Cell Phone Anxiety

Cell Phone Anxiety

My students are in 3^rd grade, and only a handful of them have cell phones. (I personally think this is too young to have a cell phone in general.) But if I taught older students who had their own cell phones I think I would consider using them in the classroom.

Even though my students are too young to have phones, many of them do have ipod touches and kindles and ipads. I think that many of the exciting opportunities that come with phones also come with these hand held devices. You can use cell phones and devices as clickers and submit survey answers or exit ticket question answers at the end of a lesson. Many devices also have internet and students could do research on their own personal device.

I think that my worst nightmare for my third graders on any handheld device would be cheating. It would be very easy for students to snap a picture of the test and text it to their buddy, or even texting answers back and forth. The easiest way to overcome this initially is for the teacher to be actively watching students and circling the room. Students are never as stealthy as they think they are. Or if we create more of a norm of devices in class, they could even be sitting out on the students’ desks. If it is sitting on their desk, the teacher knows where it is and that the students isn’t abusing it.

As far as I know our school does not have a cell phone policy. It is up to individual teachers to make sure students aren’t on their phones during class. We are also a very forward thinking and technology centered school, so I am sure if I presented that I wanted to use phones in my class for academic purposes, that would be allowed.

I think the way our society is has created the issue of cell phones in school. If it became more of the norm, I don’t think the cell phone use would be such a problem. Take for instance the drinking age in Europe. Drinking alcohol is something that many younger people do because it is part of their culture. So generally they have fewer issues with it, because it is allowed and it is the norm. If kids don’t need to feel rebellious using their phones at school, it might not be quite as exciting. I also think it will take a while to change society’s perception of phones in schools.

Handheld Curricular Integration

I have recently discovered the app iBook Author. This allows me to write my own digital textbooks and publish them to the iTunes store. This is fabulous because it allows me to incorporate videos, pictures, interactive activities, and quizzes into my textbooks. It also allows me to put in the exact content I want to teach without anything unnecessary for my students. So this tool is not meant for one lesson, but more to be incorporated throughout the unit.

I would incorporate the iBook Author with my students in our astronomy unit. We do not have textbooks for astronomy, so I usually end up creating my own worksheets. But now, I can create an iBook tailored specifically for my students. They can use their smart phones, iPod touches, and iPads to interact with the text in a very meaningful way.

I would write text at their level about each topic. I can highlight vocabulary words in the reading and attach the definitions. I would incorporate videos I found online explaining concepts. I would also include videos of songs about the different concepts. Music is a very powerful learning tool. I can put in graphics of different planets, stars and heavenly bodies. It would be very helpful to show students the difference between comets, meteors, and asteroids for example. I can then give them a quiz about the different heavenly bodies right in the iBook. I can differentiate for my students because they can work on the iPads independently.

None of this would be possible with paper textbooks and the handheld devices become absolutely necessary to show the students the interactive and engaging iBook.