Teaching Generation Text! Using Cell Phones to Enhance Learning

Check us out on Engaging Ed Radio!

2012-03-01T05:32:00.000-08:00

Listen to internet radio with Engaging Educators on Blog Talk Radio

Willyn Featuring the 5 Step Plan at Utah Coalition of Educational Technology!

2012-02-29T19:09:00.000-08:00

Check out this great conference http://ucet2012.sched.org/

Make Texting a Positive in School with Celly guest post by Melissa Seideman

2012-02-29T11:28:00.002-08:00

I am a huge fan of using cell phones in the classroom as long as students use them properly and know their limitations. Over the last few years my favorite mass keyword texting app has shutdown (TXTblaster). As a result I have been looking for new FREE resources that would allow people to “opt in” and subscribe to my mass text alerts (without me having to type in everyone’s phone number). I have finally found one that I really LOVE called Celly.

What is Celly?

Celly creates mini social networks called cells that connect you with people and topics that matter most to you. A cell can contain anybody with a cellphone, people from your existing social networks, or any web feed. The mission of Celly is to build a socially responsible and sustainable technology venture that transforms education and community with technology. They hope to empower communities and schools. They are changing the face of education!

Application

I created a group for each of my two classes to serve as a reminder for assignments. I also created a cell group for my club. The security settings for the club is “open” so that any member in the club can text the club. My class is a “closed” cell, meaning that I am the only one who can text the entire class. My students can text me if they have a question. The best part is they do not have my real cell number and it is a controlled environment in that Celly keeps a record of every message placed. It is defiantly on my top ten list of FREE applications to try this school year.

The UPDATED Getting Started Guide (Now includes Celly!)

2012-02-27T05:46:00.000-08:00

Live tonight! Nielsen and Webb discuss Teaching Generation Text

2012-02-26T07:12:00.002-08:00

Tune in to Engaging Ed Radio tonight, Sunday, February 26 at 9PM Eastern to hear Lisa Nielsen and Willyn Webb, co-authors of Teaching Generation Text, discuss using cell phones and student owned devices in the classroom to enhance learning.

On the show we plan to discuss:
Why should you use cell phones in the classroom?
The building blocks for successful use of student owned devices/cell phones
Examples of effective cell phone use
How to overcome administrative opposition
The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) debate

You can access the show’s BlogTalkRadio page by clicking HERE. That will allow you to listen live and even call in with your questions. We hope you’ll join us.

10 Reasons Schools Should Teach Text-Speak

2012-02-21T06:00:00.001-08:00

Guest post courtesy of Phone Service

Texting in school is a very popular topic with people able to argue both sides. Some schools are teaching text speak or SMS in school. The students put together glossaries and compare their versions to the formal written language. Many might argue but listed below are ten reasons schools should teach text speak.

Translation. Teaching students how to translate one version of the English language into another version of the English language exposes them to critical thinking skills.
It is useful. Students tend to wonder when they will ever use what they are learning. Not long ago students were required to take Latin, and a very small percentage ever applied it in real life. Texting, on the other hand, is quite useful to just about everyone who owns a cell phone.
Teaches creativity. There are plenty of words or terms that have not been condensed down into SMS text language. By engaging the students to create their own versions they are not only teaching creativity, but instilling self-esteem and confidence when they come up with something useful for others.
Quicker note taking. By teaching SMS text speak in schools the students can apply it to other classes as well by using it as a short hand note taking skill. Unlike formal note taking which can take too long and lead to missed notes, SMS can help students effectively take notes at a speed close to the verbal communication of their teachers.
Can wrap ethics in. Classes can have an ethical or moral tone to them by discouraging students from using texting in inappropriate ways. Many kids today are using texting to bully or send lewd messages to one another. This topic can be brought in to dissuade that kind of behavior.
Can prepare them for the future. Technology is improving at a rate that some of us cannot keep up with. By bringing this into the classroom you can prepare students for the ever evolving technological advances.
Engages students. Since you never see a teenager very far from their phone and in some cases it seems like it is permanently attached to their fingers, it makes sense to utilize them in the classrooms as well. Using cell phones in school is a great way to engage students with something they are already familiar with and then use texting to draw them into other subjects as well.
Can save future embarrassment. If texting is taught in school, then students have the opportunity to learn the different acronyms and what they may or may not mean. This can save face in the future when texting a client or other professional. Some SMS texts have different meanings and some, like in verbal communication, can be said in a variety of ways.
It CAN be used to teach spelling. Most people think of texting as eliminating the bulk of a word in order to condense it. This is true but it can be used in reverse in a school setting. Teachers can use SMS text language to give the students their spelling words and then have the students send back a message with the correct spelling of the word or words.
Increases participation. By integrating texting into the classroom, teachers have been using it to get students to participate that otherwise wouldn’t. Some students may be afraid to answer a question out loud in class for fear of being wrong, but by texting answers to the teacher more students can participate at once.

Some people believe that texting in school is a distraction and can lead to cheating, but by bringing it into a classroom session and properly teaching them how to use texting, it can be beneficial to both the student and the teacher. For more ideas about effective ways to use cell phones for learning, including research-based strategies, lessons, and more order Teaching Generation Text.

Service Learning, Educating the Heart

2012-02-16T11:04:00.000-08:00

Authors Note: This post was written for the Innovative Educator blog in support of service learning, but as I completed it, I realized just want an important part cell phones played in the success of each of the projects below. Not so long ago attendance at service learning events was spotty. However, when we started putting the events into our cell phone calendars and texting out reminders, the attendance improved dramatically. Sending group texts to collaborate and communicate when serving others makes a huge difference. Brainstorming project ideas on a Wiffiti provides the safety of sharing anonymously and the lemonade stand actually came from asking students to text in ideas. Finally, every picture in this post was taken on the fly with a cell phone camera. Living with our phones helps us better live together. This is why I am so passionate about embracing cell phones in schools. Fighting and banning them wastes a lot of energy that could be used in thinking about how to help each other and make a positive difference in the world! So, I feel this posts fits here too.

I have seen service learning turn at-risk youth into contributing, giving, happy citizens who have a solid set of values and are ready to pursue college or career success. Service Learning is a set up for success in many ways.
Here are a few:

The great feeling that just comes from doing something good for someone else (increased self-esteem)

The perspective that just comes from seeing others that are more needy in some way than you (insight),

The learning that just comes from creating a project and following it through (task completion, life skills, reading, writing, math, speaking, etc).

My recent ed chat with the group Do It Yourself Learning / Homeschooling / Unschooling / Uncollege made it clear how easy service learning can be. Regardless of the age, skills, or learning/school choice of the involved students, you can just start with just a few simple questions:

Where do you see a need?

What are you thankful for?

What would you like to be different?

What could you do to start?

1 - Where do you see a need?
Talking with students about the needs of others is a valuable conversation. It can begin with a neighborhood field trip, the viewing of TV programs of other places, an internet search on hardships, or a simple question of do you know anyone you could help. Is there something you think could be better (in our home, in our school, community, the world)?

2- What are you thankful for?
At Delta Opportunity School this often starts with being thankful. I find that being thankful is somewhat of a lost art. From my grandmother who always said, “Count your many blessings, count them one by one” to my favorite counseling modality of “Solutioning” I have taught many students that focusing on what works, teaching yourself to see the good (or even ok) parts of each day (even your worst day), and being aware that you have it better than others in some way is the key not only to personal happiness but to seeing how to make things better through service.

For example, when we are thankful for our health, we can discuss those that do not have their health. Visits to hospitals and nursing homes are a great way to see just how healthy students are. Simply smiling and greeting someone who no one has talked to all day makes a difference (in both individuals). From there service learning projects become evident (see examples below). Another example, when we are thankful that we are making progress in school, we can discuss those who struggle in school. Visits to elementary school special education classrooms are a great way to see how much academic progress has been made.

