"Technology Gone Wrong" in the Classroom

Has Your Classroom Become the Victim of Student Technology Pranks? 

I think the use of technology in the classroom has created an infinity of possibilities for teachers in their daily instruction as well as enabling students to embrace and engineer their quest to learn.  It can be an amazing source of information and differentiation in the classroom.

However....lately I have witnessed several instances of "technology gone wrong" in the classroom.  Students have very creatively found ways to use technology to create mischief in class.  I am not talking about students who attempt to sneak on inappropriate websites on their Chromebooks.  In 2016 students have taken their pranks to a new level with technology. 

Historically there have always been student pranksters in the classroom.  Dating back to the 1800's when Tom Sawyer was dipping the end of Becky's braids in the inkwell students have used their creativity to cause mischief in the classroom.  Spitballs have become vintage pranks as students now use assistive technology to create havoc in the classroom.

The first occurrence of a new high tech prank occurred in one our 8th grade classes.   I was walking to the classroom to pull out a student for small group  intervention when I noticed a student crying. The teacher was in the classroom doorway attempting to comfort her.  As soon as Ms. T spotted me she frantically exclaimed, "I don' t know what is going on!  I know I am not imagining it!"   Intrigued I asked her to explain. Ms. T. stressfully revealed that sudden loud rap music was randomly blasting out inappropriate lyrics from the back of her classroom.  Despite a search of the area by school security no explanation could be found.  Following the search the music stopped for about an hour but now it was back with a vengeance. The random outbursts of loud inappropriate music had continued throughout her math class.  Every time the music burst forth students were jumping up and dancing.  The entire math lesson had turned into utter chaos from the mystery music.

The confusion was further combined by the now crying student who had only been in America for a year and was totally baffled by the randomn music.  She had  strong cultural beliefs related to spirits and she actually was scared that some type of evil spirit was the cause of the mystery musical outbursts.  There was no calming her down and she continued crying.  I walked in the classroom which was currently quiet.  Within in minutes extremely inappropriate music blurt out of the back of the room and then stopped.  I searched through the entire bookcase in the back pulling out book after book out and yet found nothing!  At that point I felt it was more important to console the crying student so I took her back to the quiet of my classroom and requested that the school counselor make a visit to help comfort her fears.

Once the counselor began to work with the student to help bring her anxiety down.  I went back to the classroom with our school security aide.  We began an intense search of the room as the teacher valiantly went on with her math lesson.  After checking every crack and corner we both looked at each other and shook our heads in defeat....nothing suspicious was found! 

We stood in the back of the room observing the students when the security assistant noticed a female student stuffing something into the waist band of her sweatpants.  Being that this young lady was a frequent visitor to the office on incident referrals suspicions were aroused and the security aide walked up to her.  He asked her what she was hiding and after several requests she pulled out a round device.  At first he could not figure out what the technology he was holding was however after closely examining it we discovered in was a portable wireless speaker.  This was a wireless speaker that could be controlled remotely by a cell phone!

Ah Ha! Mystery Solved!

 Yes, I am really out of the technology loop on that one because I did not even know such a device existed!

The guilty student was escorted to the office where the accomplices in the prank would be revealed.  A short time later an administrator was in the classroom setting down strict guidelines and warnings to the students regarding the use of technology in classroom pranks.

Thinking that technology pranks had been nipped in the bud school continued on with the usual classroom issues, none of them related to technology.  The week before Christmas break it happened again.  All classrooms are equipped with a TV mounted in the front of the room above the white boards.  Since the introduction of Smart Boards the TVs have become an obsolete tool that just silently hangs down unnoticed.  Every second period the two 8th grade classrooms switch for math and language arts.  When the new group of students entered the room escorted by the teacher they found the TV was on blaring out a local morning talk show.  The teacher assumed that a student influenced by the excitement of the upcoming holiday break had impulsively turned the TV on as they left the room. She quietly reached up and turned the TV off and began her lesson. 

 Meanwhile in the other classroom where her home base students resided for ELA the ghostly presence of a technology prankster was at work.  The TV in that room was randomly turning off and on.  The first time had the teacher puzzled. As the TV repeatedly turned off and on several times she realized technology was at the root of the mystery.  She asked the classroom culprit to step forward only to greeted by a room of blank faced students that looked like they had forgotten their own names.  She called for assistance and the principal quickly appeared.  In her no nonsense fashion the principal instructed the students to take out a piece of paper and write down all they knew about the prank.  She further announced that if the situation was not settled in the next 10 minutes their field trip for the following day would be cancelled.  Pencils remained frozen in students' hands as they all strongly adhered to the misguided philosophy that "Snitches get stitches". 

As the minutes nervously ticked by one student in the front stepped forward and admitted he was responsible.  He had downloaded an app on his cell phone that he had somehow hooked up to turn on the TV from his phone. Upon the student's confession his fellow accomplice admitted his role and the two were promptly escorted to the office. 

I have to admit I rather admire their technology talents.  I wonder if teachers need to be more mindful of the fact that we  have students that are extremely bored in the classroom and need different challenges than what we are offering. 

Are we failing to find ways to challenge and engage all students and consequently they channel their creativity in a mischievous direction?  Perhaps using technology for misdeeds is a sign of the times and it will continue to become a classroom problem.  Personally I think it means we need to offer our student more opportunities to express their creative side by providing instruction in coding and other more advanced computer skills. 

 Has your school experienced the technology prankster? 

 

 If so, please comment below,  I am very interested in what may be a growing trend in the classroom.