Creative Thinking in Teaching

I have to give him credit...I would never have thought of it. Creative thinking requires one to step ouside the boundaries of a domain in order to create new boundaries, and this is exactly what happened last week with an industrial arts teacher whom I know. And it all happened over a cell phone.
It seems as if his school forbids students to carry andor use cell phones during the school day...not unusual these days. It was Bob's approach to the problem of students defying the regulation that stood out. Many teachers simply take cell phones away, hand them over to the principal and make the student retrieve the phone from the administrator. This is a common response and, as such, not particularly creative. It might seem to be not particularly effective, either, since many students are back at texting and calling the next day. Be that as it may, I have strayed somewhat from the creative aspect of the tome.
Sam, another instructor, has a "Wall of Shame" on which he hangs pictures of himself displaying captured phones and listing the perpetrator's name and date of said acquisition. OK...that's a step outside the boundaries of normalcy, and I'll give him props for that, but it pales in comparison to Bob's approach.
Having warned a student numerous times concerning the phone, Bob decided that a more persuasive argument should be used. Finally exasperated by a lack of cooperation from the student, Bob took the offending device away and SAWED IT IN HALF ON THE BANDSAW! When the student complained that he was going to call home and complain, Bob handed him the phone-in-four-parts and said, "Fine. Call home!" Genius. No word on any fallout at this time, but students definitely refuse to IM in Bob's class!
For the record, Bob is said to have noted that "...batteries are really hard to cut! It shot right out of the phone without being damaged."