3 - What would you like to be different?
Once you discuss needs and what young people are thankful for you can discuss how things could be different. Options include projects like tutoring, playing, cooking, drives, etc. A concrete example might be when we are thankful that we have food for the day, we can discuss that there are those in our community that do not have enough food. From there, hunger is discussed and many service projects (those already in existence and those that do not yet exist) can be researched and discussed.

4 - What could you do to start?
Once young people have identified a need in which they want to make a difference, they need to make a plan to start. It might help to begin by discussing the plan, then capturing it in writing, possibly with a timeline and activities.

EXAMPLES OF SERVICE LEARNING PROJECTS
To follow are examples of various types of service learning projects.

Helping Others Helps You
A couple of fun individual projects that have happened over the years are when a group of boys had a lemonade stand in front of Wal-mart to raise money to fix a bike for a little girl who they knew had had hers vandalized (by one of our own students). The boys group bonded and took on a totally different reputation, which resulted in better behavior at school and in the community.

Another group who was doing the NOT (Not on Tobacco) program walked the stairs of the bleachers for an afternoon and took donations for each step, and raised money to buy the cessation product needed for the woman who had come (on her oxygen) to speak to the group about the results of smoking. These boys were the only group I’ve ever had that really quit smoking and I think it was because of their efforts to help our guest speaker. Another group picked up cigarette butts in the park next to our school to show the community that they do care and want to keep things nice (the butts were theirs). These kids started being more consciencience in many ways.

The learning that came from these projects included hazards of smoking, information on COPD, empathy; parts, costs, and repairs; cost-profit-loss accounting on a lemonade stand; biodegradable products and costs to tax payers for workers to clean parks, etc. It can be big, it can be small, but the same result is there, helping someone else is the right thing to do.

Here are some ideas for school and home-based programs. Young people need not attend the local school to ask if they could participate in their service learning work.

SCHOOL BASED PROJECTS

Adopt a Grandparent

Overview: Teens are paired with a resident at a local nursing home. They visit every other week and do puzzles, take walks, and have seasonal crafts/activities around holidays. The result is everyone feeling great inside.
Preparation: This program takes very little preparation, simply an arrangement with the facility, health policies determined, and let the kids decide on the activities.
Learning: This program teaches a lot of thoughtfulness, empathy, communication skills, and history (the residents lived it and love to tell). It allows students to study and celebrate holidays, read out loud, make crafts and enjoy many of the things they like in preschool and elementary school. It provides perspective on life, a feeling of being able to brighten someone’s day, and gives students appreciation that comes from being themselves.

Grandparent visit. This young lady even went during the summer!

Food for Thought

Overview: This program is a kids feeding kids long term service project. With the awareness that there are children (preschool through high school) that do not have enough food on the weekends, they provide backpacks of weekend friendly food (2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, and some snacks) to students who opt into the program (parents sign a permission form, list allergies). The alternative ed students do all of the fundraising, food drives, speaking to community service groups, budgeting, shopping, meal planning, stocking, inventory, filling, and delivery. Our school was awarded the “Volunteer of the Year” award by our Chamber of Commerce. Not many alternative school (no sports or extracurriculars) have a trophy to display!
Preparation: Start small with a pilot program. Do a fundraiser (food drive and/or money) and have a budget. In our area the contents for each backpack with the weekend food is $4-$5. Choose a school to serve. You may want to approach the principal with your idea and either offer to serve a certain number of students for a certain period of time of take on a grade level and invite and see how many you get. We found that asking teachers to select kids is difficult. We choose to send the letter home telling about the program and letting families choose to opt their student in or make a donation (making the most of reaching every home). This may be more risky but we found that when the need is there with a lot of work, the food/money can be raised (grants, civic clubs, etc). You will need backpacks: new or used work. We got the local Wal-mart to sell us the left overs from the back to school for $1 each. For example letters, shopping lists for food, press releases etc, just email Willyn (see address below). Once the school(s) you serve experience the value of the program, they are a perfect place to have food drives (we make it a competition between the classes and offer a banana split party to the winning class and a gift card to the winning teacher). That is when it is truly a kids feeding kids program from the ground level on up!
Learning: You can see that they learn a lot of life skills such as public speaking, nutrition, reading ads and shopping wisely within a budget, organization, communication, planning, and writing skills. The students who receive the backpacks are set up for better learning because they do not need to worry about what they will eat on the weekends and have better nutrition. Thus the all encompassing name, Food for Thought! Watching my students deliver the backpacks each week is a joy. They are so happy to help and the children run for their backpacks, often opening them as they walk back to class, looking in with anticipation. It is heartbreaking to think a child could be so excited for a pack of oatmeal, some Ramen noodles, Raviolis, poptarts, and a can of peas. It illustrates the true need and value of the program. When my students are speaking in from of Rotary, Altrusa, and the Chamber of Commerce, they are proud, productive citizens (whereas for most defending themselves in front of a judge has been their only form of public speaking), it is precious. They tell their story and share their experience working in the program and they often bring audiences to tears. They leave Delta Opportunity School with much more than reading, writing, and math.

For more information on this program, email wwebb@deltaschools.com

Taking tubs of filled backpacks into school.

Superintendent help fill backpacks.

Happy backpack recipients walking away.

HOME BASED PROJECTS

Shoes for Shiprock
Service learning is a mindset. My own children who have had a mixed experience of public schooling and homeschooling see needs and address them. My daughter went to a basketball tournament her sophomore year of high school and played a team from the reservation. Following that game all the questions came into play.

Skylyn Webb, Shoes for Shiprock creator/organizer

Where do you see a need? She came home and shared with me that she was so concerned for those girls, who were playing in old, worn out (not even sports type) shoes.
What are you thankful for? She commented that her old shoes were much better than the shoes that team played in.
What would you like to be different? She wanted to do something about it and after some discussion decided to collect used athletic shoes from her team at the end of the year banquet and send them anonymously to the team in Shiprock.
What could you do to start? She made a sign, shared it with the parents who planned the banquet so it was part of the date-time information sheet, and shipped the shoes.

This year when they played that team she was beaming. They were wearing the shoes. The whole team kept quiet and the others never knew it was them who had sent the shoes. I wanted my daughter to put that on her scholarship application, but she wouldn’t. That was not why she had done it. She simply wanted those girls to have better shoes. That is what service learning is all about. Through the process she stepped outside of her comfort zone and talked to the adults, made the posters, packaged, researched the school, learned more about life on the reservation, and shipped the shoes. There were some life skills in there, but the heart (of all involved) is what was impacted.

The best, most passion-filled projects come from the young people themselves or something near and dear to them. For example, many of my students had been hungry at times as children and they really get Food for Thought. My daughter who values good shoes for sports is another example of this. Start with a love and use it to make a difference for someone else. Keep it simple and know that what is gained may not be measurable on a test, but makes an immeasurable impact in the lives of others.

Willyn Webb is a busy mother of three girls (10, 13, 17) and the administrator/counselor of another family called Delta Opportunity School where service to others, technological innovation, and a lot of love come together for a great education. For more information about Willyn and to see her books go to willynwebb.com or @willynwebb.

Creating a Plan WITH Students for Using Cell Phones for Education

2012-02-07T07:34:00.000-08:00

Taking a metacogntive approach to embedding cell phones into learning provides a plan structure that is based on the goal setting research in “Classroom Instruction that Works.” By creating a plan as a goal setting activity students are given input, choice, and ownership. Once developed, these plans can be shared at the teachers online blog, wiki, or website in slideshow format. This can be done easily by taking pictures of each plan and having students email them to a teacher’s pre-tagged Flicker account tagged as Cell Plans. The subject could be their first name or alias and plan (i.e. Willyn’s Plan) and the subject can be a short description for the photo caption i.e. (My great ideas for making learning fun with cell phones!). Once completed, these slide shows can be shared with parents, guardians, administrators and each other. These make great testimonials for how cell phones can be used for learning. After students become familiar with the tools, you may want to repeat this activity and see how students plans have been successful and add new ideas. The discussion would be about “what worked.” You could encourage students to share evidence of improvement/enhancement (i.e. grades, test scores, testimonials, or pictures).

