Looking at how my students use technology amazes me. They can create, edit, and upload video’s with their telephones to the internet that look like mini movie’s. They also can download whole albums for free from different websites. They can do their homework all from their phones if they wanted to. What my students do with their cell phone’s is nothing sort of a miracle. One of the most creative things that I have seen a student do with their cell phone is video each field trip he attended for the year and put into a presentation entitled “Sites to see in Dallas” for one of his semester projects.
As I talk to my colleagues not only are middle school students using their cell phone’s for class projects but elementary students are using them as well. One autistic fourth grader utilizes his phone to take pictures of his classmates and teachers to download them into his laptop. This is a strategy he uses to help him remember who his peer helper is throughout the day as well as keep up with his daily schedule. I know that teachers view phones as a distraction, but I view this topic a bit differently.
If certain features of a phone can help a student in the classroom why not let them use it. For example, one of my students asked his math teacher if he could video him working out an algebra problem using a particular formula that he could not grasp in the classroom. As the student reviewed the footage when he got home to do his homework he was able to figure out what he was missing when he went to work alone. Basically his phone became a take home tutor whenever his teacher allowed him to tape the class. Sometimes as educators when need to revamp the way we look at certain technologies before we write them off as a nuisance.
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