“Cell phone-free classroom” good for students, teacher says

[rooster59]

“Cell phone-free classroom” good for students, teacher says

 

Noticing that students pay more attention to smartphone screen than to classroom board, a school in Phitsanulok province has launched a mobile-phone-free-classroom project to make them focus on classroom lessons.

 

Teachers at the St. Nicholas Catholic Church school in Muang district said the project has proved to be of advantages to students, parents and teachers in term of educational results.

 

Under the  “No mobile phones in class” rules, every morning before the class begins, designated students of each classroom will collect all mobile phones that students carrying in and keep them in a locker. This is to prevent students from using them while in the classrooms. The phones will be  returned to them after school hours in the afternoon.

 

Several students admitted that having mobile phones with them keep them off-task.

 

Phones will keep them disengage in learning environment but always task them to unrelated behaviour such as playing games or texting.

 

Keeping them in lockers made them to have more attention to learning, they said.

 

Full story: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/cell-phone-free-classroom-good-students-teacher-says/

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2017-07-23

[Thaiwrath]

This wins the "Most obvious statement of the year" award.

Setting a great example !

Only problem is, if the teacher asks " what is 1 + 1, they ill all be snookered !  

[jaywalker]

41 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

“Cell phone-free classroom” good for students, teacher says

“Cell phone-free classroom” good for students, teacher says

 

You reckon???? When I was in school I was always trying pass notes to cute girls, were many boy & girls were doing the same.

 

If the teacher busted you, she'd read it out loud to the whole class and embarrass the shit out of the author.

Edited July 22, 2017 by jaywalker

[jaywalker]

36 minutes ago, Thaiwrath said:

This wins the "Most obvious statement of the year" award.

Setting a great example !

Only problem is, if the teacher asks " what is 1 + 1, they ill all be snookered !  

Nah, they'll whip out a calculator.

[greenchair]

I just don't understand why playing phones was allowed in the classroom in the first place. 

My pet hate is the math teachers telling the students to multiply simple equations on the phone. 

Then we have teachers constantly giving children homework that require research on the cell phone. 

The children just copy it and the work is given a grade. 

For what? 

[jaywalker]

3 minutes ago, greenchair said:

I just don't understand why playing phones was allowed in the classroom in the first place. 

My pet hate is the math teachers telling the students to multiply simple equations on the phone. 

Then we have teachers constantly giving children homework that require research on the cell phone. 

The children just copy it and the work is given a grade. 

For what? 

For taking a few minutes off from playing Angry Birds.

Edited July 22, 2017 by jaywalker

[wotsdermatter]

I started taking away phones, and calculators many years ago.  Students did not like it at the beginning as they could not call friends, etc. but within a couple of days forgot about them and their attention and learning curves improved.  Some parents even met with me and said they appreciated what I had done and a few even took away the phones from their children, especially when they had homework to do.  The parents and even some of my university students found that their studies improved as a result of the changes in behaviour because of this action. 

[JAG]

It's not new, my school has been doing it for years...

[LazySlipper]

Once again I will say... we did not have them when  we were younger. Hell no computers when I was in High school...

The computer was the library and the index cards we had to use to do our research.

[jaywalker]

9 minutes ago, LazySlipper said:

Once again I will say... we did not have them when  we were younger. Hell no computers when I was in High school...

The computer was the library and the index cards we had to use to do our research.

Good old Dewey decimal system.

 

We didn't have computers either, though there was a typing class I could have and wish that I had taken. I type with two or three fingers, depending on whether I have a ciggie in my hand now.

 

I had an encyclopedia set at home. I constantly had my nose buried in it. I'd see something on TV about Africa or Asia & go look it up in my encyclopedia.

 

I had a GIANT Webster's dictionary always close at hand too.

 

I started reading adult level novels when I was maybe 10?

 

I was FASCINATED with "How the West Was Won"

 

It was about 900 pages or so & my first adult level book.

 

Since then I've probably read thousands of books.

[maewang99]

so they go back to the 'old ways' in this one classroom.
 

one day I found a precarious place to observe a special classroom....

in the "best" English teaching public high school in the province.. if not the North....  
of the "best" Thai civil service English instructor at that school or any I'd yet seen...

an unflinchingly disciplined ajarn in and out of the classroom....

I was shocked. I really was and I am not at all naïve.  I had seen plenty up to then.... not.

*****every***** student in this "wonderful classroom experience"... had either a cell phone... ****or****.... a comic book, it's easy to spot with lots of big pictures .... pictures are very important... gotta have those.. it's why smartphones are "smart".. yes?

hidden inside their classroom material...

100% of the entire class (which is exactly 55 students at that school except for the "bad" section)...   

and in essence, this senior Thai ajarn, who drove a very far distance almost 2 provinces away, both ways twice a day....

[ can you tell I'm a green person? ]

this ajarn. who I otherwise admired.... no fingerprint machine needed for this senior ajarn.... and she read perfectly good English.... from a book in front of the classroom.....

here's the kicker....

she was reading outloud........................ to herself [and no one else, not a single other soul]. and this was her only teaching method... class after class after class.... year after year after year.....

but extremely respected by all.

so... they switch to comic books and romance novels. 

