I'm composing this letter for my department, then for my school. Let's see what they say.
Letter to
RHS Parents
September,
2018
Dear parents
and guardians of our Roosevelt students,
The phone-free
classroom policy has been a welcome change to learning communities at Roosevelt
High School. Teachers have observed more positive interactions between students
and fewer distractions to work and discussions in class.
This shift has
also inspired the English Language Arts department to reflect on impacts of
phone use in general: we wonder about the degree to which phones are responsible
for kids and adults reading less. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
reading for pleasure has dropped 30% since 2004 (See “Leisure
reading in the U.S. is at an all-time low,” 6/29/18, Washington Post).
We have observed
more screens and fewer books in our own homes. But we English teachers still
ardently believe in the imaginative, reflective powers of reading. Undisturbed
by the pinging and flashing and siren song of tasks or temptations only a swipe
or click away, the nearly thousand year old technology of bound books provides
a sustained focus of thought and imagination that is a source of pleasure,
empathy and critical thought available even in today’s crowded mindscape.
We would
like to recommend a half an hour every day when your children read books. For
thirty minutes, we recommend phones go down, books come up. It would be even better
if parents read too. And better still if, in this half hour, everyone read—in
proximity, together. But these are ideals and recommendations only. We know
schedules and responsibilities crowd and fragment the evenings and everyone is
doing the best they can.
Read with
us. Half an hour a day: phone down, book up.
English
Language Arts teachers
Roosevelt
High School
