Ask-Dr-Kirk

More Advice On How To Handle Cell Phones In The Classroom

Siobhan Curious answers the question of how to get students to put away their cell phones.

She gives her students the following speech at the beginning of the semester/term.

College policy states that you need to turn your phone off and put it away, out of sight, and that's  what I'd like you to do.  However, here's how I approach this policy.  If your phone is out on your desk and it is silent - you're not touching it, it's not ringing or vibrating - I'm not going to give you a hard time about it.  I'll be irritated by it.  I won't LIKE you as much as all the other nice, polite students who put their phones away because I ask them to.  But I'm not going to make a big deal about it, as long as we're not doing a test and you're leaving the phone alone.  However, if I see you playing with your phone at any time, I'm going to ask you to put it away where you can't see it, and if I have to talk to you repeatedly about your phone, I'm going to ask you to leave the class.

As she notes, "this approach was surprisingly effective."  You can read more about her advice on cell phones here.

Developing A Great Time Management Plan In 18 Minutes A Day

Peter Bregman gives great advice on how to manage your time. As he notes:

When I teach time management, I always start with the same question: How many of you have too much time and not enough to do in it? In ten years, no one has ever raised a hand.

That means we start every day knowing we're not going to get it all done. So how we spend our time is a key strategic decision. That's why it's a good idea to create a to do list and an ignore list. The hardest attention to focus is our own.

Managing our time needs to become a ritual too. Not simply a list or a vague sense of our priorities. That's not consistent or deliberate. It needs to be an ongoing process we follow no matter what to keep us focused on our priorities throughout the day.

I think we can do it in three steps that take less than 18 minutes over an eight-hour workday.

STEP 1 (5 Minutes) Set Plan for Day. Before turning on your computer, sit down with a blank piece of paper and decide what will make this day highly successful. What can you realistically accomplish that will further your goals and allow you to leave at the end of the day feeling like you've been productive and successful? Write those things down.

Now, most importantly, take your calendar and schedule those things into time slots, placing the hardest and most important items at the beginning of the day. And by the beginning of the day I mean, if possible, before even checking your email. If your entire list does not fit into your calendar, reprioritize your list. There is tremendous power in deciding when and where you are going to do something.

STEP 2 (1 minute every hour) Refocus. Set your watch, phone, or computer to ring every hour. When it rings, take a deep breath, look at your list and ask yourself if you spent your last hour productively. Then look at your calendar and deliberately recommit to how you are going to use the next hour. Manage your day hour by hour. Don't let the hours manage you.

STEP 3 (5 minutes) Review. Shut off your computer and review your day. What worked? Where did you focus? Where did you get distracted? What did you learn that will help you be more productive tomorrow?

The power of rituals is their predictability. You do the same thing in the same way over and over again. And so the outcome of a ritual is predictable too. If you choose your focus deliberately and wisely and consistently remind yourself of that focus, you will stay focused. It's simple.

You can read his entire article here. As I get ready for the new semester, I plan to use his advice...particularly the one about planning BEFORE checking email in the morning.

Advice From Christine Kane On How To Be More Productive

Christine Kane gives advice below on how to be more productive by decluttering that junk we all have in our houses, offices, cars, lives... I'm thinking this is great advice as we begin a new school year. I may even throw out all those notebooks left over from my doctoral classes over 20 years ago.

The Year I Discovered How Clutter Blocks Success

I looked at my phone in horror.

"You want me to what?" I said into it.

"It's time, Christine. You've been talking about that basement for weeks now. It's time to deal with it."

I had been working with my coach for months at this point. And even though I had reached certain levels of success in my career, I kept getting stuck in the same old ruts. I was about to record my fourth CD, and I was ready to move to a higher level.

Thom was doing what good coaches do: listening carefully, seeing clearly - and of course, pushing me to take conscious action.

So, he encouraged me to start small and completely clear out the junk
in my basement. Thirty minutes a day.

One section at a time. Building momentum as I went.

Each week, during our call, I'd report back on my progress.

Each week, I had a new reason why I simply could not let go of some clutter-y item.

"But I spent so much on it!" "I might need it someday!" "I could gain weight and need this again." "I paid such a good price for it!"

To my credit, I did pretty well at letting go once Thom talked me through these old mindsets.

Then came the week I had to face one particularly significant section of the basement.

It was where I stored various pieces of furniture I had gotten at the Salvation Army and at local flea markets when I first began my songwriting career. A bookcase, a kitchen table, a dresser, and a few shelves. I no longer liked or used this furniture because my tastes totally changed. I had begun to cherish beauty and opulence in my surroundings. I wanted to fill my home only with items that I loved.

