I commented in my introduction post that I think that the time has come for a "rule" to manage cell phone use in class. Perhaps something like, "Use cellphones only during breaks." The accompanying gesture might be the thumb-little finger phone sign while rotating the wrist back and forth.

The problem seems more with texting than anything else. After being warned once or twice, my students have learned to set their phones to vibrate mode.

In China, where I have taught summer pronunciation workshops for university students and English teachers, dealing with this without being too heavy-handed has been a problem. (To make things even more complicated, Chinese-English dictionaries are often an option for cell phones there.)

I would appreciate any comments and suggestions regarding how you manage cell phones in your (particularly HS or college) classes.

Dan Davidson

I was even thinking about using cell phones in class. Maybe they could text each other and have to include a certain number of vocabulary words in their texts. Or maybe the first team to call me with the correct answer gets a point. Any thoughts?

This year some of our teachers have started to change the paradigm of cell phones in the classroom. If you can't be them...join them! These teachers use the site www.polleverywhere.com/ to create warm-ups and/or learning logs. The teacher creates a survey or multiple choice question which is displayed on the LCD for students. The students use their cell phones to text the responses and the results are show REAL TIME on the screen. This is cutting edge and engages all students [with cell phones]. For students with no phone or permission, they can partner with another student or respond the old fashion way.