Research proves that children learn best from each other. Likewise, teachers learn best from each other as well. We all know that as teachers, when we teach a concept, we personally learn that same concept all over again. We internalize it, and learn it better as a result of teaching it! So why not teach each other? This encourages positive growth for all involved parties.

We have all had those moments in the day-in day-out throes of teaching – those “ah ha!” moments when some new or different tactic worked. When faced with an epiphany such as this, share it with others! We want all children to have the best chance to learn and the most benefit from learning possible, not just our class(es), right? After all, we are all in this together, striving to promote student success and the greater good as a team! As a teacher-leader or mentor, communicate with colleagues in various ways in order to inform, collaborate, and network on best practices to enhance student learning.

Teacher-leaders and mentors are constantly learning, growing, and sharing. They are never the same at the end of the year as they were at the beginning. They are in a “morphic” state as a direct result of their own personal love of learning.

How else can teacher-leaders and mentors be described? They have an extensive understanding of pedagogical knowledge, the curriculum, and the needs of students. They are constantly seeking to add to and enrich the curriculum; guiding others in that endeavor. They continually facilitate students’ engagement in learning, higher-order thinking skills, and the application of learning in current, relevant ways. They guide others to reflect on their own practice and progress.

Teacher role models such as this are charged with the task of encouraging others to set challenging goals for themselves, and tackle new ways to present challenging content. They lead others in the effective use of data to inform instructional decisions. Teacher-leaders continually demonstrate expertise and lead others to determine and develop a variety of assessment strategies and instruments that are valid and appropriate for the content and student population. They are constantly engaging in professional growth, and the application of the methods and skills learned. This contributes to the development of others as well as the well-being of the school community of learners.

Being a teacher-leader or mentor encourages success for all, including students and teachers. This leadership role fosters our collective goal of creating and constructing lifelong learners, which ultimately extends itself to a global community of learners. Serving as a teacher-leader and mentor to others in these capacities merits truly exemplary status.

During my first year of teaching, I made the mistake of making a phone call home to discuss the negative behavior of a student in my classroom. This was within the first few weeks of school, and I received a jarring response, yet one that I learned a lot from. This student was refusing to do work, constantly disrupting the class, and often using disrespectful language to other students and to me. It came to a head one day, and I made a phone call after school to his mom. The conversation went something like this:

Me: “Hi, this is Ms. Christine, your child’s teacher.”

Mom: “Oh hi, is everything ok?”

Me: “Well, actually I was calling to talk about your child.”

…I went to on to summarize recent behaviors.

Mom: “Well honestly, this is the first time I am even talking to you this year. I don’t know you, and my son is also probably trying to get to know you. I don’t like that our first contact is about something negative. I would have loved to first learn about how you teach, how you run your classroom, and what your expectations are, that way I could use the same language with my son and he would know that you and I are on the same team.”

The conversation went on, and I completely understood and respected what she was saying. I didn’t reach out to families at the start of the year. I had planned to hold off until Back-to-School night, which was after the first month. That first month is so crucial to building on the rest of the year, and in hindsight, I should have made a positive contact with each family earlier.

After my conversation with that parent, I made sure to check in with each family, and have an initial get-to-know-you conversation. Throughout the year, I referred to students’ families as being on a team with me, where their child is our quarterback. We all need to work together to support the student. Making that initial initial phone call, talking in person, or chatting over ClassDojo Messenger, has made a huge difference in my classroom support system.

Engaging students from the first moment in a lesson is an art form. In a day where students hunger for instant gratification and often require an entertainer as opposed to a teacher, this unique set of student engagement strategies fits the bill.

We as teachers experiment with many ways to capture student focus: counting down, clapping, raising our hands, and so on. With varied student populations at any age or level, in any setting, the “Whole Brain Teaching” call and response technique is truly a best practice. This is an effective attention-getter before or at any time during a lesson. Using call and response, the students respond verbally to the teacher with the same inflection and tone with which they were called. This strategy calls students’ attention to the speaker, allows them to speak while giving the speaker their attention, and requires their response and engagement. At the point of response, students are engaged and open to the information being presented.

For instance, when utilizing the “Class” call and response at any given point during the lesson, the teacher begins by saying the word “class” any way he or she prefers, and the class in turn is responsible for mimicking the teacher’s voice and volume level by responding “yes.” So if the teacher says, “Hey class!” then the students respond, “Hey yes!” Likewise, if the teacher says “Classity-class!” then the students say back to him or her, “Yessity-yes!” This strategy gives students the opportunity to respond appropriately, while giving them a needed verbal release during instruction, and allowing them to enjoy mimicking the speaker. The sillier, the better — student focus increases!