Lesson Title: Plans for Phones or Plnz 4 fonz
Subject: Any
Tools Used: Poll Everywhere
Lesson Overview:
This is a planning lesson in the process of embedding cell phones. In the context of learning tools in general, in this lesson, students will focus on cell phones as learning tools. With an overview of the educational uses of cell phones (the Gr8 8, below), students will determine how they will choose to use their cell phones for educational purposes. Contracts for tools will be developed by students and the result will be a plan for educational uses of cell phones that can be shared with all stakeholders.

Lesson Description:

Start with a class discussion about tools, and their purpose, for learning.
Multiple choice poll: Ask students to text into a poll everywhere free text poll examples of tools and their uses: pencil-communicating/taking notes, calculator-do math, dictionary-learn meanings of words, notes, books, websites, teacher instruction.
Free text poll: Ask students to share the tools available on their phone. This captures all of the available, educational, free cell phone tools that are in students’ pockets.

Teacher shares the "Gr8 8 Top Educational Uses of Cell Phones" to get students thinking about some ways that cell phones can be used for learning.
Teacher asks how are you already using your phone for learning? What are you already doing that works?
Multiple choice poll: Which of the "Great 8" would you like most to use for learning.
Note: The teacher may want to share these poll results with parents, administrators, and other teachers.
Students personalize this, by creating plans explaining how they will use cell phone tools for learning.

Here is a sample plan template:
When at school or at home, I will use my cell phone appropriately for learning in following ways:

I will use my cell phone to:	The tool I will use is:	This will help me learn better because:	How will you know your plan is working?	Did your plan work? (To be completed at the end of a lesson or unit of study)
Example 1: do research	Cha Cha	when I don’t have access to the internet, I still have information and experts available to me.	I will turn in assignments more often because I will get stuck less.
Example2: reach out to an expert when I am stuck on my work.	text messaging or voice	I will start thinking about and collecting experts to connect with. This way I will learn more and have a lot of resources.	The quality of my work improve because I will have a bank of expert resources to turn to. I will also use more references in my wwork.

Planning Worksheet, questions adapted from The Educator’s Guide to Solutioning

These planning worksheets provide great evidence to make a case about the benefits of cell phones.
At the end of each unit, teachers and students can share and learn new ways for using cells to learn.

Here’s How:
Using Poll Everywhere is simple. You can watch a demonstration http://tinyurl.com/PollEverywhereHowTo or follow these steps:

Register at Poll Everywhere with your email and password.
Select “Create your first poll.”
Select a “Multiple Choice” or “Free Text” poll.
Type your question/answer choices in the text box. Select “Save new poll.”
You will be taken to a screen that shows your poll question and results along with how to respond via text.
For multiple choice polls, your audience will text Poll Everywhere (at 99503) and type in the code displayed to share their answer and send the text.
Once the answer is submitted the results are instantly displayed on the Poll Everywhere page in your web browser.

Have students put the number 99503 into their phone. Project the poll.
Students text Poll Everywhere at 99503 and enter the code that corresponds to their answer.
The answers instantly appear on the poll being projected.

Useful resources:
Gr8 8 - Top Educational Uses of Cell Phones
1. engagement-audience response-polls, wiffitis, 100% participation, can be anonymous
2. communication-group texting, group projects, cooperative learning
3. home-school connection-group texts to parents, parents text teacher/student
4. homework-phone never lost, answer questions on phone, review notes, etc on the go
6. research-googlesms/chacha/text an expert
6. organization-calendar/alarm/reminders/calculator/notes
7. varied sensory instruction-googlevoice,voki, pictures
8. visual-camera/video

Explain how the use of cell phones enriches this lesson: By using cell phones for the introduction to the lesson, teachers are modeling what they are presenting. The poll encourages all students to participate. Responses are collected instantly saving time that can be devoted to learning.

Special Notes/ Additional comments: If cell phones are not yet allowed in the classroom, this sharing session could be done by having students complete this on post its that they place on the board or chart paper and it could be saved by the teacher taking a picture on his/her phone.

NETS Standards for Students Met:

Creativity and Innovation - Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.
Communication and Collaboration - Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.
Research and Information Fluency - Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.
Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making - Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources.

NETS Standards Addressed - Teachers:

Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
Model Digital-Age Work and Learning

Research-based instructional strategies:
Summarizing and note taking
Homework and practice
Nonlinguistic representations
Setting objectives and providing feedback

Text Talk: Stories from Home by Carly Pietrzyk

2012-02-01T21:38:00.000-08:00

I have to admit I love my cell phone, but I was resistant to the texting craze and preferred to communicate with people via phone calls and emails. However, this changed when my daughter got her first cell phone at age 11. She plays soccer several days a week and carpools with other families, so my husband and I wanted to get her a phone to make sure we had a way to contact her when we were not there. I originally thought this would mean an exchange of phone calls, but in typical tween fashion she immediately gravitated toward texting as her main mode of contact. This is when the texting world unfolded for me. I learned the lingo and began communicating with my daughter when she was not with me. She is now 12 ½ and texting gives her a way to check in with me and ask me for advice when she is with her friends. This allows her to ask me things she might not want to ask out loud in front of her friends! I am sure I will appreciate this even more when she and my younger son hit the teenage years!
Carly Pietrzyk, working mother of two children; Ava 12 and Carl 10. Pittsburgh, PA

Research Based Strategies-Using Cell Phones for Homework and Practice

2012-01-29T05:13:00.000-08:00

Editor's note: This is part four in series of posts focused on the nine instructional strategies that are most likely to improve student achievement across all content areas from the book Classroom Instruction That Works by Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock and the Second Edition of Classroom Instruction that Works by Dean, Hubbell, Pitler, & Stone.

Homework and practice are instructional techniques that give students the opportunity to deepen their understanding and skills relative to content that has already been presented to them. Research cited in Classroom Instruction that Works, indicates some interesting findings including that the purpose of homework should be identified and articulated and if homework is assigned, it should be commented on. Of interest to parents is that there is research showing minimal or even negative effects of their involvement in homework. Further studies suggest findings about parental involvement could be a result of the type of involvement and that there are indeed conditions under which parental involvement enhances homework (Epstein, 2001; Epstein & Becker, 1982; Van Voorhis, 2003). They recommended interactive homework in which 1) Parents receive clear guidelines spelling out their role, 2) Teachers do not expect parents to act as experts regarding content or to attempt to teach the content, and 3) Parents ask questions that help students clarify and summarize what they have learned. Good and Brophy (2003) recommend that homework that for parent-child relations purposes assignments calling for students to show or explain their work to get their reactions are useful (Epstein, 2001; Epstein, Simon, & Salinas, 1997) and that it is effective to have students interview their parents to develop information about parental experiences or opinions relating to topics studied in social studies (Alleman & Brophy, 1998). Assignments like these result in students and their parents or other family members becoming more engaged in conversations that relate to the academic curriculum and thus extend the students' learning. Furthermore, because these are likely to be genuine conversations rather than more formally structured teaching/learning tasks, both parents and children are likely to experience them as enjoyable rather than threatening. (p. 395).

Here are some specific ways that homework and practice can be enriched with the use of cell phones.

Classroom Practice in Assigning Homework
Research on homework indicates that it is useful if parents help students ensure they are on track and on task with doing their work. Additionally, assignments that clearly articulate the purpose and outcome of homework result in greater student achievement.

