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A Pencil Is a Word Processor: Making the Case for Cell Phones in Class
By Ron Smith
5/16/06Suppose I were to offer you a fantastic word processor, small, portable, battery free, readily available, capable of operating in any language, and easily used by people from ages one to one hundred. There is such a word processor. It is called a pencil.
Now, suppose I were to offer you a personal computer so powerful that it could be used for any number of tasks and is portable and user friendly. And nearly every one of your students already has one, so you don't even have to supply them. It's the cell phone! It is the most pervasive computer in the world.
Most teachers are well aware of cell phones -- mostly as a nuisance in class, where educators spend a lot of time taking them away from students. Well, you wouldn't take their pencils away, so why confiscate cell phones? Instead of taking them away, I started leveraging them as tools for my classes.
The cell phone may be used as a computation device, a camera, a text-messaging device, a portable storage device, a music player, a word processor, and probably more. Why on earth would I take that from my students? Besides, as you probably already know, it's a losing battle, so why fight it?
Of my 150 students, about two-thirds have a cell phone. I have their numbers, and they have mine. If students are habitually late to school, I give them a wake-up call. If students are absent, I send text messages to ask where they are. If students have a problem they need help with, they get in touch with me directly. I remind them of upcoming assignments, and other teachers sometimes ask me to get in touch with students of mine who also attend a class of theirs.
The obvious objection from teachers is that cells phones are a distraction in class, but in my day, I doodled with a pencil. You know -- that other word processor.
Cell phones at school
Submitted by nathan (not verified) on March 3, 2008 - 13:04.
Yes,because they could use them during emergencies, but with teacher's guide lines.
okay. Well my thought is
Submitted by Viktorya (not verified) on January 31, 2007 - 08:59.
okay. Well my thought is that if you can pass notes in class its just the same as a cell phone.
sure you cant take pictures but you can draw them.
you cant browse the internet but you can talk non stop.
plus notes are more convinient because they dont wast money. just time.
Cells waist time and money. but its not the schools so I dont think that it matters.
If they choose to fail the grade and get held back thats their decision. not the principals.
I text in class all the time.
Its just easier than notes.
but its basicly the same....
you can still give each others answers with notes.
I just think that teachers should lighten up.
I mean, if they had cells when they were young as handy as ours today... they would use them just as we are.
I personally dont think that its a problem.
Again
text in class, choose to fail, your choice.
I'm going to continue to text. I love it.
But I pay attention to things too.
I think all of the responses
Submitted by Virginia Malone (not verified) on December 27, 2006 - 01:37.
I think all of the responses are correct. The great thing about American education is its diversity. As a student you get teachers who are "with it" and those who are never "in touch." Some are good, others just plain awful. You have teachers who love you, teachers who teach you, teachers who stretch you, teachers who are picky, teachers who are sloppy, teachers who make you sad and those that make you glad, teachers who care, and teachers who don't. You learn something from each one. So bring on the i pods and the paper. After all this is the kind of American education that gave us Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and maybe even you. It teaches us to be flexible. It forces us to learn how to get along with all kinds of "bosses," and somewhere along with way we actually learn something. Somehow, I don't think it can be all that bad to have teachers with strict rules and those with few, some with pencil sharpeners and some with cell phones.
I am a student and i think
Submitted by anonomus (not verified) on November 6, 2006 - 18:18.
I am a student and i think that ron hit the nail on the head an was right e
Are we concerned about the
Submitted by Stephanie M. (not verified) on October 7, 2006 - 04:20.
Are we concerned about the method of communication or the intrusiveness? Seems to me the issue is not about the way we communicate as much as it is the quality of experience that we want to communicate. If curriculum is engaging and brings out the creative spirit of the individual, then sharing that excitement naturally will happen and I believe when a child is engaged in learning, they will want to stay with their expereince and not jump into the most convenient distration. Seeing a student as a person also brings forth the need to understand their emotional need for contact and connectedness. Technology is making the virtual space for a phenominal emotional sense of community. The task of educators is to give them something of meaning to talk or text or email about.
I found an interesting use
Submitted by Sheila Moore (not verified) on October 17, 2006 - 16:11.
I found an interesting use for cellphones with my class.
We are studying erosion and erosion control in Honors Earth Science. To bring relevance to the topic, we talk about how this affects the landscaping or our own school setting.
I divided the class into groups and each group used a cellphone(s) to take pictures of examples of erosion and erosion control on different areas of the campus. Students were to find at least 10 images to share and be ready to explain or defend why they were included.
We went on an outdoor trek and happily clicked away. It was great.
They were very anxious to get outside and complete the task...and were equally anxious to share their findings.
Carole, Here are some
Submitted by ron smith (not verified) on August 17, 2006 - 02:32.
Carole,
Here are some links--
http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/
Check out--Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, What Can You Learn From A Cell Phone? - Almost Anything!, Mobile Phone Imagination, The Prensky Challenge -- Who will be the first to challenge, rather than blame, our kids?
www.thecommittedsardine.net/infosavvy/education/handouts/it.pdf
http://www.apple.com/au/education/digitalkids/disconnect/landscape.html
http://feeds.feedburner.com/SmartMobs
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,55561,00.html
Meghan, A couple thoughts.
Submitted by ron smith (not verified) on August 17, 2006 - 02:16.
Meghan,
A couple thoughts. When students get out of line, with or without their cell phones, I have them take out their cell phone and call their parents--themselves--to explain why they cannot follow instructions. I do this VERY publicly, in front of all the other the students. I really only have to do that once before the word gets around, and the problem dissappears.
Second, while your husband dislikes IM, it is a fact. He may not hire my students, and that would be his loss. My students ALL graduate, they ALL go to college, and they routinely out-perform their peers when they enter the workplace. The reasons for this are complex, but they start with teaching the ability to be flexible, to embrace technology to work smarter, not harder, and, as Martin King said, to judge people by the content of their character. Several of my students have gotten part-time jobs with computer retailers while they attended college, so they might someday own the business, instead of just work there.
The first lesson on the first day of every semester is, "Rudeness will not be tolerated". It isn't.
Teaching in Canada I hardly
Submitted by Carole Mondragon (not verified) on August 16, 2006 - 17:13.
Teaching in Canada I hardly knew I was alive compared with teaching in England where it seems that discipline is out of control. I am about to return to England to teach high school for a second year. I supply taught in UK last year and so the students were challenging in the strongest way. They used ipods (which I didn't mind) and cell phones (mobile phones in UK) almost non-stop despite the school's rules against their use. When I would challenge kids, they'd hide the phone, pass it to another student, scream, swear and say **** you! if I requested the phone. There appears to be little or no realistic teacher-support or follow-up from schools in general. It was really like subjecting oneself to hell. However, since I have to return for a year, I'd like to hear from anyone who can give me solid practical use of cell phones to engage students in curriculum e.g. English. Anyone?
Although--or maybe
Submitted by Meghan Horton (not verified) on August 10, 2006 - 23:30.
Although--or maybe because--he's not a teacher, I thought my husband's comment was interesting. He works in the corporate offices of a well-known computer retailer.
"He's creating people ill-prepared to work
in the real world with his permissiveness. Sure, it's
great to try to adapt your lessons to your students,
but it doesn't prepare them for doing what their
manager says, when he or she says it, to a predefined
standard that they'll have no say in.
My new employees asked me, "What IM do you use?" I told
them, "None. Use e-mail; it provides constant
documentation of directions." That was the end of it.
If I'd hired someone from one of this guy's
classes, chances are I'd have gotten lip about it, and
I'd already be looking for another new employee."
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