When students—and teachers—aren’t distracted by cell phones, everyone can focus on learning. Here’s how one teacher came up with a system that works.

“I just think positive reinforcement is important,” says Fairview High School social studies teacher Jess Quiggle. After years of battling phone use in the class, Quiggle has come up with a simple but effective system, which incentivizes students putting away their phones—and neatly cuts down on cell phone distractions.

“I've been teaching for 16 years and cell phones have always been at least a little bit of an issue, just like note passing was when we were in high school. Since COVID, though, the shift has been dramatic. It's no longer that cell phones are a privilege. Their cell phones are so attached to them that it's like a right,” she says.