An additional call and response technique to increase and sharpen student focus is ”Hands and Eyes”. This strategy can be utilized at any point during the lesson as well. When students need to refocus, the teacher simply says, “Hands and eyes on _______.” Students respond in turn by focusing their attention on the chosen person or object (such as the board) and clapping their hands together, leaving them clasped in front of their bodies. At the same time, students are also responding verbally by repeating the words of the teacher in the same manner. This method, again, gives students the opportunity to speak out during a time when they are quiet and listening, and allows them the opportunity to have fun mimicking whomever is speaking, while focusing their attention in a novel way.

There are many other “Whole Brain Teaching” strategies to be explored and utilized within the classroom. These two call and response methods have been proven timelessly effective. In a day when capturing and maintaining student focus is increasingly difficult, these techniques are among the best practices in the educational realm. If you have more ideas, please do share in the comments!

A few years ago I was teaching four sections of AP Economics at Gunn High School in Palo Alto, a top ranked school in the nation. I needed to prepare my students for the Microeconomics AND Macroeconomics AP tests at the end of the year. Most schools only prepare students for one of these two tests so, needless to say, my students needed to learn many concepts in a short amount of time. Everyday my lesson was well crafted as I wanted to make sure to make full use of the 58 minutes of instructional time. I noticed that as major assessments approached, such as a unit test, a midterm, or the actual AP tests, my students weren’t able to learn at the pace and depth that I was hoping they would. I figured that perhaps it was due to stress or anxiety, but what could I do about it? I barely had enough instructional time to cover all the material that they needed to learn. I knew that if I trained my students to meditate regularly, my students would see tremendous benefits from it in the long term. But I still didn’t do it. I resorted to the very common excuse many of us teachers use: “I just didn’t have enough instructional time.” My students ended up doing just fine on the tests but at a great cost. I saw some very bright students work themselves up and question their intelligence simply because they had no mechanism or techniques to regulate themselves physically, physiologically, and psychologically.

I reflected over this the following summer and decided to give myself permission to meditate with my students for the first week of classes in the upcoming fall semester. I had some serious concerns.

What if my students think meditation at school is stupid?

What if their parents accuse me of initiating them into a buddhist monk cult?

What will my colleagues think of me?

And most importantly, how will I cover all the material that I’m expected to cover with less instructional minutes?

I told my students that for the first week of class we are going to meditate everyday for two minutes at the beginning of class. I remember their faces — sheer excitement and curiosity. They were surprisingly excited to try this out. Here are some of things that happened right away:

1. None of my students were late to class because they wanted to meditate or they were afraid to interrupt the meditation.

2. They thoroughly enjoyed this moment of peace and calm in their very hectic day.

3. By the end of each meditation, my students were fully there. Not just their bodies, but their minds and hearts as well.

With the 56 minutes of instruction that I had left, I was able to cover the amount of material that would take me 75 minutes previously. My students were more engaged, and willing to participate in our classroom discussion more readily. What their boyfriend or girlfriend told them during lunch was not in the forefront of their mind nearly as much (alas, you can’t eradicate that stuff completely), rather, the Law Of Diminishing Marginal Utility was what their prefrontal cortex was processing. At the end of the week I asked my students whether they wanted to continue meditating everyday. Out of 120 students, 118 wanted to continue meditating. And so we did. For the rest of the semester, we meditated every day before class for 2-5 minutes.

This allowed me to recognize the long term benefits of attention training exercises such as meditation. By November my students demonstrated real behavioral change because they were able to self-regulate and develop an ability to clear their mind from external events or internal negative voices. This skill obviously helped them intellectually, which deepened the discourse in our class, improved their ability to student and take tests, and allowed them to be more creative when working on their final projects. More importantly, this newly formed ability allowed students to build resilience and emotional intelligence, skills that are significantly more important for happiness and success in life.

Have you ever known someone who is constantly drumming, or tapping their pen? My brother, a percussionist, was constantly reminded to be still as a child. When asked to stop, leg bouncing became the next option. What my brother really had was a need to move, and so do the students in our classrooms!

Children thrive in a structured environment. Children also need to move. So why not incorporate rhythm and movement into their learning environment in a structured manner? This provides students with the freedom to move as well as the opportunity to interact with each other in a novel and unique way. Drumming builds a sense of community within the classroom as students eagerly wait, actively listening and focused, to positively reinforce others through rhythm, music, and movement.

