assigned locations, it helps the students as they do not get distracted by their phones in class. It also helps the teachers because they do not have to worry about students using their phones in class. While phones are a distraction some students also use earbuds to listen to music in class, which can lead to them not listening to the teachers when they are giving out directions.
Peter Fogg, a new teacher at DHS, talks about how he feels about the use of headphones in his class. “I’m pretty lenient about it generally, I would say anytime we’re doing independent stuff it’s fine to have earbuds in,” said Fogg.
All teachers are different in how they regulate how phones and headphones are used in class, but generally, teachers believe that phones are distracting students from their work. Some teachers will allow students to use their phones for music during work time. In conclusion, teachers think that phones are a source of distraction, but some teachers also believe that phones can be used in a more productive way like allowing students to listen to music because music may help some students focus on their work. While phones cause controversy, it is important to remember that school is a place where we learn.
