Living in the 4th Screen

This article on Scholastic.com gives advice on how to handle cell phones in the classroom. What I found interesting was the section on using cell phones as part of the lesson. Below is an excerpt from the article:

DO Use Texting to Teach Summarizing
Jennifer Kuszmerski, a language arts teacher, uses text messaging to invite students to summarize what they've learned in a given class period. To close a lesson, ask students, "If you had to text what you learned today to one of your friends, what would you say?" "Texts are short bursts of information that get to the point quickly, and students understand that," says Kuszmerski. "If a student can summarize what he or she learned in a sentence or two, it's easy to see if your objective has been met for the day."

DO Use Texting to Discuss Language
To teach students the formal rules of writing, write a sentence on the board, such as "Can you come to my Valentine's Day party?" Ask students to translate the sentence into a text message (i.e., "v-day party 2-nite u should come"). Then, ask them to rewrite that same sentence as if it were in an e-mail to a teacher. ("Ms. Walker, would you like to come to my Valentine's Day party on Thursday night?") Considering audience and revising for tone teaches kids that different forms of writing are appropriate at different times. Marika Dietsch, a seventh-grade language arts teacher, also uses text-speak to demonstrate how language evolves. "My students can't believe that Shakespeare is considered modern English!" says Dietsch. "We talk about how language changes over time, and they make the connection to the abbreviations they use for texting."

I think these are some creative ways to use cell phones as part of a lesson. Has anyone else used texting in this way or in some other way to support a particular lesson? Follow the link above to read the full article.

Loading mentions Retweet

There are responsible ways to incorporate cellphone use into classrooms, and we may be doing students a disservice by allowing draconian anti-cellphone policies to persist in schools.

There are other questions thoughtful school leadership teams should consider. Incorporating laptops or other technologies into a classroom can be time-consuming and frustrating, for example. At my middle school, we have a wireless network with mobile laptop carts. But the computers are fast becoming outdated, and the boot time is painfully slow on some machines. For a student with a cellphone, however, the time to “boot up” and retrieve, create, or share information is comparatively minuscule. This could be a major advantage for teachers wanting to incorporate quick Web searches, collaboration, or idea sharing, and it also lessens the pressure on school wireless-network infrastructures.

How cool would it be if school announcements were sent to students on their phones? Or, instead of using a blaring PA system, the main office could text a student to come and pick up the lunch he or she forgot on the counter at home? Or perhaps students could openly record cellphone video of teachers for test-review purposes. Or teachers could send texted reminders to students about homework assignments.

I use Outlook to send text message reminders to students who have a detention. If a student misses a detention they have it doubled. To avoid this I send the students a reminder between the last two periods of the day. The students love it and it has cut down on the number of students who miss detentions. I use the Delayed Delivery option in Outlook to set this up.

Finally Barnwell states the following:

Opponents of this type of innovative approach are likely to bring up the potential distractions and abuses that cellphones in school can certainly create, like covert and sneaky text or picture messaging between friends. But guess what? We did the same thing back in our day, writing notes to our friends on actual paper. Inappropriate communication in school will never cease. I expect, however, that structured use of cellphones in my classroom would reduce the temptation to use them in irresponsible ways.

Loading mentions Retweet

This article on the gainsvilletimes.com highlights another high school that is easing their restrictions on student cell phone use during the school day. Below are some quotes from the article:

The Hall County Board of Education approved Principal Mark Coleman’s plan to begin easing regulation on cell phone use between classes and during lunch.

“We feel like it’s time to start looking at and embracing technology and utilizing it as best as possible,” Coleman told board members. “(The pilot program) may not work. We may be back here saying we need to scrap this, but I believe this is what’s coming in the future.”

Coleman cited an example of a similar initiative at a Florida high school, which he said saw school deferrals for cell phone use drop 85 percent.

“I think we have so gotten beyond banning that we ought to be talking about ethical use of technology, not blocking technology,” Superintendent Will Schofield said.