The first step for implementation is to decide what type of drums should be used. This really depends on the teacher’s preference and budget. Djembe drums work well and sound great, but are more expensive than a simple hand drum. Djembes are ideal for the one or two drum classroom. Hand drums have a decidedly lesser sound quality, but are less cost prohibitive, and easier to store and manage. The lower price point also allows teachers to provide more students with drums if desired.

Drum management is key. Students are only allowed to drum at specific times during a lesson, when prompted by the teacher (or another student) giving someone positive reinforcement for a great idea or a thoughtful response. For example, if a student makes a connection between a text and the real world and the teacher subsequently praises him or her, drumming students would without hesitation give the contemplative student a drum beat.

Drums can be distributed to the entire class so that each child has a drum, or drums could be given to one group of students each day. This increases student focus and engagement exponentially, as students are literally sitting on the edge of their seats, waiting excitedly with bated breath for those key points in the lesson at which they can drum. Research has proven that music, movement, and learning are indelibly linked. Why not capitalize on that?

How do students know how long and when to stop drumming? That is at the teacher’s discretion. He or she must give “the signal,” and all drumming stops. It can be a look, a hand signal (like a snap), or whatever works best. The signal is an integral part of using drums in the classroom. Without this, students lack direction and structure, resulting in a loss of control.

Drums can be a great tool for classroom management as well. Utilize a call and response technique to get students’ attention and help get them focused and ready to work. Simply drum four beats of rhythm and wait for the students to mimic the rhythm on their drums. Students without drums may even drum on their desks, chairs, legs, or whatever is available. Continue to drum out and listen for a response until all students are participating and where they need to be. Students are amazingly energized and focused all at once.

Take several minutes for movement breaks throughout the day to rhythms the teacher or a student drums. Have students move freely through their personal space, or play a variety of sounds on the drum and have students mimic the sound with their bodies. Experiment with different dynamics and techniques by tapping, rubbing, striking, and scratching the head of the drum to keep things interesting. “Brain Breaks” such as this keep students fresh, energized, and ready to engage the next dynamic in the classroom.

The use of drums in the classroom as a focus, engagement, management, and community-building tool is definitely an “out-of-the-box” strategy. Well-trained drumming students benefit from the cultivation of a plethora of skills, the least of which include rhythmic movement, positive peer support, and enthusiasm for learning.

I’ve always been kind of a tech junkie. My M.O. used to be, “Try all the things!” This was fun at first, but quickly became a time suck. It was also stressful for my students, and not a great use of their time. I’m not saying it’s not okay to try new things, but for your students’ sake (and your own) try them purposefully, one at a time.

Where to start?

You may see lots of shiny new apps you want to try, or hear about something someone is using that sounds cool, but before you jump on it take stock of your needs. By thinking about what your areas of need are, you can eliminate any apps that are not going to fill a gap for you. If you don’t have an app in mind, but you have a need, I highly recommend checking out Richard Byrne’s Free Tech for Teachers (which is where I found out about ClassDojo). If you have an EdTech need, it is highly likely you will find and idea here. It’s also a good idea to follow ISTE, Common Sense, and CUE.

How to decide?

When you find something you think looks great, ask yourself these questions before implementing it in your class:

1. Is it going to help my students learn?

2. Is it going to help make my job easier in some way?

3. Is it easy to learn?

If you can answer “yes” to at least one of these, it’s worth a try. If it doesn’t work, you can always eliminate it, but trying things one at a time allows you to really evaluate their effectiveness. Some of my favorites are:

• ClassDojo

• GoogleDocs

• Learnzillion

• Khan Academy

• Barefoot World Atlas

This is a short list, but these are my go-to apps on a daily basis. Try to keep it simple, only use what works for you and your students, and resist the urge to “try all the things!”

Formative assessment is a vigorous and engaging tradition that we as teachers should be committed to cultivating in every classroom. Why is it such an essential part of learning? It serves as an assessment tool for teachers, probing for understanding, and guiding decision-making about future instruction. Formative assessment creates a supportive environment in which the teachers and students learn and teach each other effectively, and instruction is tailor-made to fit each learner.

Formative assessment is an ongoing, fluid experience – a spontaneous, on-the-fly process that guides teachers toward understanding which resources to utilize with specific students according to their specific needs. Analyzing student work is a valuable part of formative assessment, as it clarifies which pieces of the learning process students might not understand. As an effective teacher, be prepared! Know the content that you’re going to cover, and have an understanding of the progression you want your students to make to achieve that ultimate goal. Utilize a plethora of questioning strategies and focused observations, engaging students in the learning process with a sense of urgency, and closely monitoring their progress and comprehension. Students should be entrenched in the content of the curriculum, entirely present with each other, and focused in the process of learning.

