No More Mobiles – Six Weeks in

At the start of September, I wrote my post No more mobiles about why we took the decision to ban mobile phones from school. There were several reasons, the foremost being the level of distraction they created. That original post generated quite a bit of interest, as did this follow up after the first week. Here’s the view from six weeks in.

Testing the boundary 

It probably won’t surprise teachers that after a smooth first week with only a handful of students using their phones, a few more decided to test the boundary in the second and third weeks, with a few more phones in evidence and a couple of arguments. The peak was only 24 phones in a week, though. I don’t think four or five a day is that bad, and once it became clear that the new rule was here to stay, that quickly dropped back to a few a week. We also had a couple of disgruntled parents, but they also complied with the policy when it was explained to them (one not to happy that his daughter’s plea that he must come in immediately to get her phone was not exactly the case!)

The Art of Conversation

As we approach the half term holiday, the main impact of the ban is as it appeared in the first week – students are spending much more time talking to each other face to face. At break and lunchtime, our cafeteria, social spaces and playgrounds are full of groups of children, chatting, smiling and laughing. The phones do come out again at the end of the school day, but they don’t seem to be missed in school.
As we thought, we have made some concessions for individuals who are, for example Young Carers or use apps to assist because English is an additional language. Our policy has also identified a few pupils with several phones – four confiscated from one, three of which parents didn’t know about!  Clearly a concern and that is being followed up.

Hopefully we have set the pattern for the year ahead. We are now planning specific ways in which pupils can use mobile devices purposefully, perhaps on Bring Your Own Device Days. As always, your comments are very welcome.

Fantastic Four: A fourth year of inspirational education quotes

I collect inspirational education quotes. I use these for ‘quote of the week’ on our staffroom notice board. This is the fourth year of quotes – 38 are listed in each collection, enough for one for each week of the school year. You can read the collections from previous years here:

Quote of the week – inspiration for Monday mornings

Quote of the week 2 – more inspiration for Monday mornings

Quote of the week – a third year of inspiration

As with the previous collections, I have done my best to ensure that each of the quotes below is accurate and attributed correctly. My apologies if I have made any mistakes – please let me know of any errors and I will rectify them. I hope you find these quotes as inspirational as I have.

1. Your attitude is as important as your aptitude. Tanya Accone
2. Music is an element that should be part and parcel is of every child’s life via the education system. Victoria Wood
3. There is no system in the world, or any school in the country that is better than its teachers. Teachers are the lifeblood of the success of schools. Sir Ken Robinson
4. Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement. Matt Biondi
5. Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth. Muhammad Ali
6. If you want the best out of life you have to be ready when the opportunity comes. Heimir Hallgrímsson
7. Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great. John D. Rockefeller
8. Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better. Dylan Wiliam
9. Millions saw the apple fall but Newton asked why. Bernard Baruch
10. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in. Isaac Asimov
11. Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching. C.S. Lewis
12. I wasn’t one of those kids destined to be a champion. It was a slow, steady slog. Sir Chris Hoy
13. There are no shortcuts to any place worth going. Beverly Sills
14. Amateurs call it genius, masters call it practice. Thierry Henry
15. You’ll never see a video game advertised as being easy. Kids who don’t like school will tell you it’s not because it’s too hard, it’s because it’s boring. Seymour Papert
16. You can’t teach people everything they need to know. The best you can do is position them where they can find what they need to know when they need to know it. Seymour Papert
17. In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or to step back into safety. Abraham Maslow
18. Skill is only developed by hours and hours of work. Usain Bolt
19. If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. Dr. Wayne Dyer
20. Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. Marcel Proust
21. Success… Is the result of continual preparation, hard work and learning from failure. Geraint Thomas
22. True ignorance is not the absence of knowledge but the refusal to acquire it. Karl Popper
23. What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to a human soul. Joseph Addison
24. In order to succeed, people need a sense of self-efficacy, to struggle together with resilience to meet the inevitable obstacles and inequities of life. Albert Bandura
25. Teaching is a beautiful job; as it allows you to see the growth day by day of people entrusted to your care. Pope Francis
26. Teaching is a wonderful way to learn. Carol Dweck
27. The best thing about being a teacher is that it matters. The hardest thing about being a teacher is that it matter every day. Todd Whittaker
28. A prudent question is one half of wisdom. Sir Francis Bacon
29. Ask at the end of each & every day: “What Went Right Today?” Angela Maiers
30. Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will. Mahatma Gandhi
31. Education is transformational, the force that erases arbitrary divisions of race and class and culture and unlocks every person’s God-given potential. Condoleezza Rice
32. The answers you get depend on the questions you ask. Thomas Kuhn
33. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts. Henry David Thoreau (via @AbdulRazaq_DPH)
34. I find the quietest times of my life speak the loudest. Regina Dugan
35. If your plan is for one year, plant rice. If your plan is for ten years, plant trees. If your plan is for 100 years, educate children. Confucius
36. By being yourself, you put something wonderful in the world that was not there before. Edwin Elliot
37. Children have to want to learn. So give them the love of story first and the rest will follow. Michael Morpurgo via @Booktrust
38. A river cuts through rock not because of its power but because of its persistence. Jim Watkins

I hope you find these useful. Comments are always welcome and I always appreciate hearing about words of wisdom that inspire you.