Subject: Any subject
Topic: Any topic
Cell Phone Tool: Swaggle
Lesson Overview: Parents and teachers can partner to ensure that students are doing homework more effectively using a group texting service such as Swaggle. Teachers can group text their students and parents daily or weekly with assignments including due date, assignment purpose, parental role and questions for students and clarifying and summarizing questions for parents to discuss with students. Parents can then set a daily alarm to alert them to check in with their child using a text. If the parent knows the purpose of the assignment and due date, if time allows, they can support the teacher in being an additional person to comment on the homework as well. This also serves the purpose of providing recognition for the students in doing their work.
How technology enriches the lesson:

Using a group texting feature like Swaggle enables a teacher to write one message and instantly connect with students or parents.
A group text, not only helps to strengthen the home/school connection, but unlike a note in the backpack, the message won't get lost. It is also a great way in general to keep parents in the loop, in the know, and to keep lines of communication open.
Having a parent set a daily reminder time to check in with their child provides students with a consistent check in to help ensure they are on track. Additionally, if the parent is still at work, doing this is less disruptive then making an actual call, but still holds the student accountable.

Classroom Practice in Practicing Skills - Charting Accuracy and Speed
Research shows that skills should be learned to the level that students can perform them quickly and accurately and to facilitate skill development, students should be encouraged to keep track of their speed and accuracy.

Subject: Math
Topic: Multiplication tables
Cell Phone Tool: Poll Everywhere - Polling question
Lesson Overview: A fun way to use cell phones to chart the speed an accuracy of a class of students is to use Poll Everywhere. A school that promotes the use of personally owned technology might encourage a grade-wide competition of student speed and accuracy in multiplication tables. The way this would work is that at the beginning of the unit each teacher would encourage students to respond to a Poll Everywhere question about the speed and accuracy of completing their multiplication tables. Students would be asked to text in their speed and accuracy using a Poll Everywhere polling question. The caveat being that their parent/guardian would need to sign off on the students response. This serves the added benefit of the home/school connection and keeping families in the loop on their child's progress. At predetermined intervals classes would chart their speed and accuracy which could be shared on a school web page with privacy predetermined (i.e. just for school members, students, and families, or open to the public). The class that had the biggest overall gain (by percentage) could win an award such as a certificate, free time, pizza party or something of their choosing.
How technology enriches the lesson:

The use of Poll Everywhere to chart speed and accuracy of a class provides a quick, simple, easy, and visible (to selected audiences) way to instantly see progress.
Using Poll Everywhere to chart speed and accuracy provides motivation for a class as a whole to improve on their work. If they don't try hard to achieve, they'll let down their class. If they do try hard, they help their class.
The use of Poll Everywhere has the additional benefit of providing recognition for a classes hard work and growth over time.

Cell phones can provide great assistance with homework. Simply encouraging students to use their phones in conjunction with their homework will act as a motivator. Many of the age old frustrations with homework like getting stuck, not having any help (text the teacher, friend, expert-perhaps on ChaCha), forgetting to do it (put in your own reminder or get one from a parent or teacher), or not being home long enough to do it (do it anywhere you have your phone) are all remedied through the use of cell phone technologies. Students, parents, and educators all get frustrated when students get "stuck" on a problem in their homework and do not complete the assignment. With text messaging, help is few thumb strokes away. Setting up peer tutoring through text messaging is a great way to support all levels of students. Even teacher teams can divide up certain days and times and be available to answer homework questions through text messaging without a lot of extra time or effort. Some innovative educators even set up panels of experts in the community to be available to students during certain projects or for certain assignments. Partnering with local colleges or libraries can also provide additional text help available for students.
Cell phones provide an effective way to support students in doing their homework and tracking the speed and accuracy of the skills they are practicing. Stay tuned for future posts featuring other research-based strategies to engage students and increase student achievement.

6 Ideas for Administrators Who Want to Lead the Way to Texting for Success

2012-01-25T02:23:00.000-08:00

Cell phones provide administrators with a powerful vehicle for connecting with parents, guardians, students, teachers and colleagues. New Milford High School Principal Eric Sheninger and New York City Assistant Principal Jacek Polubiec are at the forefront of harnessing the power of cell phones to do their work more effectively. Mr. Polubiec has found cell phones to be an effective tool for classroom observations while Principal Sheninger has embraced Twitter as an essential tool which has improved communications greatly sharing, “I can now easily share all the fantastic things going on in my school and have dramatically increased the amount of positive press coming out of my building. This would not have been possible just a few short years ago.”

Principal Patrick Larkin from Burlington High School in Massachusetts has this advice for administrators who are considering whether to embrace cell phones as a learning tool, “Start now. If you haven’t embraced cell phones as learning tools, you are missing out on a valuable resource to engage students. At the very least you can save money on the response systems that many companies are pushing in schools.” Kurt Clay, a progressive principal in Delta, Colorado, uses a free group messaging service to reach his staff for encouragement, with teaching tips, announcements, and is set up for crisis response. Realizing the time saved and the improvement in communication with staff, he has now started using group texting to encourage the home-school connection. Delta Opportunity School leaders use group texting with response to a Wiffiti board or a Poll Everywhere poll to gather ideas and encourage communication with students, staff, and parents. Improved input and better use of meeting time have been some helpful results.

Innovative educators, know that when an administrator is on board with using technology in the classroom, it becomes much easier for the entire school to follow suit. Whether you’re an administrator who wants to try these ideas out or a teacher who wants to help an administrator get on board, here are specific ways that administrators are using cell phones to do their jobs more efficiently.

TEXTING
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL JACEK POLUBIEC USES TEXTING 24/7 TO COMMUNICATE WITH TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS. TEXTING ENABLES HIM AND HIS STAFF TO REACH ONE ANOTHER REGARDLESS OF WHERE THEY ARE PHYSICALLY. FOR EXAMPLE, IT’S NOT UNUSUAL FOR A STAFF MEMBER TO TEXT HIM AT NIGHT WHEN THEY ARE NOT FEELING WELL AND MIGHT BE ABSENT THE NEXT DAY. THIS ALLOWS POLUBIEC TO UPDATE THE GOOGLE DOC THAT HIS SCHOOL USES TO POST DAILY ANNOUNCEMENTS WITH THIS INFORMATION AND ENABLES HIM TO GET A JUMP START ON BEING ABLE TO PLAN ACCORDINGLY.

Another way Mr. Polubiec uses texting is by setting up his cell so he gets updates when teachers update their roll books in Google docs. The teachers don’t need to take time from their day to inform him, and the school instantly has information delivered to all who need it via their cell phones. Polubiec and his colleagues also use cell phone calendars for meetings and text each other to send reminders about meetings, assemblies and other events. He also has all his staff’s numbers stored in his cell phone in case he needs to text them to provide them with timely information or inform them of emergencies. In a nutshell, Mr. Polubiec shares, “I can’t imagine my work without texting anymore.”

The visitors to the Academy Mr.Polubiec supervises are encouraged to text constructive feedback on academy’s hallway learning displays (aka bulletin boards) to Poll Everywhere. This kind of continuous feedback using technology is the backbone of virtual learning walks in which his staff engage.

At Cedaredge Middle School in Colorado the administrators feel texting supports instruction by limiting distractions. According to Principal Todd Markley, “Administratively, we text to communicate throughout the day as we are usually not in the same location in the building. Text messages can be sent to administrators from the secretary if we are needed in the office without using the school intercom which interrupts instruction.”
Group Texting
As instructional leader and manager of the school organization Principals must engage in ongoing communication with staff, parents, and the community. Group texting is a free tool that saves time and enhances communication. By collecting the cell phone numbers of students, staff, parents, and community stakeholders and setting them up in a group text service, a principal can easily reach the masses with one text message.