An effective formative assessment system gauges student understanding and nurtures retention. Teachers are able to pinpoint student strengths and weaknesses, down to their most minute need. Formative assessment results are used to drive instructional strategies and resources. These results should be effectively and easily communicated to students, teachers, parents, and administrators in a consistent and easy to understand format. When teachers analyze data and use it as a tool to tweak the curriculum, the curriculum becomes dynamic and alive, not just a static document.

There are literally hundreds of ways and opportunities to formatively assess students. Education today is moving away from the sole use of traditional paper and pencil assessments. Valuable formative assessments now come in a plethora of forms, adding interest and engagement to the classroom while still providing the information needed to differentiate instruction and guide student learning.

A tried-and-true method of formative assessment is the “Ticket-Out the Door,” or the “Exit Ticket.” Students compose a written response to a question posed by the teacher, and are allowed to leave the room (or in many cases, transition to the next subject) only if their response meets the approval of the instructor. Similarly, teachers may utilize this strategy as a pretest, having the students complete an ”Entrance Ticket,” or a “Ticket-in-the-Door” to gauge student knowledge on the topic of the day.

Another quick and effective formative assessment, “Show What You Know,” can also be used at the end of the lesson. This is simply a higher order or critical thinking question posed at the very end of the lesson after the lesson summary. Students write their response to the question in a complete sentence on a sticky note, and post it on the “Show What You Know” board. This gives the teacher an “at-a-glance” view of whether students understand the concept presented or not.

The “Text What You Learn” strategy engages students at a high interest level, and allows teachers to formatively assess student knowledge of a concept quickly and effectively. At the beginning of the class, students use their cell phones to text in a response to a question that the teacher has presented through the Poll Everywhere software. Responses are projected on a SMART Board, and students are given the opportunity to self-assess, and see what their peers have learned. This provides valuable information to the teacher on how to move forward with the lesson.

Edmodo has a free micro-assessment called Snapshot which provides assessment feedback by student and standard. Progress can be monitored by choosing the standard(s) to be assessed, and utilizing the standards-aligned Math and ELA questions (for grades 3-12). Snapshot displays information on student mastery of standards, and with prioritized recommendations, teachers are able to customize lesson plans and improve the performance of individuals. There is even a built-in calendar and time limit selector option, so teachers can schedule Snapshot for the most opportune time during lessons.

Socrative is a super simple tech tool teachers can use to enhance classroom engagement, assessment and individualization of content. This is a free student response system in which students respond to the teacher through a series of educational exercises and games via any web-enabled device: smartphones, laptops, and/or tablets. Socrative takes teachers 3 minutes to set up and takes their classes 20 seconds to load. Easily differentiated, Socrative can be tailored for any learner.

If you don’t have that level of technology in your classroom, you can do a “quick write” at the beginning of your class. Ask students to provide you with a brief summary of what the homework was about, or what the key point in the reading was last night. They can either hand these in to you, or you can have students share them with a Collaborative Pair Partner or group — all to truly pinpoint where the lesson should begin.

Whatever tool or strategy is chosen, formative assessment is a culture, of sorts, that teachers create in a learning community that is dynamic and engaging.

When I started teaching at my high school twelve years ago, we had to fill in bubbles on forms to take attendance, complete progress reports, and complete report cards. Today, we have one integrated web-based system for such student records. Implementing technology previously meant incorporating a laser disk player or displaying a presentation on a small TV. Now, most classrooms are equipped with interactive whiteboards, or are even 1:1. Certainly technology has made teaching easier in some aspects.

Here are my favorite apps and sites that can enhance teaching:

1. ClassDojo: ClassDojo is available on the web and as an app for iOS and Android. ClassDojo allows me to record student behaviors (which are customizable) in real time. Students and parents can either log in to the website or download the app to track student behavior. I can generate individual or class reports to share, and even more exciting, I can instantly message with parents!

2. Easybib: Easybib is my go-to site for students working on a research paper or project to aggregate and properly cite their sources – essential to avoiding plagiarism. It also features an Educator’s Portal, which has free lesson plans, flyers, citation guides, and more.

3. Google Products: Where to begin…Google seems to have a product or app for everything! Many Google products can enhance teaching and learning:

• Chrome is the browser my students and I use. I find it the most powerful and it is extremely user-friendly.

