Walk This Way, Talk This Way....

Do you remember those famous words from "Aerosmith"....perhaps if that song had been written today it would read "Walk This Way, Text This Way".  It seems that cellphone use has become so common place that I routinely see students sitting in the hall together, texting on their phones, and not one person talking.  What ever happened to social interaction.  Some of our students are so efficient at texting, they can use their phone while it's still in their pocket. 
Don't get me wrong....I'm not against cell phones, I just think that sometimes we rely too much on electronic communication.  After all, it can be difficult to read emotion into an email or text.  Many people have become so accustomed to using electronic media, they have lost sight of the value of personal communication.  In fact, i'm sure in many homes, the issue of teens hogging the telephone doesn't exist anymore.  Most socialization occurs either through Facebook or by texting.
And that brings me to my next point which is how school has started to shift its thinking in relation to the use of cellphones and other personal electronic devices.  Over the last couple years, the school took the approach that cellphone use was a distraction and not necessary in the classroom.  Now, with the emphasis on the use of technology to improve student engagement, cell phones and smart phones are starting to be used in classrooms as teaching tools.  Just this past Thursday morning, I sat in a teachers class where she started the day by posing some questions to her class as part of a review from the previous days work.  Instead of using paper, she had the students text their answers using a web program called "polleverywhere", which provided the class with real time data related to the class responses.  As the students texted their responses, the percentage of students choosing specific questions came up on the web page projected on the Smartboard.  It was easy to see that not only did students get real time feedback on their learning, they were also engaged in the activity.  Afterwords, almost every student in the class indicated their preference for the use of this type of technology.
Not only are cellphones being used to facilitate learning, but now with the addition of wireless, students are coming to school with other technological tools such as iPads, laptops, iPods, and netbooks.  This not only gives students ready access to information, but is also pushing the school to keep up with trends in the use of social media and other forms of technology to make learning accessible and relevant. 
I have attached a You Tube clip from educator "Sir Ken Robinson" that captures an interesting narrative on how public education is changing given the demands of our global economy and technological change....enjoy!