If You Can’t Beat Cellphones, Join Them!

Last Friday I ventured onto a public high school campus and spent the day with a junior student named Monique. If my experience had been video recorded, you could assume it was the 90’s or 80’s because the day completely lacked in technology.

Throughout the entire day, technology was only used once: a “video projector” during Pre-Calc. For those of you who have not been in a classroom in the past decade, this is an updated version of the old style overhead which used photocopied “transparencies” you could write on with special markers. The video overheads are literally a video camera which projects the image onto the wall. In the Pre-Calc class, the teacher was able to place the math textbook directly under the camera to project the page onto the wall. He also demonstrated how to plug mathematical equations into a calculator by placing it directly under the camera.

The only other times of evident technology was by teacher’s behavior-correcting: “Put the cell phone away.” How is this possible? This high school is still operating like the computer boom never happened. It is absolutely mind-boggling.

Education is more exciting now than ever before because of the myriad ways we can use technology to create, connect, and expand. Take cell phones for example: many cell phones these days are really just miniature computers with immense power. In one of the classes I observed, students were encouraged to use gargantuan (and outdated) dictionaries. Now I ask, why? Who even uses printed dictionaries anymore? Why not let students use their smart phones to look up words? It is faster, updated, and more comfortable to use. I myself use my smart phone for looking up words; why not let my students do the same?

Also, think of the possibilities for fact checking. Text GOOGLE any question and they will text you back in less than 5 seconds. If students have internet, they most likely have applications for Wikipedia, and a web browser. Many schools can’t afford computers in their classrooms—but open your eyes! More than likely, a majority of the students have computers right inside their pockets!

For my graduate program, I did research on the use of technology in the classroom (or the lack thereof), and the observation experience only made this problem more apparent. Teachers do not trust their students to use these technologies “responsibly.” And maybe students are abusing the technology. But the fact is they are going to use it no matter what. It is easy to sneak a cell phone underneath the desk. So why not put the cell phones out on the table, and teach ways for students to use these powerful tools for their learning? Of course, a discussion about the proper contexts of cell phone use needs to occur as a precursor. Students will not be perfect, and they will need constant guidance and gentle reminders when they become distracted. The mistakes must be acceptable, because everyone (yes, adults including) can become sidetracked by technology. I text and engage in all forms of social media and I am a successful student—why can’t I expect the same from my students?

This polemic is stemming from my ideological perspective and from my little experience with teaching. I have not taught in my own classroom, but I have experienced the cell phone issue in small group writing workshops that I lead in college. And to be honest, the use of the cell phones really did annoy me at times. I think why cell phones agitate teachers is because it subtly takes away their authority and power. Teachers are not the holders of knowledge in the 21^st century. They cannot compete with the technologies, and smart phones hold all the knowledge in the world. We cannot beat the smart phone “enemy,” so why not become friends?