Teachers, how do you manage student cellphones in the classroom?

Oct. 30, 2015 3 AM PT

The challenge of teaching students who use their mobile devices in classrooms made national headlines this week after a white South Carolina sheriff's deputy was brought in when a black student allegedly would not get off her cellphone. Other students recorded on their mobile devices the deputy yanking the student and throwing her to the ground, which sparked federal and state investigations.

The Los Angeles Unified School District prohibits "the use of cellular phones or any electronic signaling device by students on campus during normal school hours," according to the Parent Student Handbook. But teachers consistently are forced to patrol mobile technology in the classroom. We want to know, how do you deal with student cellphones and tablets?

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daniela.gerson@latimes.com

Twitter: @dhgerson

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Daniela Gerson

Daniela Gerson was a community engagement editor at the Los Angeles Times. She left in 2016. As a journalist and educator, her work focuses on multiethnic communities and innovations in participatory media. She was previously the director of the Civic Engagement and Journalism Initiative at USC’s Annenberg School. Gerson was the founding editor of Alhambra Source, a research-based site investigating how local news can foster civic engagement. She also developed Reporter Corps, a program to train young adults to report on their own communities. Gerson has contributed to the Financial Times Magazine, the New York Times, PRI’s The World, Der Spiegel, WNYC, and was a staff immigration reporter for the New York Sun. Daniela is the recipient of Alexander von Humboldt and Arthur F. Burns fellowships. A graduate of Brown University and USC Annenberg, she speaks Spanish and Portuguese, and can get by in German and Hebrew.

Teachers, how do you manage student cellphones in the classroom?

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