 

Edited July 23, 2017 by maewang99

[JAG]

Once again I will say... we did not have them when  we were younger. Hell no computers when I was in High school...
The computer was the library and the index cards we had to use to do our research.

Good old Dewey decimal system.
 
We didn't have computers either, though there was a typing class I could have and wish that I had taken. I type with two or three fingers, depending on whether I have a ciggie in my hand now.
 
I had an encyclopedia set at home. I constantly had my nose buried in it. I'd see something on TV about Africa or Asia & go look it up in my encyclopedia.
 
I had a GIANT Webster's dictionary always close at hand too.
 
I started reading adult level novels when I was maybe 10?
 
I was FASCINATED with "How the West Was Won"
 
It was about 900 pages or so & my first adult level book.
 
Since then I've probably read thousands of books.

Yes, I love to read too ( as long as the book doesn't have too many long words like wheelbarrow and marmalade) but computers and smartphones are here to stay. Just as the wheel was invented, oh three thousand years ago, and has irrevocably changed the course of life, so for the computer. The pace of change is much faster though.
In a society such as Thailand, which doesn't have a widespread tradition of reading or books, then the computer is bringing access to the sort of information and resources you describe to millions.

But not cellphones in the classroom, it's just the C21 equivalent of reading comics under the desk...

[jaywalker]

19 minutes ago, JAG said:

 

 

Yes, I love to read too ( as long as the book doesn't have too many long words like wheelbarrow and marmalade) but computers and smartphones are here to stay. Just as the wheel was invented, oh three thousand years ago, and has irrevocably changed the course of life, so for the computer. The pace of change is much faster though.
In a society such as Thailand, which doesn't have a widespread tradition of reading or books, then the computer is bringing access to the sort of information and resources you describe to millions.

But not cellphones in the classroom, it's just the C21 equivalent of reading comics under the desk...

 

 

I used to try & sneak a novel into the classroom & read it instead of a textbook chapter or two (which I could do in 10 minutes). Get bored, and peal out my novel and hide it in my textbook.

 

Ever read H. Rider Haggard?

 

Victorian English & VERY difficult to get into at first, due to the flowery prose, but HIGHLY addictive once you get into the guy, & yes, alas, I downloaded all his books from Gutenberg.org as they are public domain now.

 

I think The People Of The Mist should be required reading for everyone. Put it on a tablet/translate it...whatever, then the kids can get a digital fix that way.

 

Haggard is on Gutenberg.org for free.

Edited July 23, 2017 by jaywalker

[maewang99]

there is no substitute for books.

not textbooks.  books. 

example. a movie doesn't require your own imagination.... and there always has to be an Audience Surrogate in every movie. which is very very damaging. it doesn't just fall short. same same TV shows and.. now we have a TV Surrogate US president.

they are doomed if smartphones are their primary connection to the world.... 

if all you are is a trainable robot.... as well as a sheeple.....

in ten years or less you are totally doomed... that will include.... market sellers, shelf stockers, hamburger flippers and red and yellow taxi drivers for sure. maybe even ice delivery men. 

 

 

Edited July 23, 2017 by maewang99

[jaywalker]

2 minutes ago, maewang99 said:

they are doomed if smartphones is mots of their time spent getting a perspective... and a connection with the rest of human society. 

Well said!

[robblok]

5 minutes ago, maewang99 said:

there is no substitute for books.

not textbooks.  books. 

example. a movie doesn't require your own imagination.... and there always has to be an Audience Surrogate. which is very very damaging. it doesn't just fall short. same same TV shows and.. now we have a TV Surrogate Action hero US president.

they are doomed if smartphones is mots of their time spent getting a perspective... and a connection with the rest of human society. 

because reading, and sharing what you read with others... the sharing part is just as important... and it ain;t jsyut for students... anyone who ever stops "being a student"............. never was a student.

if all you are is a trainable robot.... in ten years or less you are totally doomed. that will include market sellers, hamburger flippers and red and yellow taxi drivers for sure.

 

 

Your a funny guy doomed because of not reading books.. you do understand that humans have not read books for the most part of their history and we were not doomed, we evolved until were we are now.

 

I can tell you the internet is a great place for information, if i had had it earlier in life I had learned even more. The information that is available on forums and articles is huge many times that of a library. I can still remember when i started working out there was no internet.. we learned from the people who were there. Later we really had access to information on the internet and saw what we did wrong. If I had had that information back when I was young.. wow what a difference it would have made.

 

Just think of all the information that is available about computers and stuff on the internet, its a great place if you can use it and that is what those kids learn. Its an information age and they learn to access it.

 

When i studied law (mainly tax law but also other parts of the law) the first thing the teacher told me was, don't learn stuff by heart learn where you can find it in the law and learn where you can find explanation of the law. Now the same principle applies to the internet if you know where to find stuff and how to use it you are golden.

