Here is a quick, practical tip in preventing cell phone usage that works for me. When looking around a classroom, observe their hands. In today's classroom, all hands need to be visible at all times. Sorry, students who like to scratch their knees or pick their fingernails under the desk! You guys brought this on yourselves! In my class, I have to stop and say, "Guys, I need everybody's hands on your desk. Also, I need you to put your backpacks on the ground." (It's amazing how girls will text message in class with their purse in front of their phone, as if I'm superman and their purse is made of kryptonite and I can't see through it!) This small shift in priorities for your eyes will make a big difference.
Here is a related tip: When working with rough students, look at everybody's hands. You will probably find 2 or 3 that don't have a pencil or pen in their hands. Noticing their hands is the quickest way to know if they are going to waste the next 10 minutes of class, if not more. Those 10 minutes are very important because many students are simply waiting for you to not pay attention and start to copy off of somebody else. Everybody must work; nobody is left behind.
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And please teachers, don't waste your time, the classes time, or a students time further by sending them to the office or making a spectacle of them because they didn't bring a pencil. Simply hand them something to write with and go on about your day.
As a teacher, I have seen countless teachers who make a HUGE deal out of not bringing a supply. Do these teachers have nothing better to do? If someone forgot, they forgot. If it's one of those kids who never bring things, then it's nothing new for them. They have been doing it for years now and will do it next year, the year after, and the year after. Don't waste valuable class time on such a thing.
Get a pack of golf pencils, or pick some up from the floor of the hall. There is a vast supply of free writing implements laying about the hall in almost any school.
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