Cell Phone Blues

In my classrooms, I have a very strict cell phone policy. If I see or hear a student's phone during class, I count them absent for that day. Needless to say, students are usually very good at turning their phones off in my classes (my reputation precedes me).

So this afternoon in my senior seminar I had a bit of an episode. There is no clock on the wall so I usually bring my phone into class and leave it on the table in front of me so I can check the time periodically. I turn the ringer off so it won't disrupt the class if it happens to go off.

About half-way through the discussion, the phone of the student sitting to my left started vibrating in his pocket. I stopped and said, "Gabe, is that your phone?" to which he just smiled at me. I figured the look he gave me was chagrin and a little embarrassment, and so I didn't make a big deal about it (after all this is my senior seminar class with students I have known for 4 and even 5 years). Then, every minute or so, his phone kept going off. Finally I said, "Gabe turn your phone off!" and at the same time I glanced down at my own phone which was sitting on the table in front of me...vibrating.

"Good grief, has that been my phone all this time?" I asked as the entire class (9 students) burst out laughing. We had a good laugh about it, and I had to mark myself absent for the day. I'm putting in a request to maintenance to get me a wall clock asap.