• Google is the most popular search engine in the US. There are so many useful features that my students love exploring.

• Google Books allows users to search for books. If the book is out of copyright or if Google has obtained permission, users may see a preview or the entire text. If the book is in the public domain, users can download a PDF copy.

• Google Calendar allows you to create a schedule that can be shared with colleagues and students! This is also a great tool for teaching organization and time-management.

• Google Drive has changed the way students and I share information and work. We are collaborating more than ever. With a suite of products that rival Microsoft Office, students can create documents and projects and then share them with others. I often create documents for class notes and save them on Drive so they are easily accessible for all my classes and easy to print out for students with IEPs.

• Gmail: My school uses a customized form of Gmail as our official email. I require all of my 12th graders to create an address suitable for contact with teachers and colleagues, and I encourage my 9th graders to do the same. Gmail is widely used and highly customizable, with filters, tabs, and a powerful advanced search feature.

4. YouTube: Students, from preschoolers to high schoolers, love activities involving YouTube. Common Core Standards require close reading of texts and analysis of video; I’ve been using YouTube clips to introduce topics. I create a list of questions based on the clip and students are responsible for answering the questions as we watch. They are interested and engaged, actively seeking answers. Active watching with YouTube is a lot more interesting than a presentation, for both the students and me.

5. Wikispaces: I maintain two class websites on Wikispaces – one for my AP English Language and Composition students, and another for my 9th and 12th grade Regents classes. It’s free for educators and students and is very user-friendly! Keeping up this website is great for teaching responsibility for students who need to find a handout or any other assignment they might be missing.

What do you use to enhance teaching?

Years ago, I worked in a school where faculty members routinely brought laptops to meetings. Everyone would gather in desks facing the front of the room, screens up, fingers furiously typing, while the facilitator spoke. At first, I was determined to sit near the front, maintain eye-contact with the facilitator, and participate meaningfully in discussion. Eventually, though, I gave up. It became clear what my colleagues thought of our meetings: this time was better spent preparing lessons, checking email, or even comparing Fantasy Football stats.

The way faculty meetings were run at this particular school was indicative of a larger, more pervasive problem: a lack of established norms and behavioral standards for everyone. If an outsider were to walk into any classroom, they would see students demonstrating similar behaviors and mirroring this same disengagement.

So what can administrators and teachers do to establish behavioral norms in classroom and school environments?

Step away from the situation

When a teacher comes to me again and again with the same behavioral concerns — students not using tablets or smartphones appropriately, calling out of turn, arriving to class late, using disrespectful language — I will often set the teacher to the task of observing and taking notes on the students in question while I get their class started for the period. This serves a dual purpose: teachers have the opportunity to step away from the situation and observe student behaviors objectively, as an outsider. In addition, the whole class is given a chance to reflect upon and re-establish behavioral expectations. As any effective teacher knows, the first thing you do when you walk into a classroom full of students whom you have never taught, is set norms through student input and empowerment. It’s amazing what happens when they are given the opportunity to reflect upon, and even make adjustments to their classroom behavior guidelines.

Walk in their shoes

Benjy was incredibly bright, intellectually curious, intrinsically motivated, and autistic. He also got kicked out of class a lot. One of the main reasons why this happened was because he couldn’t keep from punching holes in teachers’ logic. His brain was wired in such a way that it literally “itched” (his words) when a storyline contained flaws or loose ends, a complex math problem didn’t add up correctly, or a teacher gave out inaccurate or wholly incorrect information. Once teachers gave credence, and even respect to his practical natures (and supported his social development by teaching him how to properly address “itchy situations”) Benjy was able to stay in the classroom and really add to the intellectual value of discussions. Our brightest students will always be the first to disengage if we don’t make time for empathy and afford them the respect and validation they deserve.

Model academic risk-taking

A colleague recently told me about a social experiment of sorts that his high school conducted a few years back. Everyone swapped classes for one period of the day. English teachers taught Physics, Physics taught History, Math teachers taught English. What started out as nearly a practical joke, morphed into something slightly intimidating, and eventually, became an incredible learning experience not only for teachers, but also for students. Teachers found that they had to deliver instruction much more creatively using what schema they could access. They got really excited about uncovering new ideas and making intellectual breakthroughs (I think we call this “learning”). Their enthusiasm spread like wildfire. Students felt that teachers were as much their guides as they were their intellectual peers on an unexpected adventure in learning. When we allow students to see our humanity – our capacity to make mistakes and willingness to admit to our own lack of knowledge — they’re less likely to push back.

