Tammy’s Teaching Tips

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In the classroomNew teachersFuture teachers

Settle phones on day one

Know your school's rule, turn it into one routine, and enforce it calmly every day.

Written with AI — this one isn’t Tammy. The Field Guide covers ground her videos don’t, and keeps to what’s well established. It doesn’t know your students, and nothing here overrides your school’s policy or your state’s law. · 1 min read

What to do

A growing number of states and districts now restrict phones during the school day. Find out exactly what yours requires before students arrive.
Whatever the rule, make it a routine rather than a running negotiation — a pocket chart, a basket, bags zipped at the back. The same thing, every class.
Model it. If your phone is out while theirs are away, the rule loses its credibility.
Enforce quietly and consistently. A calm “phone in the basket, thanks” beats a speech.
Tell families how to reach their child during the day — usually through the office — so the policy doesn't feel like being cut off.

Why it works

Phones are built to compete for attention, and a teenager against a notification is not a fair fight. A clear, boring, consistent routine takes the decision off the table so it isn't relitigated every period — which is where most of the friction over phones actually comes from.

Try this tomorrow

Write your phone routine as one sentence you could put on the board, and teach it in the first five minutes of your first class.

Watch out

Never look through a student's phone, and don't hold on to one beyond what your school's policy allows. That's how a routine correction becomes a formal complaint.

Tammy on this

The same subject from someone who has actually done it for thirty years.

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