 

Its just that this forum is habituated by old fart who are too set in their ways to see the future, though most do understand how to use a forum and see the value of it so they can't be all bad.

 

I don't think its a good idea to let kids PLAY with their phones during class but to use them in a good way at certain times is not bad at all. There are times for listening and times for self study.. during the listening part.. no phones ... self study.. good to have a phone and internet. I prefer a computer as it is even better (size of the screen ect)

[mikebell]

Stating the bleedin' obvious.  Phones are not collected in UK schools- they are told you cannot use them on pain of confiscation.  If enforced it works.  Shame the Thai police don't realise this about traffic law.... actually all law.

[AGareth2]

25 minutes ago, robblok said:

I don't think its a good idea to let kids PLAY with their phones during class but to use them in a good way at certain times is not bad at all

this is a good point but takes management

[robblok]

Just now, AGareth2 said:

this is a good point but takes management

It takes good teachers, that is a problem, i have been in classes with teachers that were great at controlling the pupils, and those that could not keep order at all. None of them used violence of course. There were huge differences in the quality of teachers and that was in a first world country. I can only imagine how it is here. 

 

But I am against using phones to PLAY during class, but phones can be used in a good way too. But that would be mainly during the self study part of schooling. There is so much information available though with young kids it might not work. But the amount of information available is huge it might even encourage people to study English to get access to even more information. Phones are mini computers and can be used for good and bad.

[jaywalker]

32 minutes ago, robblok said:

Your a funny guy doomed because of not reading books..

I think you should re-read the Maewang's post Rob.

 

He never said one thing negative about the internet.

 

Have another Chang!

[robblok]

3 minutes ago, jaywalker said:

I think you should re-read the Maewang's post Rob.

 

He never said one thing negative about the internet.

 

Have another Chang!

What do you think phones are connected too... people share things.. on facebook.. he is stuck in the past like so many. You can use phones / computers for good and bad. But the fact remains that there is far more information on the Internet then there will ever be in a library. I can get my books from the internet. I got far more useful information from the internet then I ever got from books. I loved our local library when I was young but it pales in comparison to the internet. People just share things differently now then before.

 

Can you imagine all those people moaning about books that were killing oral tradition that was in existence before books became commonplace. 

 

As for Chang.. I don't drink (maybe once every few months and certainly not this early)

[Prairieboy]

Any students I interact with have the attention span of a flea.  Asking them to multi-task (listen to the teacher and play Angry Birds) is a recipe for failure.  Oops - I forgot you can't fail a student!

[jaywalker]

17 minutes ago, jaywalker said:

Your a funny guy doomed because of not reading books..

"

  46 minutes ago, maewang99 said:

there is no substitute for books.

not textbooks.  books. "

 

The guy said he LOVED books!

 

Glad you never did my taxes!  

[worgeordie]

Who will take a snapshot of the teacher beating a kid up,if no Phones in

the classroom, seriously they need to be banned in more places,they are

worse than drugs,just go anywhere people are gathered and most of them

will be tapping away,Zombies. you can tell I don't own one.

regards Worgeordie

[jaywalker]

3 minutes ago, Prairieboy said:

Any students I interact with have the attention span of a flea.  Asking them to multi-task (listen to the teacher and play Angry Birds) is a recipe for failure.  Oops - I forgot you can't fail a student!

I probably ruined a 20-something Thai guy once.

 

I had 4 of them, theoretically "working" for me & a couple were constantly fiddling with a phone. I was trying to teach them how to become master mechanics on a specific bit of military equipment.

 

One guy (Ott) was super good. His younger brother (Nat) was utterly worthless. I wanted to fire Nat a thousand times, but if he went then Ott would go with him. Hopeless situation.

 

I had been on xhamster & downloaded a few hundred pictures at work out of sheer boredom (at work - I just checked on them every 15 - 20 minutes) & showed a couple to Nat on my laptop.

 

He had me bluetooth the whole album to his phone.

 

I'd imagine he went thru a gallon of hand cream that evening.

 

 

[klauskunkel]

4 hours ago, rooster59 said:

“Cell phone-free classroom” good for students, teacher says

Wow. You just found that out, huh? It took so long, did you use a committee?

[jaywalker]

8 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

Who will take a snapshot of the teacher beating a kid up,if no Phones in

the classroom, seriously they need to be banned in more places,they are

worse than drugs,just go anywhere people are gathered and most of them

will be tapping away,Zombies. you can tell I don't own one.

regards Worgeordie

Nor do I.

 

If it can't be done on a full keyboard, it can wait till I get to one.

 

I have a cheap Samsung tablet that's pretty good for a camera though. I use it about once a month.

[jaywalker]

1 minute ago, klauskunkel said:

Wow. You just found that out, huh? It took so long, did you use a committee?

They formed a committee to form several sub committees first.

[LannaGuy]

Thais and their phones are like monkey's and their bananas. I'd like restaurants to be phone free too!   

Edited July 23, 2017 by LannaGuy

[mtls2005]

Cameras streaming the classroom, accessible by parents and others, would go a long way towards improving most aspects of education here.