EH.T: one strategy for dealing with cell phones in class

Marty, That was great. I actually showed it to my students, and they loved it (though not as much as that Glenn Hubbard "Every breath you take" skit!) For the record, I think the incident is staged, but it's still funny. Re: cell phones: I'd guess that nearly all students do not mean for their cell phones to go off in class, and are annoyed when other students' phones do. So when they do go off, it's probably more a matter of forgetting than of brazenness. The ones that are that brazen probably need some talking to, preferably one on one, before or after class. Granted, you probably teach larger classes than I do, and back-row obnoxiousness is probably some quadratic function of the number of seats in the room. My main classroom annoyance is students eating food or blowing bubble gum during class. There are those who don't mind, but I find it really distracting and disruptive. YouTube to the rescue once again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFkjKBj_m9M (if the link doesn't work, go to YouTube.com and enter search terms "fast times ridgemont high" and look for 'Spicoli's pizza delivery'). Ranjit > ----------------- EH.TEACH POSTING ----------------- > > Hey everyone, > > I don't think I'd ever do this myself, but watching this clip has left a > smile on my face. Here's a you-tube clip from Andrew Sullivan's blog of > how someone somewhere teaching some university class dealt with a student > answering their cell phone during class. My threat is always "I'll answer > it" (which I think I would do). Here's someone else's strategy > > http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish/2006/09/youtube_of_the__10.html > > My strategy is just to say "phones off, please" if one rings, after an > announcement at the beginning of the term about how I'll answer the phone > if it rings & put it on speaker. (And, if they want to cure their mom of > calling during class, hand me the phone when she calls...) > > Anyone having problems with cells? > > Martha Olney > (having worked here to turn the forwarding of a URL into a legitimate > eh.teach post!!!) > > > =--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= > > Martha L. Olney > Adjunct Professor of Economics > > University of California MOlney@econ.berkeley.edu > Department of Economics http://socs.berkeley.edu/~olney > 549 Evans Hall, #3880 Office: 510-642-6083 > Berkeley CA 94720-3880 Fax: 510-642-6615 > > > ----------------- FOOTER TO EH.TEACH POSTING ----------------- > EH.Teach@eh.net > http://eh.net/mailman/listinfo/eh.teach > ************************************************** Ranjit S. Dighe Associate Professor Department of Economics SUNY College at Oswego Oswego, NY 13126 Phone: 315-312-3480 Fax: 315-312-5444 E-mail: dighe@oswego.edu WWW: http://www.oswego.edu/~dighe/ Fall 2006 office hours: MW 1:00-2:30, Th 1:00-2:00 ************************************************** >