"So, Christine," Thom asked. "Why don't you want to let these things go?"

I was embarrassed. But I told him the truth. "Well, here's the thing. If my music career doesn't work out, I might need them one day. If I fail, and I don't have any money, I might wish I had kept these things."

Long pause.

"So, you'll be on the street - but at least you'll have that bookcase?"

I laughed.

Thom sighed. And what he said next has been a core lesson of creating my success and happiness.

He said that everything in our lives has energy. Everything has our thoughts and emotions embedded into it. Old furniture is no exception. In essence, what I was saying to the universe and to my subconscious, creative self was this:

I believe so deeply in my own failure that I'm holding onto physical things that represent that possibility. Every time I walk by these items in my basement, I will be reminded of my inevitable failure. Every moment I'm in my house, my subconscious will know that in the very foundation of my life (my basement), there are items that prove I don't believe in my own success.

That week, I called Goodwill, and scheduled an appointment to have the old furniture taken away.

I'd love to report that I smiled and waved as the old clunky furniture was carried away. But the truth is I was terrified. I was letting go of my Plan B. I was saying to the Universe: "I thoroughly believe in my own success."

I had never done that before in such a concrete way!

As I wrote earlier, I began recording my fourth CD "Rain & Mud & Wild & Green" as I was clearing out the basement. That CD went on to sell five times more than any of my other CD's. It received rave reviews. Border's Books featured it on a listening post that year, and named it the top CD of the year in my category.

Now, even though I know this success wasn't ONLY about letting go of my old flea market furniture, I have become a firm believer that we each need to pay attention to the energy of the stuff that surrounds us. We need to pay attention to what we are telling our subconscious minds when we hold on.

Now you.

What are you holding onto? What thoughts and beliefs are you putting out into the Universe by clinging to it? Are you telling yourself you don't believe in the inevitability of your own success and prosperity? Or that you don't believe you can expand and create better things in your life?

Pick one thing - just one small thing - and let it go. Today!

---

Source: Performer, songwriter, and creativity consultant Christine Kane publishes her 'LiveCreative' weekly ezine with more than 4,000 subscribers. If you want to be the artist of your life and create authentic and lasting success, you can sign up for a FREE subscription to LiveCreative at www.christinekane.com.

Humorous Universal Grade Change Form

Got this grade change form from Steven Diaz (St Thomas University) through Twitter. After 27 years of teaching, I'm sure I have heard most of these excuses...

Funny Video On Social Networking Sites

Check out this funny spoof of West Side Story that looks at various social networking sites...

Dear Dr. Kirk: More Questions On Classroom Management

• I look young for my age. How do I get students to take me seriously?

• Can I be a good teacher and have time for a personal life too?

Dear Dr. Kirk: Answers To Classroom Management Issues

In case you've missed these, here are some past letters to Dr. Kirk on classroom management issues.

• What should I do with students who whine about doing their homework?

• How do I handle students who text message in class?

• How do I encourage students to participate in class?

• How do I get students to come to class on time?

Also, in my book on Taking Back the Classroom: Tips for the College Professor on Becoming a More Effective Teacher, I discuss additional suggestions to use so that the behavior you get in the classroom is the behavior you want. 

Happy Birthday To Me!

So...today's my birthday.  I'm taking today off....maybe tomorrow too...

A Big Part Of Teaching Is Thinking About Teaching!

Professor Joe Hoyle (University of Richmond) is "Still Thinking About Teaching After All These Years." In this article, he states that good teaching comes from a process of thinking about teaching. As he notes:

Suddenly, I better understood those teachers whom I had admired. Their talents had not been developed purely as a result of years of repetition. For them, the education process was not viewed as a series of isolated events occurring over time. Rather, the students and their intellectual development reverberated in the teachers' thoughts, night and day, weekday and weekend. Almost like background music, a litany of mental questions was constantly being turned over and examined. How can I make the connection clearer between these two events? Why has the quality of a particular student's work fallen in the last few weeks? How can I relate the upcoming topic to the real world? Why do so many of my students consistently miss the same specific concept?

By thinking about what you are trying to do in the classroom and constantly updating and trying new ways of teaching and learning, your students will be convinced that you care about them and what they are learning. Better yet, the students will be more motivated to learn from you.

You can read Dr. Hoyle's entire article here: Download Hoyle Still Teaching