Kurt Clay, Principal of Delta High School, knows this first hand. Kurt had his secretary put his staff numbers into a group texting service so he could be in contact for emergency response notification and crisis announcements. It wasn’t long, however, before he realized the service could have utility far beyond what he originally intended. Soon he was sending group texts to staff for encouragement, information upcoming activities, scheduling updates, teaching tips, meeting announcements, and more. He found his staff meeting time to be much more productive when he could send out questions or cues before and start the meeting ahead on the agenda. After meetings he texted key points right into his staffs’ hands knowing they literally all left the meeting with the same take away.

After seeing how effective this was with his staff, Principal Clay decided to use group texting to increase the home-school connection with the parents of his busiest students. His seniors. After establishing that group, Principal Clay could now send out important dates and reminders crucial to the success of these students. Principal Clay plans to expand this to all of the parents in his school as he’s found it an effective and efficient way to establish ongoing communication with student’s families and along with that comes the added bonus of saving money on printing and mailing of information that adds up significantly in the school budget each year.

Next for Principal Clay is moving from straight texting, to incorporating free response boards and polling questions to send out questions before meetings with staff, parents, and students so their input is available at the start of the meeting. This enables him to make the best use of everybody’s time and improve communication.

Free Response Boards
Principals will make parent night, staff meetings, and school assemblies a true example of two-way communication with the use of free response boards such as Wiffit or a free text poll in Poll Everywhere. By sending out a group text with a question or request for input and the number and code to send the response to, everyone in the group has the opportunity for input prior to or during the event.

Delaine Hudson, Principal of Delta Opportunity School shares a frustration familiar to educators around the globe. Her weekly Professional Learning Community (PLC) meetings are always rushed and end to quickly. There’s just never enough time. Principal Hudson decided she’d try seeing if creating a free response board prior to her meeting would help. Two days prior to her upcoming PLC meeting Mrs. Hudson sent everyone a text with a Wiffiti number and code and the request for input on the main agenda item for the upcoming meeting. Throughout the next two days all of the participants were able to focus their thoughts, share their ideas, and prepare for the meeting. At the meeting Mrs. Hudson was able to display everyones’ thoughtful input immediately by sharing the Wiffiti screen. The PLC time was more focused and communication more effective with the easily referenced responses right in front of each participant. Also, the privacy of being able to text input and the anonymity of the code names Wiffiti assigns created an atmosphere of true sharing. Principal Hudson found the use of a free response board not only saved time, it enabled her to collect thoughtful contributions from all who wanted to share their thoughts resulting in better communication among all.

Polling Services
Polling services such as Poll Everywhere enable administrators to let those who they want to reach out to know they value their thoughts and opinions and want their input. Jacek Polubiec has used both free text and polling successfully during classroom learning walks. At Polubiec’s school learning walks serve as a professional development experience for staff who know exactly how to text observations into polls and free response observations. Those on the walk text in their answers which automatically populate onto the school wiki and during the debrief, learning walk participants can get to the thinking and discussing faster because results and data are already collected, tabulated, and ready for discussion. “Using cell phones in this way has enabled us to take learning walks to a whole new level enabling us to capture data easily using a tool all staff members already own with free technology tools,” said Polubiec.

Microblogging
Principals like Eric Sheninger and Principal Matt Brown from New York use Twitter as a powerful microblogging tool to help strengthen the home-school connection and give the school community a lens into what is happening in the school. Both principals feature Tweets on their school website where visitors can be sure to find shout outs to students and teachers, upcoming events, timely announcements, and more. When connecting Twitter to your cell phone, you can Tweet on the go even as you are face-to-face with a student, teacher, or parent letting them know you’re so excited you are going to shout (or in this case Tweet) it out from the virtual school roof top. Students look forward to sharing their Principal's Tweets with family and friends...especially when they are the star.

Principal Sheninger’s Tweets now serve as a news feed for local media outlets interested keeping their finger on the pulse of what is happening in progressive schools today. As a result Sheninger’s school is regularly featured in the paper, on radio, and television celebrating the work of his students and staff. Having the knowledge and power to control your digital footprint in the message that is being spread about your school is powerful, and Sheninger enjoys using his phone and Twitter as a vehicle to make that happen.

Photo Capture
I had the pleasure of meeting a principal of a K-12 virtual school who uses photo capture as a powerful tool to capture students all year long in a number of ways. While it is extremely valuable to create an ongoing collection of images that connect students throughout the year at a virtual school, the same is also important to capture memories in traditional brick and mortar schools as well. At the virtual school students and their parents come together at times across the year for fieldtrips and workshops. At these events everyone is encouraged to snap photos with their cell phones and email them to the school Flickr page. In the subject they indicate who is in the picture and in the body they share something about what they were doing. Following each event a photo album is posted on the private school site so all students and families can look back at the event. Because Flickr lets you set up an email with a tag no work is done on the part of the Principal. The pictures are automatically collected into the album. All she has to do is copy and paste the code into her website.

Something she enjoys having her teachers do with lower elementary grades is following each unit they ask parents to use their cell phones to take a picture of their child’s end of unit project .They send these to the Flickr email with a title in the subject and description in the message. The projects are posted on the teacher’s site and the students (and parents) love looking at and commenting on one each other’s work. The Principal loves showing off student work to those who visit her school.

As we surge ahead into the next decade of the 21st century it’s nice to know there are innovative administrators out there like the ones cited here who are not only following, but also leading the way for educators, parents, and students to leverage the tools already available to them. I applaud these leaders who are not only thinking outside the ban, but actually breaking it to do what is in the best interest of their school community.

Texting to Enhance School Communication with Celly

2012-01-19T22:00:00.001-08:00

Celly is a platform of tools that enhances school communication by creating cells which are instant mobile networks that connect your school. Members can join a cell by texting or logging in to the web.

Click on the urls below each scenarios to learn about how schools are using Celly.

http://cel.ly/school#studygroups

Study Groups

http://cel.ly/school#sports

Teams & Bands & Clubs

http://cel.ly/school#fieldtrips

Field Trips

http://cel.ly/school#polling

Clickers & Polling

http://cel.ly/school#reminders

Reminders & Alerts

http://cel.ly/school#billboard

Interactive Walls

http://cel.ly/school#outreach

Outreach & Feedback

http://cel.ly/school#notes

Notes

http://cel.ly/school#track

News & Information Network

Celly is a terrific tool to harness the power of cell phones for school communication. For additional ideas, resources, and workshops outlining effective ways to use cell phones for learning, including research-based strategies, lessons, and more, check out Teaching Generation Text.

Research Based Teaching with Cell Phones-Cues & Questions

2012-01-18T06:16:00.000-08:00

Text Talk: Classroom Stories (Sandy Vickrey, Math/Science Teacher)

I had learned the benefits of cues and questions to activate prior knowledge in my college education classes. In my school, however, class time was very short and I always had to start the lecture, play the video, present the lesson immediately in order to finish by the end of class. I rarely took the time to cue students, ask questions, or discuss prior knowledge. Wait time did not seem to exist. When I learned about free group texting services, I began using a group text for a cue or a question before school to all of my morning classes and at lunch to all of my afternoon classes. This really helped students come to class aware of the lesson content and ready to learn more. However, when using it for the cell movie, right out of the research my friend shared with me, I looked at the Wiffiti screen and one of my students had responded to the question, "What do you know about cells?" with "Well, my dad lives in one." You never know for sure what response you will get, but now that student can make the distinction with his new knowledge about cells in science.

Getting Ready for Class!

Based on the original work of Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock (2001) and supported by the latest research by Dean, Hubbell, Pitler, & Stone (2012) we demonstrate in Teaching Generation Text how cell phone tools can be used to support and enhance research based instructional strategies. Once you have a couple tools under your belt, such as group texting with Celly and audience response with Wiffiti, you will easily see how they can be used to save valuable class time, make the most of class time, and motivate students by using them for research-based strategies. Helping students develop understanding using cues, questions, and advance organizers is good teaching. Now it is good teaching by way of cell phone technology. Get students on board before they come to class by connecting with them via their communication method of choice just like Sandy did with her students in Colorado!

