It’s an exceptionally odd time to be an educator.
On one hand, teachers are trusted with enormous responsibility. We have to provide individualized instruction for a room of up to 35 students, regardless of whether they want to do the work or not. We’re expected to be human shields for our students and practice saint-like patience at all times. And we’re asked to provide services—from counseling to specialized coaching—that often go way beyond our job description.
But for people who are given such weighty tasks, we’re treated as remarkably untrustworthy. We can’t possibly select our own books for the classroom or our curriculum. We’re asked to ignore our professional experience and cater to the whims of people who’ve never taught.
And in many schools, teachers are told to turn in their phones to administration during standardized testing.
Recently, a teacher on Reddit asked if other teachers are required to turn in their phones during state testing.
The most common response? Well, take a look at how teachers responded.
“I would never ‘turn in my phone’ as a teacher.”
Many teachers provided alternate options for phone storage during testing:
“Oh I’m good, it’s in my backpack.”
“No you cannot check my belongings. I think I’m going to use all my sick time for test days.” —McFlygon
“It’s the only way daycare can get in contact with us.”
“No. And I would refuse. I turn it on vibrate.” —berrikerri
“It’s also how I control my hearing aids.”
“It’s kind of hard to do my job otherwise.” —Consistent_Wish_242
“Our test coordinator gave us her phone number so we could text her if there’s a problem.”
One teacher found a clever way to buck the system.
Got a cracked screen? Pretend to freak out when you get your phone back, and demand admin fix it.
“If a teacher turns in a phone that’s got a cracked screen, all they have to do is freak out when they get it back and say admin broke it and needs to replace it.” —dolfan4life2
Overall, the consensus was this: Don’t turn in your phone and give any validity to this Big Brother policy.
