You asked for my opinion. In my opinion, when the teacher reprimanded a new student in front of the whole class, he had already lost. Very few children respond positively to being publicly reprimanded. I suspect he didn't know her well enough to predict what would happen. Turning it into a power struggle served no purpose except perhaps to preserve the teachers ego. It is so important for teachers to check their egos at the door of the classroom.
I do disagree with many on this thread about cell phones in the classroom. They are way too much of a temptation and distraction. I described one way to handle cell phones in my comment on page 31 or 32. Another would be to have a discussion with the students on the first day of class and explain that "while we all love our devices, I cannot teach math while kids are texting and if the phones are on your person, you're going to use them. What do you think we should do?"
Note I didn't make any moral judgments about the use of cell phones. I didn't even say that they couldn't learn math while on social media. I made a statement about myself that they cannot argue with: I can't teach under those circumstances. I let them know that we are all on the same side, we are a team, and their opinions will be listened to and valued.
I am astounded at how the same group of children can behave so differently under different circumstances. Many people assume that years and years of public school teaching in a city have embittered me and caused me to despair for our country's future. On the contrary, I am consistently humbled and inspired when I realize that every child wants to be a good student, wants to be perceived as smart, is innately compassionate, even though some of them hide those qualities very deeply.
If the situation in question happened in my classroom, I would try to catch her eye and signal her to put the phone away. If she didn't, I would give her a note asking her to stay after class and talk to me. Then I would go on with class. When I got the chance to talk to her I might say "It's not like you to be goofing off in class. What's going on?" She might be bored by the material, she might be afraid it's too hard, she might be valuing popularity more than education at her age, or, as in this girls case, there might be something really serious going on that I can help with.
As I said, I check my ego at the door. It's not about me being "disrespected". It's about the precious responsibility and opportunity I have to help my students have a better life now and the kind of future they are all dreaming of.
