Pages

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Cell Phones in the Classroom

Recently we were assigned an article for class regarding 5 reasons to allow students to use cell phones in class. Prior to this course, I had never thought about allowing students to use their cell phone in class. When I was in school I wasn't allowed to use my cell phone so it seemed to make sense that current students also wouldn't be allowed to use their phones. Through class discussion throughout the semester as well as by reading this article, I've come to see the error of my way of thinking. 

As a big Harry Potter fan, I found the following quote especially meaningful. 
"Children, put away your wands. You won't be needing them." - Delores Umbridge 
One of our requirements as teachers is to prepare students for the future and to make sure that they have the tools necessary to succeed in life. Cell phones are a part of life and cell phone use will be required and integrated in every job a student has after graduation. It is important that instead of just teaching about the future, we provide the students with hands-on instruction to assist them. Teaching students without integrating cell phones would be similar to teaching young magicians without using their wands: ineffective and useless. 

 Not the kind of teacher I want to be
Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 17, 2012 at 3:19 PM

    I think that cell phones in certain circumstances would be great but I think it's also important to remove the cell phones from classrooms to because they are so connected sometimes. This is an old article from the NY Times that has to do with a cheating scandal involving cell phones: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/10/nyregion/70-students-at-stuyvesant-to-retake-exams-after-cheating-case.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

    ReplyDelete
  2. LaurenJuly 17, 2012 at 6:40 PM

    Thanks for sharing that article, Maretta. I agree that sometimes cell phones must be removed from classrooms. I think it all comes back to classroom management like Steve said in the webinar tonight. If you have proper classroom management, students won't cheat and will use their cell phones for helpful purposes. Without good classroom management, students will find a way to cheat even without cell phones.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)