Cellphones in the Classroom

I was very impressed with all your postings re this week's topics. I share the same sense of joy and the same sense of caution with regard to using cellphones in the classroom. My first reaction , as I'm sure some of you felt (and wrote) was WHAAAAAAAT? Then I became curious about how that might work.

The things that came to mind for me while hearing the teachers reflect on their work was that it could be a very good thing to take advantage of a teenager's egocentrism in a positive way by using a tool they are really familiar with. I believe one of the teachers mentioned that she hoped the experience wouldn't feel like work. Another thing that came to mind for me was the need to be extremely careful when contemplating and/or introducing a new technology based wrinkle to instruction. I love, Love, LOVE technology and I am very anxious to get it into the classroom but I have to hold myself in check to make sure I'm really teaching rather than attempting to "wow" students.

I very much agree with Zach who stated, "The question should no longer be 'how do we integrate technology,' but rather should be 'how do we integrate learning into technology.'" I think if we look at it that way, we as teachers will have an easier time of it.

One of, if the the most valuable piece that I take away from the podcast was hearing the teachers reflect on their experience. That was the point, wasn't it? I think it clearly sparked a great deal of reflection on the part of the listeners who responded. It has helped me to see the value of teacher blogs and I'd be very much interested in either joining or starting one beyond this class.

Geof