Cell Phones Journal 3

The use of cell phones would be a great way to further engage the high school students. As we learned from the digital natives article the students are almost always "plugged in" outside of the school setting and it becomes quite challenging to "unplug" for six hours and sit in a class ( in rows) and listen to speaking. To begin using the cell phone as the great asset it could become we would have to start with basic educational cell phone etiquette. The teacher could establish from the very beginning that the cell phones are to be used when assigned only and no outside calls or other forms of communications are allowed during the class time. The teacher could do a complete lesson on cell phone etiquette for school and home use. This lesson would benefit everyone who has been stuck some place with a person talking extremely loud on a cell phone and did not know how to politely tell the person they were too loud for the setting.

The use of the cell phone in the classroom could help the student who struggles to stay focused on the teacher and the lesson. It may even help the student who forgets to record their homework assignment in their agenda. With the cell phone the student could do a voice message in the cell phone,this would ensure they would have it when they sat down any place to do their assignment, because most teens would not be caught dead without their cell phones.

The use of cell phones and other technology in the classroom are avenues educators must begin to seriously explore because reaching the 21st century student is becoming more challenging with all the outside influences the students face. The 21st century "educator/facillitator" must be willing to reach the students by any means necessary and technology in many forms will be one of the ways.