I have a good friend who teaches in a graduate preservice program at a nearby university. He related this story from one of his students. The names have been changed to protect the, um…well, you know.
This week I subbed at “Normal” High School where I did my student teaching. I was in the room with my cooperating teacher and we were catching up. She was checking her email and received this message from one of her students. It read: “Hi Mrs. Smith. This is John. I had a question about the Hamlet homework you assigned. I am texting you from my cell phone in [in-school suspension].” The school has a simple cell phone policy: “No cell phones or text messaging during class.” The policy holds true when you are in [in-school suspension] because it is on school grounds. You are in [in-school suspension] to do school work, that is it; no socializing, no talking, no sleeping, no listening to I-pods, and no texting. Anyway, my cooperating teacher was appalled. She printed out the email, brought it to her supervisor, and apparently someone went to the [in-school suspension] room to retrieve John’s phone. He refused to give it to the teacher, which landed him in [in-school suspension] for another 2 days for insubordination. In the end, what does this all mean? John never received the help he needed for his homework.
Oy.