Telephone Etiquette From Becky Parsons, a language arts teacher at Delaware Valley Middle School in Milford, Pennsylvania: "A few years ago we had classroom telephones installed in every classroom. This is a great boon to communicating with parents and with the office. However, it also means that we receive many calls to the classroom. I always seem to be in the 'back forty' working with a student when the phone rings, so I decided to ask a student to answer the phone. Most students are so anxious to participate that we now draw names each week and have a script for them to use posted by the telephone. This not only saves me from sprinting from the far side of the classroom but also gives the students practice in telephone etiquette and pride in solving an authentic classroom dilemma."