This blog contains comments from EDUCATORS who find themselves on the front lines of a war that has been waged against public education across this nation since the landmark decision in 1954 of Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka. Herein are the thoughts of Educators who serve young people across America today. While the daily challenges to increase student achievement have been discussed in circles across this nation, few of those voices include those who are the true soldiers in this battle to educate young people.
The lessons taught to students, present and past and their reactions to various assignments, can serve as a mini-lesson for those adults who are responsible for raising children. We are particularly concerned with those students who are being raised in one of the many poor and segregated urban centers across this nation. This blog serves as an authentic assessment of where our young people are in relation to what is expected of them and it will enable the reader to visit the urban classroom to gain insight into....THE CHRONICLES OF AN URBAN EDUCATOR....
While my intent is not to pen a rant, this post will read like one I am sure. As a well-trained and highly prepared teacher, I am tired of the endless daily distractions and interruptions caused by cell phones. When young people have cell phones, the adults in their lives lose all power to monitor who the child is talking to and what the child is talking about. When young people are allowed to have cell phones in school, the teacher is then engaged in a battle with the outside world and young people who rarely value education.
Forget the fact that I am educating young people, many of whom are not reading or writing at or near their grade level. And never mind the fact that the vast majority of my students are growing up in abject poverty. Despite the aforementioned realities, most of my students have a cell phone on their hip, in their purse, or somewhere in their book bag. While there are those who argue that young people today must be able to navigate technology, I, and many educators across this nation, see cell phones as an impediment to an educators’ ability to increase the intellect of students.
My students come to my classroom with a host of academic, behavioral and social deficits. My job includes but is not limited to nurturing and increasing intellect but that cannot happen in isolation. Education is a process that necessarily requires the presence of a teacher AND a student. Not just a physical presence but a mental presence free of distractions. My students and adolescents all across America are not personally disciplined enough to complete and comprehend their lesson while tweeting, updating their Facebook statuses, or answering calls from Mom and other family members during instruction.
Over the course of 4 years, how positively or negatively will cell phones ultimately impact the quality of a students’ high school education?
See what students think...http://www.pressherald.com/news/student-texting-elicits-_2011-03-20.html
See what students think...http://www.pressherald.com/news/student-texting-elicits-_2011-03-20.html
Wouldn't it be amazing if ALL the cell phones students have could also double as text books? Then let a student say, "I couldn't do my homework 'cause I left my book at school." Ha! How in the world would they get out of that? Now that is appropriate use of technology!
ReplyDeletegood article. I run into the same problem with adults in my groups.
ReplyDeleteThese same misguided parents who provide the instruments of distraction will defend their actions by saying they need to always be able to communicate with their child, especially in "these times that we livin' in!". But I will contest that these same said parents when asked what their child is doing, who that child is doing it with, and where is this child as we speak, I almost guarantee will shake their heads with a negative response. They don't really COMMUNICATE with their children like they would have you believe. A good parent would make sure that child knows the difference between disrupting their educational opportunity and that of others, and communicating needs or emergencies throughout the day. I pray the day does not come when we need to send the child out into the world with a firearm because the TIMES HAVE CHANGES and he/she may need to defend themselves.
ReplyDeleteThere ought to be rules governing cell phones. Perhaps they need to be checked in at the classroom door and released after class.
ReplyDeleteCell phones have no place in the classroom. I do however believe students need a phone to communicate with parents if they have to walk a long distance to and from school or use public transportation. During school hours phones should be turned off and definitely not visible. In an emergency during school office they are able to use the phone in the office. That's what we did many moons ago!
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