Follow your own rules

Speaking of mistakes, I made one this year. Just one. I covered for a teacher at the last minute when a family emergency arose, and in a hurry, I carried the remainder of my lunch into his classroom and ate it while the kids worked on a quiz. About 5 minutes in, I heard a crinkle. Then a rustle. Then crunch, crunch. Before I knew it, this class of highly-distractible students (all of whom are diagnosed with ADHD by the way) began calling out:

“Can I have a chip?”

“Where’d you get that Rockstar?”

“I don’t like the Cool Ranch Doritos. The orange cheese powder is awesome….”

“You guys, you can’t eat food in there!” I said through mouthfuls of sandwich.

To their credit, they all put the food away and got back to their quiz. But it’s not always this way. It may seem almost too simple to state, but follow your own rules. Don’t pull out your phone in class, speak respectfully to students, arrive on time, and contribute meaningfully to creating a culture of positivity and support.

Changing the way students behave in classrooms, or the way faculty attend to their work, starts with brainstorming and buy-in. If we want to create this environment, we must model key expectations and be flexible and humble enough to reflect and revise when necessary.

I am from the generation when cell phones evolved from being primitively monochrome, with its most entertaining feature being an ever-elongating snake, to sudden touch screen brilliance, with a sassy voice-activated personal secretary. I have been an avid user at each of these stages, relishing every new invention, novel distraction, and complicated organization tool.

We have evolved at a rate that would frighten Darwin, growing an extra appendage that our thumbs are incessantly tapping on. If I have become so dependent on technology and the instant gratification of notifications and Likes, how addicted must our kids be, who were born into this world likely in the company of 4-inch lit screens?

The answer is clear in my students who walk into our meetings with their phones clutched tightly yet subconsciously, whose hands instantly move to their pockets at the slightest vibrate or beep. Even if they do resist looking at their phones, I lose them to the moment of distraction as they ponder who it could be that just messaged them, sent a Snapchat, Tweeted. Yet, I cannot blame them, because their world – the world that we adults have created – is designed to turn them into consumers of technology.

This is why it is important for us to also teach our kids how to set boundaries with these entertaining distractions. If we are going to give them tools to make their lives better and more efficient, then it is also our responsibility to teach how not to get lost in them. Even as adults, we sometimes spend just as much time on Facebook as we do on our actual work. You can imagine how much time kids waste on these mind-numbing, infinite scrolling sites and apps that separate them from learning useful skills and knowledge.

I want to share the following three tips that have been the most useful in protecting our time against the machines, ones I personally utilize and also teach to my students:

1. Turn off your phone notifications for all non-essential apps.

We become slaves to our devices when every single app gives us a notification for every occurrence, training us to immediately slide it open to investigate what breaking news coupons Ebates is offering today. Do we really need to? No, we can shut off the notifications and regain control of when we want to check them. Otherwise, we become wired to look without thinking, when we are in the midst of reading an email, writing a report, or even having a conversation. It might hurt at first, but you’ll get used to it… and like it.

2. Hide your time-sucking apps.

If you know that you open certain apps 20 times a day and spend at 10 minutes each time you open them, then hide those apps in the way back pages and recesses of your phone, inside folders of folders of folders, so that you give yourself time to really think about whether you want to open them. Will it really benefit you to open them right now? The time to get to the app alone will probably stop you because you will think better of it. Congratulations, you just earned 3 extra hours in your day!

3. Physically place your devices in another room.

Take some time apart. If you have an important test or essay coming up, put your phone in a different room or ask someone to keep it while you focus on your task. What I learned from serving jury duty was that setting your phone on vibrate does not make it inaudible; likewise, placing it face down on the table does not stop us from reaching for it. Sometimes, we need a physical barrier and that is okay. I always love telling my students how my college roommate would ask me to hide her laptop while she studied, and to change her Facebook password when she was applying for medical school. And now, I can claim credit for helping to add a dedicated doctor to the world.

In each of these instances that we are taking something that seems like a necessity away, replenish it with something better. I encourage my students to replace the Facebook app on their phone’s home page with CNN or Ted, to substitute the phone on their table with a book I recommend. Those 3 hours you freed up? Learning programming online!

Most kids do not realize that they are being commanded by their handheld devices because that is how good the tech industry is, and we should be proud of the industry’s progress. However, with great technology comes great responsibility, and we need to make sure our kids learn the latter because the prior is here to stay.