Flowery Branch teachers Bridget Rodriguez and Kim Grennan said allowing cell phone use during limited hours would give students the opportunity to check messages from and arrange after-school plans with their parents. It would also open up more possibilities in the classroom, such as communicating with other schools outside the state or country.

“The more privilege and responsibility you give (students), they actually step up to the plate and they appreciate and respond to those responsibilities in a manner that we expect them to,” Rodriguez said. “I also believe technology is not going away.”

Grennan took advantage of students’ cell phones when she ran out of calculators during a lab experiment.

“As a parent, I know that sometimes I even message (my middle school student),” she said. “I guarantee there are some other parents in here that have had to do the same thing.”

But teaching responsible cell phone use could prepare students for the future, she said.

Great statements from the school leaders and teachers. Most of what they said in the article is what we have experienced at the school I work at. We eased our restrictions this year and we saw a decline in the first half of the year in our cell phone violations. An over whelming majority of our students have responded positively to the increased freedom in cell phone use. For the record we allow students to use their cell phones during the passing time between classes and during their lunch break. We do have a few teachers that are using student cell phones as part of their lessons.

Loading mentions Retweet

Below is a video about a University of Texas professor using Twitter as part of classroom discussions. Using their cell phones or computers students can post to Twitter and the professor has these responses projected onto a screen in the front of the room. Nowhere in the video does it discuss the interaction between the live in-class lecture and the Twitter posts.

I like the idea that students can post to Twitter, as this probably provides a forum for shy students to provide some input into the class discussion (A point brought out by a few of the students in the video). I also thought it was interesting how the professor participated in one of the classroom lectures via Twitter when she was out of town. The TA led the class but the professor engaged the students in her Twitter posts. That is a nice use of technology.

At the same time I find the 140 character limit of Twitter to be frustrating. The limit makes me feel like I am having a bunch of conversations that get cut off midway through the discussion. Maybe I will feel differently in time as I just started using Twitter with any regularity. I do like the real time nature of Twitter (Last night's updates on the Chile earthquake where way ahead of the mainstream media). I find the hash tags (#) and @ symbols mixed within posts to be frustrating. I have a programming background and understand characters and such, but what about the non-geek world? Can we come up with a Twitter-like experience that is real time, but allows more characters and eliminates these ( #@!&) symbols in the post?

Does Twitter or any real-time feed have a place in education?

Loading mentions Retweet

Henrico County (VA) schools Superintendent Patrick Russo said that learning anywhere and anytime is "the next wave."

"As technology evolves, I think you will see iPhones and other mobile devices . . . be part of the teaching process as well as a communication process between teachers and students," he said.

In Chesterfield County (VA), the School Board approved a five-year technology plan in December that includes $3 million for a mobile technology pilot program for students. The money will come from the district's capital improvement plan.A committee of administrators, teachers and students has been looking at the feasibility of using cell phones, iPod Touches and netbooks in the classroom, said Dallas Dance, Chesterfield's director of school improvement, who is leading the committee. "This is what [students are] using at home and have heard a lot about, but we, the school systems, have not been stepping up," he said. "Our primary goal is to increase student achievement, and we want to increase it by engaging students through these 21st-century tools."

"We have to at least explore the potential of the use of these technology tools, said Chesterfield schools Superintendent Marcus J. Newsome, who is part of the committee. "At this point, I don't see that there will be a wholesale implementation of anything with our students, but I think we need to investigate in terms of some pilots."

"It the past, it seems as though [the cell phone] has been a tool that's been disruptive to the teaching and learning process, but if there's a way to turn it around to our advantage, we need to investigate," Newsome said.

The Virginia Department of Education launched Learning without Boundaries two years ago. The initiative, in cooperation with Virginia Tech and Radford University, is studying the potential benefits of wireless hand-held technologies in schools.

Loading mentions Retweet

Filed under  //   Apple   Cell phones   Cell Phones in Learning   Educational Leadership   iPhone   iPod   iPod Touch   K-12   School Leadership   School policies