Make and Publish Books for Free Using A Cell Phone and Flickr

2012-01-13T07:16:00.001-08:00

by Lisa Nielsen, the Innovative Educator

If your students have access to a cell phone (or any digital device i.e. iPad, laptop) that can take and send/email pictures, they can make and publish their own books quickly and easily using Flickr. This is a great way to bring student books to life by publishing them digitally in a format that can be easily shared with the world or printed as a book for the classroom or school library.

With Flickr you get an email that you (or anyone you share the email with) can use to send all your pictures to and Flickr makes it very easy to sort and group pictures using tags or drag and drop features. You can get a link or code to embed any picture or group/sets of pictures into any online space. When emailing your subject line becomes the picture caption and the message/body becomes the description. To follow are the steps to making a book using Flickr, a sample book, and ideas for the classroom.

Steps to making a book with Flickr

Have students set up an account on Flickr to be used with school-related projects.
Flickr provides an email address to which you (and others) can send pictures.
Tell Flickr what tag should be associated with pictures sent to that email by going to http://www.flickr.com/account/uploadbyemail. As students are working on different projects, they will update and change their tag. For instance if you wanted them to share what they did on their summer vacation, their tag might be "summervacation." If you wanted all kids in your class to share pictures to one album you may use a tag with your name i.e. "Class602SummerVacation."
Inform students to take pictures with their camera and to make sure to use a subject (photo title) and message (photo caption). This becomes the text on the pages of the book.
Using a tag allows you to instantly generate a slide show with photo titles and captions. No work required.
Your tag allows Flickr to generate a link to your slide show that can be shared as well as a code that can be embedded into any online space.
Creating a slide show with Flickr saves teachers several hours over alternate methods such as sending individual emails to themselves, downloading every picture, then create a powerpoint where they would upload each picture, and copy/paste the titles and captions.

Ideas for the classroom:
1) Have students illustrate their writing on separate pieces of paper. Include a cover. Next have them take a picture of each illustration using the text of their writing in the email message.
2) Have students create a "My neighborhood" book and take pictures of meaningful places in their neighborhood with a subject and message on each picture which will create the content of their book.
3) Have students create an "About Me" book where they will take pictures of that which is important to them with each picture having a Subject (title) and Message (description).
4) Have students take pictures of the steps for a "How To" book with Subject (titles) and Message (steps) to serve as each page of text.
5) Assign a student each day responsible for capturing the picture of the day. They are responsible for writing the subject (Title) and message (description). What a great scrapbook for the year for students, home-school connection tool, and photos to share with administration.

Start Out Simple-One Idea for Using Phones in Class

2012-01-09T05:43:00.000-08:00

Idea #1-Have students use their phones to take pictures of important information on the board.

Text Talk: (by Joyce Long, an educator in Colorado)
In my classroom I see cell phones as a time saver and tool of engagement rather than a distraction. For example, in my health class we were on a roll discussing the possibilities of making our own anti-alcohol/tobacco video, improving on the one we had just watched. The students were excited, motivated, and full of ideas. I knew they needed to get the ideas off of the board down before they left. I didn't want to stop their thinking. So, I waited until the last second and then asked them to get out their phones and take a picture of the board. For the ones without phones I posted the photo to the class website and printed out a picture for those without computer access. This allowed us to continue the brainstorm while on a roll, right up to the last seconds of class time. In the past I would have had to stop the storm so that everyone would have time to write down what was on the board, or ask them to write as we go, constantly interrupting the flow of ideas. Now the ideas will be at home too, ready to look at and text adaptations, new ideas, specifics, details, etc. The kids who were absent go the picture texted to them and came back ready to go the next day. Creative energy is such a powerful force. Having cell phones as a tool to increase the energy simply aids great educational experiences.

Begin Harnessing the Power of Cell Phones in Class Lessons

2012-01-04T19:37:00.001-08:00

While many educators have never considered harnessing the power of cell phones in education, and some are downright hostile when the suggestion is brought up, there are many terrific ways cells can be used to enrich learning while empowering students to use these devices to capture knowledge in engaging ways. Educators are embracing the use of cell phones around the world, and these educators know it's not if we should be using cell phones and other personal learning devices in school, but when. These teachers are both in schools where they must think outside the ban and incorporate cells outside the school day as well as in schools and districts that empower educators to make their own decisions for their student's learning. Some of these teachers are even in schools where they have partnered with phone service providers to give their students phones.

While integrating cell phones into instruction can be a great way to engage learners and enrich instruction it is important to ensure you are doing both. Just using a cell phone itself will lose its appeal and value quickly if it doesn't actually enable students to either do things better or do better things. When using cell phones in instruction educators should ask themselves if the use of technology will actually enhance the unit or lesson and how. As educators think about integrating cell phones into a unit of study they can use this planning tool.

Teacher	Grade	Room	Content Area	Unit Overview	Innovative Ideas to Enrich this Unit	ISTE Student Profile(s) / Standards*	Content Standards	Type of Support Requested (i.e. demo lesson, team teaching, instructional coaching)	Support Date / Time	Support Duration

Thinking of how cell phones maybe be used in general in a unit is a great place to start. The planning tool enables teachers to think of broad ideas for use within a unit as well as ideas for support that might be helpful. Note that support may come from a district or school-based coach, a teacher, a leader, a parent, a student, etc. Once the teacher comes up with ideas to enrich instruction they can drill down to a particular lesson they may want to teach.

A basic lesson might contain the following components:

Subject:
Lesson Title:
Lesson Overview About two sentences (May include goals, objectives, teaching points)
Lesson Description: You may want to draft this in word and then paste here.
Here's How... Provide a how to guide for how educators can use this tool.
Useful resources Please share any useful resources and include resource name, url, and brief description
Explain how the use of cell phones enriches this lesson.
Special Notes/ Additional comments:
NETS Student Standards Addressed (see: http://tinyurl.com/netsstudents)
NETS Teacher Standards Addressed (see: http://tinyurl.com/netsteachersnew)
Research-based instructional strategies:
Tools Used:

Below are several sample lessons which can be modified to work with any range of grade levels. The lessons included are:

Literacy
Bring Poetry to Life with A Cell Phone and A Voki

Social Studies
Using Google SMS to Enrich Social Studies Instruction

Science
Current Event Analysis
Celebrating Science Fair Projects with Twitter

Learners of Languages Other Than English
Google Voice as a Powerful "Get to Know You" and Speaking Fluency Tool

In an effort to collect ideas around how cell phones are being used to enrich instruction, I am calling upon innovative educators to contribute lesson ideas by submitting them to http://tinyurl.com/cellphonelesson . A math lesson would be great! Whether you are already doing this type of work with your students, or you are just starting to consider the possibilities, your ideas are valuable. Submitted ideas may be selected for publication in a variety of arenas (providing full credit to the author) and enabling teachers everywhere to start collecting smart lessons that incorporate using cell phones. Creating a cell-phone enriched lesson generally doesn't take any longer than a traditional lesson which generally can be written in one - two class periods. If you are using cell phones for instruction for the first time however, you will need to incorporate additional time for setting up accounts you may be using.

If writing a lesson isn't for you, don't worry. Try one of these lessons out and share how it went athttp://tinyurl.com/cellphonetestimonial .

Experts are Everywhere

2012-01-02T05:56:00.000-08:00

Text Talk: Classroom Stories
My 6th grade girls were just not getting the meaning of the word purpose so I asked them to text someone they knew and have them explain the meaning of purpose. They were very excited and it felt contest-like. We continued our lesson and as the responses came back, the girls shared. The discussion became more enlightening and similarities and differences in the responses were noted. Everyone learned, not only the meaning of purpose, but a new learning skill.

