Phones are the classroom management issue of this decade. A lot of states and districts now have bell-to-bell restrictions, and plenty of teachers are setting their own rules on top of that.
Whatever your building's policy is, the version that works in your room is the one you can enforce the same way every day.
The common options
Phone parking (a pocket chart or caddy by the door): clear and visible, but you're now responsible for 30 phones.
Locking pouches: strong if the whole school uses them, harder to run in one classroom.
Away and silent in backpacks: easiest to start, hardest to enforce.
Use on signal only: works for older students when phones are part of an activity, but takes a lot of trust.
None of these is the right answer everywhere. The right answer is the one you'll stick to in March.
Enforce it the same way every time
Students push on rules that change depending on your mood. Pick one response and use it:
First time: a quiet reminder, nothing more.
Second time: the phone goes in the caddy for the rest of the period.
Third time: parent contact or the school's process.
No lectures, no debates. Calm and boring wins here too.
Give them something better to look at
A phone comes out when there's dead time. Tight transitions, a task on the board when students walk in, and a real closing activity cover most of the gaps. A full period with no downtime does more than any rule.
Free tools
Cell Phones in the Classroom: Pros and Cons on Elevate the Norm covers what the research shows.
Proactive Classroom Management Strategies is all about closing the gaps where phones come out.
Fill the first five minutes with a free warm-up from Daily Bell Ringers.
Want it ready to print
Everything above is free. If you'd rather skip the prep, my TPT store, Teacher Emergency Toolkit, has print-ready packs for grades 6–12, including a free resources shelf and teacher forms and templates.
Need a warm-up for tomorrow? A new set of free bell ringers goes up every morning at Daily Bell Ringers.