For class, we were lucky enough to have guest speaker Jessie Miller speak to our class. First off, I thought it was really great to be part of such an interactive zoom call. I have not been a part of a zoom meeting with a group and this was almost as good as having Jessie in person. Michael set up a microphone that was connected to the call that allowed Jessie to hear our questions which made it still very interactive.
Jessie has been known to be an advocate for technology and social media in school and talking to students about technology/ social media in schools. I think the most interesting part of his talk was when he talked about the research he did taking a look at the difference between technology being a distraction in other classrooms versus Physical Health Education (my teaching area!). What he found was that teachers did not have much of a hard time with students being distracted by their devices in PHE because there is a universal understanding that when we change for PHE our phones stay in our bags with the rest of our stuff. The understanding is also there with parents, they do not expect or think their child will be available in PHE like they do in other classes. This goes along with the idea that students crave time without devices, and PHE is a great place for that. However, from observing on Wednesdays I do notice the students that sit off sit on their phones, so active participation is what takes away the attention from their device.
Lastly, I thought it was really cool that he helped a school implement “phone time”. This is where a teacher would teach for around 20 minutes then allow a 2-5 min phone break where students can check their phone and take a break. He also mentioned that sometimes parents have an expectation to be able to get a hold of their child 24/7 which makes a hard situation for teachers. This “phone time” break can be used to help find a common ground with teachers, students, and parents.
Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash