Recently I’ve been in summer school testing this concept. A second try after I tried at the beginning of the school year in 2008. Through trial and error, I’ve learned, but I’m not sure if I’m sold on the concept just quite yet.
In the 08-09 school year, I implemented cell phone use as:
1. a priviledge
2. a useful quick calculator tool
3. a way to create reminders for homework & assignments
4. a way for me to communicate with the entire class and remind/encourage them to do their assignments in the evening
I was going against the grain of policy and the kids loved it, but at the same time they were going to take full advantage of the situation. Since the rule stood that I was going to treat them as young “adults”, I explained the rules and expectations of the cell phones in the classroom and then trusted that they would follow them so as to not lose such a great priviledge. That was definitely not the case. What the kids heard was, “we can use cell phones in Mr. Fournier’s room”. So, I spent a good amount of time constantly reminding them how we should be using them (professionally) vs. how they were using them (socially). I felt that it was a constant added battle to an already uphill battle with my students. I figured if I could add one more dimension to my Algebra class, students would buy into the subject a bit more because they were able to be just a little more like themselves. I know in my heart of hearts that they wanted to learn how to use them professionally, but since I was the only teacher in their lives teaching them this concept, it was a lot more time consuming than I could ever imagined. I do believe however, that if my colleagues were all teaching them with me these simple usages, that the students would have been more apt to understanding professionalism with cell phones. I know that I’m going to be using them again and again because cell phones are such an awesome tool for so much more than texting and talking.
So, during this year’s summer school I gave it another try. I started out the first day by asking the students who had cell phones with them. One person raised their hands. I was shocked!! After a little explanation of my intentions, I asked the quesiton again, and everyone raised their hands. It was funny to me how nervous they were to admit to something so simple for fear of getting them taken away during the 5 hour class. I went ahead and posted a question up on the board and had them pull out their phones.
I used a site called Poll Everywhere. http://www.polleverywhere.com/ The students were 100% engage at the concept and real-time answers were popping up on the board. Naturally, you found out who your jokers were, but that’s part of the fun of anonymity. The two rules were, keep it clean and be respectful. The kids adapted very well. I’ve used it everyday since. I begin and end the day with an open poll that asks “What are questions you have, thus far, about any of the material we’ve covered?” http://www.polleverywhere.com/free_text_polls/MzE2MTgyOTg3
Next, I have used some of the other methods that I had in the beginning of the school year last year. Once they were comfortable of my intentions and their use of the cell, I had them all give me their phone numbers and told them I was going to send them texts using Voice to Text. I wanted to give them reminders to bring in any work that they may have had because they were constantly forgetting it at home.
I used a site called Dial2Do. http://www.dial2do.com/ Thus far, they have been receiving my texts, bringing their work to class, but most of the time, untouched. So, at least I’ve tackled one of the problems using this simple form of communication. It takes me about 30 seconds to send out a simple reminder and I know can be very effective in learning outside of the classroom.
I encourage the students to pull out their phones at the end of the class and plug in any reminders that they may need for themselves using whatever app is in their phone to do so.
I’ve also taken note that one of my students is constantly texting during the class. Believe it or not, she has the second highest grade in class. I think about the fact that these students are multi-taskers by design. They can do so many things at once and maybe the freedom of letting these kids learn their strengths and weaknesses with such a distraction in their pocket, may be a subtle and effective approach to this awesome phenomenon.
There is a growing movement of paranoia about kids cheating using their phones. http://edbuzz.org/sroner/2009/08/the-cheating-heart/ I don’t think we need to be scared of this. If we look at things from a professional approach, are we “cheating” at work everytime we look an answer up to help us get a job done? Anytime I text or call me parents and ask them how to do something, is that my way of learning or am I “cheating” life because I didn’t do the research myself? These kids are bombarded with so much more information than you or I were ever subject to when growing up. They have to purge pointless information as quickly as they are learning the next 5,000 trendy topics. Just like you and I, they are going to only retain the things that are most valuable to them at that moment in time of their life.
My thought on this whole situation is to approach learning in a different manner. Schoolwide projects. Both theme based and inquiry based. Have the whole school working on real world issues that can be analyzed and solved. If they need to write a proposal to get something they need, they will have to learn how to write properly. If they need to present their data in a professional fashion showing trends and predictions, they are going to have to learn mathematics. They can easily learn history, the judicial system, the sciences through these types of projects. Students can totally learn what they’ll need in order for them to succeed given the situation. Will cell phones help them with getting the knowledge that they will seek? You bet!!
As long as we continue to teach basics and test particular areas of knowledge, kids will continue to expose the flaws of an outdated approach to their education. Cell phones are not the problem. They’re just having a hard time fitting into an outdated educational system. A world of knowledge in their pocket with far more information than any teacher or professor can hold in their head. We can definitely use this power to an educational advantage, the question isn’t how, it’s just when.
This summer, I’ve started collecting links to cell phone applications for the iPhone or iPod Touch http://delicious.com/jfournier11/iphone that I have found useful and I’m definitely interested in the feedback from the students that utilize some of them. Also, my next step is to see if I can implement social media into the classroom via Twitter or something of the sorts. The school system is worried about the predators on-line, as well as, receiving viruses and hacks. Rightfully so. How do we bounce around that? Cell phones are the answers we seek. It was presented to me best at the NECC ’09 conference on my bus ride home by a tech teacher. She said, “Not using these social mediums in school is like teaching a kid to swim without water”. If they are to be vigilante in their online character and safety, shouldn’t teachers be part of showing them how to use these tools that they carry around with them 24 hours a day? After all, we only spend 180 DAYS x 8 HOURS x 12 YEARS or more of their lives with them. I think we should have a say on what is best for them. I truly believe that I would rather my child be walked through the advantages and disadvantages of cell phones being accomponied by adults, rather than have at it alone, which is the case right now.
