For the 2019-2020 school year, several teachers are taking a new approach toward smartphones and their expectations for them within their classrooms. These teachers have implemented “cell phone holders” in their classroom where students can place their phones at the beginning of class and pick them up at the end. A few of these spaces even offer outlets and cords to charge students’ phones while they learn. Spanish teachers Amanda Freitag and Annelise Blessen are taking part in this effort to keep students off of their phones during instructional time.

“Frustration led me [to put cell phone holders in my room],” Freitag said. “I noticed a severe lack of concentration and focus and many distractions [coming from cell phones].” 

Freitag said she heard about the idea of a cell phone holder in a department meeting. Since then, she’s added them to her classroom. Freitag said she feels that her arrangement works well in the class, however other teachers may have different priorities to deal with other than phones.

“After [the meeting], I had to figure out how to manage my expectations and how to get students to buy into the idea [of the cell phone holder],” Freitag said. “[At the beginning of the year] when I explain to students my phone policy, I’ve never had anyone come to me and tell me their phone helps them in [Spanish] class.”

Freitag said she believes that her classes are more focused on learning since implementing the cell phone holders.

“[Since I started using the phone holders] I feel the students are more engaged, they tend to ask more questions, [and] the repetition of me explaining things is a little less,” Freitag stated. “[Students] think they can deal with multitasking in their first language, but in their second language it becomes very apparent, very fast, that it’s almost impossible to.”

Blessen said that she put cell phone holders in her classroom because she found them to cause problems related to behavior.

“[Cell phones] are very distracting during class and they’re one of my biggest behavior issues,” Blessen said.

Similar to Freitag, Blessen said she has seen a positive impact on her students’ learning since bringing the cell phone holders into her classroom. Junior Savanah Patterson said the cell phone holders have helped improve her concentration in class.

“I don’t get distracted [in spanish class] because [the holders] keep my phone away from me,” Patterson said. “I would like to have cell phone keepers in my harder classes so I would be able to be better focused.”

Patterson said she thinks the idea of cell phone holders are practical because they are an easy way of keeping kids from being tempted to go on their phones.

“If I didn’t have cell phone holders [in the two classes] my teachers use them, I would spend more time on my phone,” Patterson said.