As educators it is our duty not to ban cell phones, but to TEACH students that cell phones are a link, not only to an active social life, but to a world of experts. Tools such as Google SMS, ChaCha, and Twitter provide students instant access to a world of experts while just the phone and some good contacts connect students to their own personal learning network of past teachers, relatives, and friends. If we could just embrace cell phones for the tool that they are, students will never have an excuse for getting stuck on their homework again. Empower your students with their cell phones and the experts that are everywhere today! Banned or not, this can be done. For more information on how to do this see the 5 Step Plan for Harnessing the Power of Cells in Ed (even when they are banned) in Teaching Generation Text.

12 Most Useful Ways Kids Can Learn With Cell Phones (the 1st Four!)

2011-12-30T06:16:00.000-08:00

This article is cross posted in full at The 12 Most... site. If you'd like to read the entire article there, gohere.

By Lisa Nielsen and Willyn Webb, authors -Teaching Generation Text.

We live in a world that is increasingly mobile. In order for adults to connect with our kids and students, we need to mobilize. Kids love their phones, they are highly motivated to use them (constantly), and they always have them right there with them (if they’re allowed). What a strong basis for an educational tool: empower students to use tools they already own as a means for better education!

The Disney Mobile Cell and Tell survey of more than 1,500 10-17 year-old cell phone users found that teens and tweens like their cell phones perhaps more than other luxuries in their lives.
“If they had to choose between their phone or something else:
● One-third would give up listening to the radio, playing video games or going to the mall.
● Nearly one-fourth would give up their MP3 players.
● One in five would give up TV” (2007)

As a parent, imagine having the opportunity to help your child with their homework by encouraging them to text for help while waiting at the dentist office or on the way to dance class. As a teacher, imagine having a student respond quickly to a reflection-type question from the day’s lecture while checking their texts during a water break at basketball practice. For both, imagine having a mother learning through a text about the vocabulary test in her son’s biology class tomorrow so she can review with him as they drive to karate lessons.

Today’s phones can alert students to study, serve as a smart vehicle to take notes, provide instant, on-demand answers and research, and even provide a great way to record and capture student oral reports or responses to polls and quizzes. The family dinner table is fading, the homework hour is constantly challenged, and we are out and about (with our phones) more than ever.

Parents may need to take the lead in allowing their children to use their phones for learning and in educating their teachers and administrators of the value in working toward acceptable use policies. There are numerous ways educators and parents can empower students with the freedom to learn with a device they love using.

We want to share the ways you can start using cell phones to enhance learning. To follow are 12 of the most useful ways to support learning as adapted from the newly released book on the topic Teaching Generation Text (www.TeachingGenerationText.com). These ideas will help adults discover how to engage youth with fun, free, safe, and easy methods using nothing more than a basic, text-enabled cell phone.

1. PICTURES MAKE IT REAL WITH FLICKR

When cell phones have cameras, a new world is opened. Your kids can take pictures of homework projects, research material, field work, activities, etc. for their own use or to share with others. Encouraging students to take pictures of discussion material shared on the board, on handouts if they are going to be doing homework in route, or just to make sure the material does not get lost and stays handy is a great use of the cell phone camera. Flickr provides a free, easy and efficient way to share pictures taken on your cell phone and group them into slideshows based on topic. www.flickr.com/

2. USE AN ONLINE CELL PHONE NOTEBOOK WITH WETXT

Most cell phones have a notepad tool themselves, but when you want to be able to print notes, organize notes, and keep a running record on your computer, a service like WeTxt offers a free way to add your online notebook and notebook sections to your contacts and you and your kids can text in notes anywhere, anyplace, anytime.www.wetxt.com

3. CAPTURE ORAL ASSIGNMENTS AND THOUGHTS WITH GOOGLE VOICE

Google voice enables educators to capture voice messages from students without providing them with their direct phone number. The power of this kicks in when you realize that what Google Voice does is actually become a repository for oral reports, assignments, or sound bites. Not only is it a repository, but parents and teachers can write notes on each clip, share, and post them. This is obviously an effective tool for auditory learners. www.google/voice.com

4. HAVE AN EXPERT IN YOUR POCKET WITH CHACHA

Imagine having an expert to turn to at any time for information, advice, guidance…for free! That’s ChaCha, an amazing service that will become invaluable to students and parents alike, works on any cell phone with every provider and enables students to ask any question and receive an accurate answer as a text message in just a few minutes.

You may want to caution students/parents that there may be advertising as part of the ChaCha message and teach them to be aware users by disregarding unnecessary inclusions. www.chacha.com or text 242242

_____________________________________________________________________________

To discover eight more useful ways to use cell phones for learning check out the original article at The 12 Most... site.

Turn Texting Teens Into Published Novelists with TextNovel.com

2011-12-19T19:19:00.000-08:00

Like most students, high schooler Krystal Swarovski was never given an opportunity to write for a real audience in school. Her work died with the teacher. An "A+" had no audience. A "B-" was not given a chance to improve. When a friend introduced her to www.textnovel.com Krystal experienced something new when she wrote. Unlike her experience in school, she had readers, she developed a large fan base and she was awarded the Text Novel Editor’s Choice award for her story Slices of Pie. Today, she’s excited to have a real audience reading and commenting on her work providing not only an authentic audience, but authentic assessment as well.

TextNovel.com is a social network for authors and readers of serial fiction and the first English language cell phone novel website, allowing members to write and read fiction with their cellphones or computers, using text messaging, email and online tools. Textnovel runs contests for fiction writers, allowing them to demonstrate the market potential of their work through its unique serial publication and voting format. The novels are rated (G, PG, PG-13 and R). Illustrations can be uploaded. Twitter can be linked and there are many settings to use to customize the experience and make it fit for your students.

Here is insight from Krystal from her bio on the site:

Um, yah. me. lol. fun stuff. :P i like reading and writing and music and drama (real life drama, not fake icky TV drama). I like fun and shopping and boys and good fantasy novels. I hate seafood, people who think they can win an argument with me (because they never can), and people who try to pretend they know more than they do. Um, other than that... I dance, i luv my boyfriend to death, and i do track and field. i debate, i'm in robotics club, french club, taking extra classes at MIT... what you might call a well-rounded person. or a nerd. :P
So, most people on this site put their writing career to date in their about me section, but since i'm in high school, my writing career to date has been a short story (B-), a collection of poems(A+), and many many many informational essays and literary criticisms, grades ranging from C+ to A+. More on the A side though... :) Anyway, point is, the only writing I have ever really done has been for school, with varying degrees of success. However, last year, a good friend of mine (whose pen name here is Anabelle) was telling me all about her story and this fabulous website during study hall, and she convinced me to get an account on textnovel, and that's where I started writing. I have to say I am surprised by the amount of votes my stories have received. I didn't think I would get over 20! ;) So thanks to everyone that's read what I've written. :D

When teacher’s want to encourage reading and writing, they can bring some of the excitement Krystal experienced into the classroom with www.textnovel.com available free through students' phones.

Here are five ideas for using Textnovel

Create a book group using one of the textnovel.com novels. Bonus - Students will never loose their books.
Encourage exploration of various styles and authors.
Challenge students to create a novel of their own with a novel that they could be made public
Partner with the art class for illustrations
Encourage group/peer editing inside or outside of class by inviting students to read and comment on one another’s work via cell phone

Here's How to Get Started:

Sign up for and add your cell phone number.
Wait for the confirmation email and click on the link.
You are set up to login and begin.
Familiarize yourself with all of the settings and choose the ones you want for your students prior to walking them through the setup
When the student create their novel make sure they set it to a G rating.
From your cell phone, send a text message to this email address add@textnovel.com. (you will want to add this to your contacts)
The body of the text message should contain the text that you want to add to the story.
The subject of the text message should be of the following format: storycode:chapter number.
So for example if the story code is 12 and the chapter number is 2, then the subject should be 12:2

In the 21st century world in which our students live it’s no longer fair for educators to just say “hand it in.” Textnovel.com is a terrific option to let any student with access to a phone the opportunity to “publish it.”

