It has been great to be back to school since Winter break. The students are eager, our unit on The American Revolution is going well, and the students are engaged and really thinking. The one thing that I have noticed is the abundance of phones coming to school, coming out of backpacks at the end of the day, and some issues surrounding them.
We understand the need of parents to keep in contact with their child. Many parents want to know that their child has made it to school, is leaving school, and have arrived home. A phone is a good tool for that. My concern is when a child is using it to surf the net, download and share videos and music, and is unsupervised with their phone use.
Our school rules on phone use is that when the student gets to school, the phone is turned off and stored deep in a backpack. If the student is concerned that is might be taken, they are able to store it in my desk and retrieve at at the end of the day. At the end of the day, the students are not to turn them on until after 3, and off campus. If they need to check in right away, they can come into my room and call.
My question, does a 10-11 year old need a smartphone? If they have one, are controls in place to restrict access when not supervised by an adult? What do you think? If you are thinking about getting a phone for your child, please consider one that only allows for numbers that you program, and restricts access when not supervised. If you need more information about that, please let me know.
Morgan
We understand the need of parents to keep in contact with their child. Many parents want to know that their child has made it to school, is leaving school, and have arrived home. A phone is a good tool for that. My concern is when a child is using it to surf the net, download and share videos and music, and is unsupervised with their phone use.
Our school rules on phone use is that when the student gets to school, the phone is turned off and stored deep in a backpack. If the student is concerned that is might be taken, they are able to store it in my desk and retrieve at at the end of the day. At the end of the day, the students are not to turn them on until after 3, and off campus. If they need to check in right away, they can come into my room and call.
My question, does a 10-11 year old need a smartphone? If they have one, are controls in place to restrict access when not supervised by an adult? What do you think? If you are thinking about getting a phone for your child, please consider one that only allows for numbers that you program, and restricts access when not supervised. If you need more information about that, please let me know.
Morgan