Last year, Meridian High School junior JoAnn Clark would have been scolded for taking her cellphone out in class. A teacher might have taken it away until the end of the school day.
Now the 16-year-old, who got a smartphone a couple of weeks ago, regularly uses it in classes.
She uses it to take photos of chemistry experiments that are incorporated into PowerPoint and Windows MovieMaker presentations.
With the help of an app, she uses her phone as a calculator in her pre-calculus class. Rather than look up a word in her Spanish book, she sometimes uses Google translator.
She also uses it to check her grades — teachers post them online — and her calendar (helps her keep track of her basketball games).
Meridian High adopted a new approach to cellphones this year.
“The expectation is that they’re put away,” said Geoff Stands, principal at Meridian High School. “But you have leeway as a teacher. If there’s something that the phone can enhance, by all means, do it.”
MAXIMIZE THE BENEFITS
Educators across the Treasure Valley are looking for ways to tap into and maximize the educational benefits of students’ cellphones, smartphones and other electronic devices in kids’ pockets and backpacks.
Managing the burgeoning devices is tricky. With all of their capabilities come pitfalls.
What’s the harm in a student using e-readers, such as a Kindle or Nook, to read a book in class?
“Your hardback book doesn’t usually come with games,” said Allison Westfall, a spokeswoman for the Nampa School District. She said the e-readers now offer enticing and distracting games like Angry Birds.
And there are risks, such as cheating. Kids can easily share answers via text or photograph an assignment or quiz.
If a student loses a $200 phone at school, it’s gone and there’s nothing the district can do about it. The issue of kids “sexting” — the texting of explicit photos —made headlines in the Treasure Valley in 2009. Prosecutors said the problem had been quietly growing since the early 2000s.
POLICIES EVOLVE WITH TECHNOLOGY
Despite the potential pitfalls, zero-tolerance policies that kept the handheld communication devices out of sight during the school day are giving way to more nuanced approaches, as administrators and teachers recognize the phones’ value in the educational process.
“It’s a radical change in a year’s time,” Stands said.
Prior to this school year, teachers at Meridian High School confiscated cellphones from students who pulled them out during class or between classes for unauthorized uses. The phones would end up in a lock box in the school’s front office.
At any given time, there would be 15 phones in the box — which may sound like a lot, but there are 1,400 students at the school. Teachers would have to log them and take them to the main office at the end of the day; students or parents would have to reclaim them.
“It became a management issue for teachers,” Stands said. “What if one comes up missing?”
The principal said it was a distracting waste of instructional time.
Instead of taking away phones, teachers today treat such infractions as any other classroom discipline issue that they follow up on with students and parents.
Meridian High students may be less inclined to sneak peeks of their screens in class because they are now allowed to use them between classes and during lunch. Last year, they were permitted to use phones only during lunch — outside the school buildings.
STUDENTS LOVE IT
Physics teacher Mike McClendon developed a curriculum that incorporates cellphones and did a pilot of that class last year. In May, he gave administrators a progress report.
One concern he addressed was about kids who don’t have phones. Students work in lab teams, so only one phone is needed per team.
Students used their phones to create step-by-step illustrated lab reports. They used “cell calculators” to do math and graphing. They used them as stopwatches during experiments.
McClendon surveyed students, and 94 percent said they thought phone use was “good” or “loved it.” Most wanted to see it developed and added to other classes.
Stands said it’s entirely up to the teacher. One history teacher, for example, doesn’t want phones on in her class.
“She has a little sign that says ‘Turn them off, put them away,’ ” he said. “The kids respect her, and they don’t have problems with it.”
At Boise’s Timberline High, Principal Rich Webb said he realized last summer that teachers need to catch up to kids when it comes to what smartphone technology offers.
“We had to change our policy at Timberline to help empower faculty members to understand what they could be used for, and then encourage the use of those inside the educational setting,” Webb said.
His smartphone has helped him organize his life better, allowing him to connect with colleagues, look up schedules and stay on top of email.
Using the device as an organizational tool is “one of the things we need to model” for students, Webb said.
Other schools in the Treasure Valley, including Nampa’s Columbia High School, are looking for innovative ways to include phones in curriculum.
GENERATION SMARTPHONE
Generations who survived childhood without a mobile phone marvel at the proliferation of the expensive devices among children.
About 20 percent of students at Boise’s Whittier Elementary School have cellphones, while 90 to 95 percent of students at Timberline High School have them, according to school officials.
Whittier Principal Derek Gardner said some parents like to have direct contact with their kids, and they see the phone as a good safety tool.
“Also, now, a lot fewer people have home (landline) phones,” Gardner said. “If you’re trying to get hold of your daughter, she has to have a cellphone.”
The Caldwell School District doesn’t yet have a districtwide policy on electronic communication devices, but the Boise district has had one since 1997.
The Boise policy, which has been revised several times, simply warns students that their devices may be confiscated if they are found to be disruptive.
Kids are growing up with cellphones, so they are learning the responsibilities that come with the devices at a young age. At North Junior High in Boise, phones are supposed to be off from bell to bell — 7:50 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
“As soon as that bell rings, they all have their cellphones in their hands,” North Junior High Principal Teri Thaemert said.
A former assistant principal used to have a sign on his door that listed how many days it had been since he had to confiscate a cellphone.
“The most he ever got up to was 10 days with no violations,” said Thaemert, who doesn’t think phones are a big problem at her school.
UPGRADING WITH AGE
Jenny Cavoretto’s 12-year-old daughter has carried a cellphone to school every day since first grade. The first phone was basic with a few pre-programmed numbers, including Mom, Dad and day care.
“If she was at a friend’s house, if she needed anything, she would have a way to get hold of us without having to remember numbers,” said Cavoretto, a 30-year-old Meridian mom.
Her daughter graduated to a flip-phone in third grade then gained the ability to text in fifth or sixth grade.
“It was easier to communicate. If we were at work, she could text us,” Cavoretto said. “My husband and I text quite a bit.”
Her daughter is now in seventh grade. She’s been good about leaving her cellphone in her locker when she’s at school — her mom checks that she’s not texting during school hours — so her parents are considering getting her an iPhone when she’s 13.
The smartphone will give her a multiplicity of new uses, including Internet browsing and photo/video capability. The phone also would double as the teen’s musical storage device, instead of her iPod.
“It’s a reward for being responsible and getting good grades,” said Cavoretto. “There will definitely be a lot of rules that we’ll be enforcing, and checking up on things.”
Katy Moeller: 377-6413
