“Don’t become a robot. Put your phone away and engage in the world around you.”
From our Educator Guest Blogger Series, Beechwood Middle School theatre teacher, Shannon Boatwright
As a producer and director, I am inspired by music. I will hear a song and see a vision on the stage or screen. A concept will come to life in my mind and plague me.
When an idea takes hold of my heart and mind, nagging at my creative juices and consistently coming to life in my imagination, I know that means it’s meant to become a reality. As a theatre teacher, I love any opportunity to inspire my students and allow them to be a part of something meaningful that will hopefully encourage them to be a better person.
I’m a huge fan of singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer, Jon Bellion. As far as I’m concerned, he’s a music phenomenon, a true music genius. His skills and talents are remarkable. His song, iRobot inspired me to bring this project to life because as a teacher, I have witnessed and experienced firsthand how these high-tech gadgets, known as smartphones, have wreaked havoc on the education world. It has become its own pandemic in a sense, on so many levels.
My school, Beechwood Middle School of Lexington County School District One, shares this video below with every class at the start of every school year as we introduce the rules of our school. I’m very proud of the finished product and the message. It is an interpretive, conceptual project about the dangers of smartphone addiction and how we need to put our phones down and engage in the world around us.
About the video:
- Student-inspired, student-choreographed, and teacher-produced/directed
- Featuring Beechwood Middle School Musical Theatre & Drama students
- Starring Beechwood Middle School students Mia Clark and Campbell Williams
- Produced & directed by me, Shannon Boatwright; edited by Sawyer Shull; make-up design by Hanna Zalanskas
- Inspired by real-life events and Jon Bellion's song, iRobot.
*I purchased the song and am a huge fan of Jon Bellion. I do not own the rights to his song, but Jon Bellion allows this song to be used on YouTube. Thank you Jon Bellion!!
iRobot Documentary & Music Video, YouTube
A follow-up and some very encouraging news….
This past year, my school district enforced a new requirement that students are NOT allowed to access their cell phones for the entirety of the school day. This new rule aligns with directions from the SC State Department of Education for all South Carolina schools. When we teachers first heard this, it was honestly met with mixed emotions. On the one hand, we were happy at the thought of actually not having to battle the constant disruptions of students on their phones. On the other hand, we knew this had the potential to become a total nightmare! Between kids being addicted to their phones and parents fussing, I know I was very skeptical about how in the world we were going to successfully pull off this no-phones thing.
I’ve seen studies all over the world in which they’ve taken a group of teenagers and taken their phones away for an extended amount of time and the results are always very interesting. Overall, kids learned valuable lessons about the importance of engaging in the world around them and recognized the enormous amount of time they wasted locked in on a phone screen. Valuable lessons learned by all involved!
I’m happy to share that here at my school in Lexington One, we are three months into enforcing the no phones rule for students from the first bell of the day to the last bell and it has gone surprisingly well! I’ve personally experienced benefits on so many levels in all my classes, simply from not having to compete with and battle cellphone drama. I see these students benefiting greatly from this rule as well. The temptation to be on their phone is eliminated, therefore attention, focus, and engagement have strengthened.
Here’s to continuing the efforts and inspiration to encourage students and all humans to limit their screen time and engage in the world around them!
Don't become a robot.
Put your phone away and engage in the world around you. ;-)
BIO:
Shannon Boatwright is a local teacher-artist in Lexington School District One, where she currently teaches drama and musical theatre at Beechwood Middle School. She has a B.A. in theatre and dance from Winthrop University and a Masters in Education Administration from the University of South Carolina. After ten years of living in Los Angeles, CA, working as a professional performer, producer, entertainment reporter, and host on the stage and screen, Shannon moved back home to SC in 2009. She was drawn to the amazing world of Arts Integration, training in Greenville with the Metropolitan Arts Council and SmartArts program and via seminars at the Peace Center with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Residencies within the local school districts integrating drama and dance brought such joy to Shannon that she decided to do the SC PACE program to get her teacher certification and broaden her reach. She’s been teaching privately and in the public school arena now for over 14 years. Contact Shannon via her portfolio website.
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