Hangman, Tic-Tac-Toe, word searches, crosswords, and now the latest craze: Sudoko. Kids will just use them to play games.Recent high-profile cases of student bullying are just the latest examples of why we must crack down on these communication tools. Thanks to the ubiquitous use of writing implements in schools, kids have free reign to write and distribute messages that use offensive language and hateful speech. Those notes that pass from hand to hand across the rows of desks are often far more sinister than they appear. Pens and pencils can be used to bully kids. Have you ever tried to clean a child’s backpack after a pen broke at the bottom of the bag? No amount of scrubbing can get the dye completely out. Dusty pencil shavings litter the floor in many elementary classrooms and pens filled with liquid ink are just disasters waiting to happen. I’ve also found forearms covered with vocabulary words, ankles tattooed with definitions, and hands dyed with smeared blue ink. One student managed to write an entire history of media studies on the bottom of their shoe. Now that I’m at the head of a classroom instead of behind a desk, I’ve seen some ingenious cheating techniques. It’s a souvenir from a mini-sword fight that occurred between my close friend and I in third grade. I still have a small lump of lead imbedded in the soft, fleshy area between my thumb and pointer finger. I remember a happy indoor recess spent throwing newly sharpened pencils at the classroom ceiling trying to make them stick. The tapping, clicking, flipping and rolling can drive just about any teacher around the bend. Here are 10 reasons to reconsider the widespread acceptance of these distracting and potentially dangerous implements. But you’d be hard-pressed to find a school anywhere that has enacted a blanket ban on pens and pencils. According to a recent MSNBC article, 69% of high school currently ban cell phones.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |