Classroom Mobile Device Safety Contract (sample)

The beginning of the school year is upon us, thus, it is time for teachers to establish norms and routines.  One of those norms for teachers of middle and high school students should be around cell phone use.  The first week of school is an opportunity for teachers (along side of their students) to develop a mobile device safety and etiquette contract that promotes a positive mobile mental health in their classroom community.  Below is an example of a social contract that teachers might establish with their students.  Keeping in mind that this should be something that teachers work together with their students to develop.

• We recognize that our cell phones can be tools to help us learn and extend learning to the real world.
• We can use our cell phones in school to connect our learning to the real world, to gather information, to participate in assessments, to collaborate with classmates on projects, and to communicate with our teacher.  
• We recognize that our teacher is open to talking with us about our cell phone use at anytime and that our classroom is a safe space to have these discussions.
• We recognize that our cell phones can distract from our learning and will avoid this distraction by adhering to the classroom rules by placing our cell phones in their pocket holders when not being used for learning.  Also, by using the devices efficiently and to stay on the learning task.
• We recognize that conversation is important to learning and we can have conversations on our tools in class that have to do with our learning goals and objectives, and not on topics that distract from those goals.  
• We recognize that our cell phones have the power to lift people up, as well as put people down.  We will use our cell phones to help create positive digital footprints and a positive mental health for all our classmates.