This afternoon I spent a portion of a staff PD day
discussing our school rules and potential changes for next year. We went over the
usual suspect; gum chewing, cell phones and dress code. The discussion was
heated as it usually is when it comes to things that people feel strongly on.
Myself, I want kids to be able to use cell phones in class, but there are many
that want them completely banned. Gum chewing is the same way in that I don’t
care if kids chew it in my class. There is plenty of research indicating the
positive effects of gum chewing on concentration and focus. Yet, because it is
a school rule, I enforce it in my classroom and don’t allow it to be chewed.
After all this discussion, I headed home and started to
think about the whole process and had a bit of an epiphany. None of these
discussions or potential rule changes had to do with student behavior but
rather on staff behavior. Let me explain…
The gum chewing conversation came about because many
teachers were not enforcing the rule and some sit in front of their class
chewing it themselves. Yes, I realize gum chewing is not that big of a deal in the
grand scheme of things. However, if it is a school rule it must be enforced
universally or it causes confusion among students and pits teachers against
each other. I am labeled a “mean teacher” if I follow the rule we have in our
handbook when others are not. So, this rule discussion was really not about
kids chewing gum, but more about teacher’s enforcing a rule or not.
When looking at the cell phone policy, it is again more
about the staff than the students. Anyone with half a brain knows the potential
power of a cell phone in terms of a learning tool in a classroom. For resource
strapped schools, these phones are mini-computers in kid’s hands. Why would we
not want a kid to be able to pull out a phone and in seconds be connected and
pulling information they need? Yet, this rule is not about that. It is about
those staff members that are not willing to a) actively monitor their
classrooms if students are using them and b) not willing to teach digital citizenship through their use.
We are so afraid of a student doing something “bad” with a cell phone that we
miss learning opportunities. Yes, kids could take pictures and post them on Facebook
of themselves and friends doing silly things in the back of your class. I would
argue that is a reflection of the teacher as much as the student.
On a total sidebar, I laugh at the number of teachers who
are constantly on their cell phones during school hours texting, emailing,
updating status and playing games right in front of the students. What message does that send the kids when
the staff won’t even follow the rules set for the students?
Many of the other rules we discussed in the open forum
had similar themes. More than once I heard, “it is too hard to enforce that
rule.” I heard very few people mention what was in the best interest of the
student’s and their learning environment. It may just be me, but I saw evidence
that many of my school’s rules were a product of not keeping kids safe or
protecting the learning environment. What I did see was rules being created because
teachers were afraid to step up and enforce existing rules, or to step up and
recognize learning opportunities and not punishment opportunities.
I wonder how many schools have rules established for the
sake of the adults rather than for the sake of the kids.