Become a Ringleader: Teaching with Text Messaging

With a title like that you might wonder what my allegiance actually is. Well I don't want to leave any grey area; I am 100% an advocate of using technology in the classroom.

I am a relatively young teacher (23) with a lot of technology experience. Currently I am studying to get my Masters Degree in Education, and just recently focused my thesis on incorporating Small, Personal Electronic Devices in High-School classrooms. The initial results have been fantastic.

My school population is currently more than 78% free and reduced lunch with a very culturally and ethnically diverse population. Even though this school has such a high poverty rate almost every one of my students carries a cell phone (if you want to know more about the reasoning behind this please take a look at the works of Ruby Payne).

Online you can find several sites that allow you to pose questions to your students and get immediate replies via text messages that you can correlate to individuals. You can cross reference each question and determine how each student is replying in each situation. Imagine a set of clickers that is free and that allow your students to communicate in full sentences.

Students can also send text questions to google and other web-based services that will reply with definitions and examples. Phones with built in browsers have access to the internet at the touch of a button.

The question is not if we should let them use it, because they will regardless, but should we take the time to teach our future generations how to use the technology that they have responsibly?

We are all guilt of saying "If only I had the technology." Well, your students have it, why not let them use it!

If you have questions about how to integrate this technology in your classroom please let me know and I will help in anyway I can.

Mr. Fitz

Hi Ron,

I would love to be able to do this with my students. I was wondering what service you use to send the "blast" to your students at one time. I can't imagine trying to do this one at a time.

Nancy

Keeping up with technology is very important. Today’s youth especailly teenagers are always on there cell phones or texting. What a wonderful idea! I cant think of any better way to reach your students all at once. Wake up calls, Homework asignments, due date reminders using text messages to connect with your students is an ideal way to keep track of them and keep them on their toes. Most cell phone carriers have free incoming messages and I believe all provide a specail package for unlimited messages. I wish we had this when I was in highschool. They have no excuses. I am currently in college as an education major, I wonder how can I get my professors to use this technology? Using text messages is a great tool for teachers to use.

I'm a Senior in New Castle, Indiana at New Castle Chrysler High School. I am writing a paper for my english class on this very subject. I personally think that cell phones should be allowed during lunch and passing periods and study hall if the teacher permits it. The parents and students should also be made to sign a Cell Phone Acceptance Use Policy just like we have to for the internet and computers. As of right now we are not allowed to carry our phones on us during the school day only before and after school hours. I still text during class though. It's not hard to do.

I believe that sending a text message to students is a valuable tool after school hours when students aren't otherwise available (like down the hall!). The whole conversation is somewhat.... can't think of a word. First there is a message from someone who doesn't use capital letters and very little punctuation. Other messages use the word "text" as a verb. I think I'd love sending text messages and using this form of communication when just a FEW rules are established. I think that, just as in the first message, when people fail to use punctuation and capital letters in a text message, they think it's OK to do so in other forms of communication. And while it may be nice to be able to send a message in the text message form of shorthand, misspelled words, shortened words and acronyms are not appropriate in all other types of communication. I guess what I'm afraid of is that if we allow the use of cell phones and text messages in EVERY aspect of our lives, our language, writing skills, and grammar will suffer. "Hey, if texting is cool, I can write (or even talk) that way anywhere, anytime!" JMHO!

hi,
i am doing this essay at school on whether or not cell phones should be allowed in class. after reading your article i found that cell phones can be a good use in the classroom and should be allowed. your article showed me the good points of having cell phones in class while all the others i have read have showed me the bad points. thank you for the article.

Holly M-

I TEACH at an inner-city school! Hollywood High School is a facility built for 1800 students that has 3000 students. My kids live in the hood, but their minds live on MTV. In a world where kids have $200 sneakers, a cell phone is a minor expense. Secondly, I'm not sure what you consider disruptive. One of my professors at Pepperdine likes to say, "Be practically unreasonable." That's what I want to be. The public school system has not done such a great job in the past few years, so it's time for new ideas. I always want to be a subversive force, pushing the envelope. I want my kids to see that somebody is willing to go out on a limb for them.

I think that text messaging students has its ups and downs. Yes, you can text the students up-dates, wake-up calls, what ever. But, parents would not appeciate the children using cell phones in class when they are supposed to be learning. Some parents would not understand the use of the cell phones and only see cell phones as a nuisance and a way for students to do something other than be in class. If you let the students have their cell phones in class, they will more than likely use them during class time. Other teachers and principals will become upset and angry about the situation with cell phones. In my high school we were allowed to have our cell phones on us but they had to be on silent and we could not get them out during class time.

I find this idea to be very benificial to the students who take part in this. Despite the fact that not all students are equiped with a cell phone, the number is decreasing continously. It gives the students no reason not to be fully prepared for class, and also gives the teacher satisfaction of knowing that his/her students are receiving the up to date information reguarding the class. Although this is something I can see more of in the future, I personally feel that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. Like I stated earlier, not all students are equipped with cell phones. As a student myself, who attended high school since the text messaging era, I can personally say that it is quite distracting. Students are going to be constantly messing with their phone and losing attention in class. Also, students can be messaging friends, but say that they are communicating with a teacher, and pay absouletly no attention to the class. Another key factor is when the bill does come in. I know that most students, expecially younger ones, are more than likely not paying for their cell phone bill and text messaging is not a cheap addition to the bill. The cost is going to be most likely a great chunk of pocket change for the parent and this, in return, is going to cause major issues.

Chris,
There has been quite a hub-bub over phones in school. I can tell you that I teach in a VERY public school, Hollywood High School in Los Angeles, and that the policy of the school and the district (LAUSD, 727,000 students) has been rather fluid. They have decided that students may carry phones, but may not use them in class. In general, I don't want to be texting anyone in class, either, but I have texted (is that a word?) them and vice versa when there was something important. I have had teachers ask me what I am doing, and when I explain, they seem very receptive.

As for acountability, I think Anthony (above) addressed that nicely.

Remember at the beginning of the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, where one of the gang members challenges Butch to a knife fight, but Butch says they have to discuss the rules first? Harvey's response is, "RULES! In a knife fight?" Well, as I have said elsewhere, I will use any means, fair or unfair, to get my kids to succeed. If I have to hold their hand once in a while, I'll do it! A friend of mine said it best. "We should arm each child with every cognitive weapon they are able to carry and wield."