Phones for Principals- Easy Tools That Do A Lot of Jobs

2011-12-17T07:01:00.000-08:00

Cell Phones are a tool that most professionals now own and use. There is little to no learning curve and little to no cost. The following uses of cell phones enhance a number of functions within the school community (even if you don't tweet). Cell phones are being seen by many administrators as a way to get out from behind their desk, away from the office, and become an active part of school! Instructions for all of these tools can be found in theTeaching Generation Text Get Started Guide or on the web links.

1. Group texting

Emergency Response System

Free group texting services such as Celly provide a free emergency notification system for principals to reach staff in the event of a snow day, school cancellations, crisis information, and updates. I used this just last week when the internet was down. I was able to send one quick text from home and let my staff know ahead of time that they needed to plan alternate lessons.

Newletter

We have replaced newsletter and instead send group texts informing parents of events, meetings, and successes happening at school. These are sent regularly two times per week and parents report back that they love it! The paper newsletters were costly and rarely got home went sent with kids and even more expensive to mail and potentially end up in the junk mail pile. Parents may not check their email regularly, but a text goes right into their hands. According to motomessage.com, "Fewer than 20% of email messages are opened. Within 15 minutes of sending a text blast, over 95% of your subscribers will have read the message."

PLC (Personal Learning Communities)

With a free group text messaging services such as GroupMe the weekly or montly PLC becomes a daily chat by having them become a group. Agenda items, successes, ideas, announcements, supportive messages, entire chats can all be done quickly through the cell phone or computer. The messages and replies automatically go to everyone. So much simpler and in the moment than email, the conversation is an instant chat, involves the entire group, and is documented online.

Survey

All principals value the input of their staff, parents, and students, but it is difficult to get everyone together, to collect input, and to respond. Using a free text message service such as Poll Everywhere principals can gain input and give everyone a voice through their cell phone. Much like voting on American Idol or Dancing with the Stars, the principal can gather votes on calendar items, prom themes, course offerings, field trips, you name it!

2. Individual texting

intercom system

Rather than having classes interrupted with the secretary's voice beaming over the intercom for a student (or the principal) to come to the office, a quick text message allows the teacher to send the student quietly. According to Principal Todd Markley, “Administratively, we text to communicate throughout the day as we are usually not in the same location in the building. Text messages can be sent to administrators from the secretary if we are needed in the office without using the school intercom which interrupts instruction.”

Note taking

Principals are out and about in their schools and carrying around a notebook, or even an ipad gets in the way of interacting with students. The cell phone provides an unobtrusive, in the moment, way to take notes of good things kids are doing, thoughts during lunch duty, incident details, teacher observations, and anything that needs dealt with once he/she is back in the office. These can be used later to share with parents, for discipline conferences, and for personal records. WeTxt offers a way to text notes to an organizable, searchable online notebook.

3. Pictures

Principals can capture the activities of the school, text or email home, improve connections, build student/teacher self-esteem, and document incidents pictorially.

Video Yearbook

The pictures a principal takes throughout the year can be sent immediately to Flickr and a "principal created" slideshow/video yearbook is done! This can be shared on the school website or wiki and used for assemblies throughout the year. Parents and students love it and it gives principals a quick and easy tool to show their connection!

4. Evaluation Ap
Smart Phone Ap and Web-based software for Teacher Evaluations
Power walk-throughs (McRel) All principals struggle with getting enough time in the classroom, doing a great job with observations, and having effective teacher evaluations. McREL has developed an ap that allows the principal to use a smart phone to support these needs. “Collect classroom observation data using most handheld devices, including iPad™/iPhone®/iPod Touch®, BlackBerry®, Android™, or Tablet PC. Easily upload data from your device to our Web-based software, which lets you analyze data with a variety of charts and graphs" (http://www.mcrel.org/powerwalkthrough)

Go from this....

To this!

5 Ways Cell Phones Will Strengthen the Home School Connection!

2011-12-09T01:54:00.000-08:00

Step three in the 5 Steps to Harness the Power of Cells in Education is strengthening the home school connection. Once parents/families experience ways cell phones can be used as a learning and connection tool they will become empowered and more open to using the devices as learning tools with their students.

Here are five free and easy ways to get started.

Google SMS - Translate
Teachers and families can use Google SMS Translate to send text messages to one another if they speak different languages.
How: Text 466453 with the words Translate and your message to (recipients language) i.e. Translate How are you? in French. Google SMS will reply with: Translation: 'how are you' in English means 'como estas' in Spanish. The teacher can text the translated message to the student’s parents and vice versa.
URL: http://www.google.com/mobile/products/sms.html

Send group texts for notifications
Set up group texting in a service like Celly, Swaggle or WeTxt to notify parents about important events, question of the day, celebrations, exciting accomplishments, cool projects, assignment due dates, etc. If you have a multii-lingual student body you may want to group parents by language.
How: Go to the website and enter your phone number where you will receive a password texted to your phone. You can create groups as appropriate for your students parents. You will be asked what you want your name to be. Set this to the name the students/parents know you by or if that is taken consider adding your school mascot i.e. MsNielsenTigers. Next you invite parents to join either by entering their numbers in your phone or on the website.
URL: http://cel.ly/, http://www.wetxt.com or http://www.swaggle.mobi

Poll Your Parents
If knowing what your parents are thinking is important to you, Polleverywhere is a great tool. It enables you to let parents have a say and show them their thoughts and opinions matter. You can poll them or request open response using Polleverywhere.
How: To use poll everywhere the teacher sets up an account at which they’ll be assigned a number for participants to send their answers. Within the message respondent enters the code corresponding to their response. This looks similar to what you see on popular shows such as American Idol. Without any additional equipment or need to download software within seconds educators will have parent responses. Another nice feature is that it doesn't matter what device your parents are using as text message, web, and smartphone responses can be instantly combined.
URL: www.polleverywhere.com

Use Wiffiti for Parent Feedback
Ask your parents questions, thoughts, opinions, and have them text answers to Wiffiti. Maybe you want to know what your parents are expert in and would like to share with your class. Perhaps you want to know your student’s birthdays. Have your parents send in the student name and birthday to a Wiffiti board.
How: Send a group text to parents asking them to share and text to Wiffiti. Everyone will know everyone well very soon.
URL: http://wiffiti.com

Twitter for Live Class Updates on Your Website, Blog or Wiki
Description: Twitter is a great tool that allows you or your students to instantly make the home-school connection by updating your class website, blog, or wiki. Simply tweet important or interesting events happening in your class and have it feed into your selected online space. Parents and families have an ongoing window into your classroom. Educators may want to Tweet information themselves or allow students to use their cell phone to Tweet items of interest when they arise.
How: Once you have a Twitter account set up you’ll visit http://twitter.com/devices and enter your phone number so you can update Twitter from your phone. You will then go to your desired online space (website, learning network, blog, wiki, etc.) and paste in the Twitter feed embed code. You can select the widget you’d like to use here.
URL: www.twitter.com

Once parents are comfortable using cell phones as an extension of the classroom you may be ready to move on to the next step. Enlisting parents to partner with students on homework involving the use of cell phones.

3 Ways to Use Cell Phones for Special Needs

2011-12-06T00:33:00.000-08:00

Cell phones open a new world of tools that can be accessed and used for adaptations required by students with special needs. Simple voice mail messages using Google Voice, texting, WeTxt notes, pictures to Flickr, Voki, GoogleSMS translator and any other tool depending on the phone are ways to assist students orally, visually, physically without any negative stigma. Students love their phones. They are an acceptable, even cool, device offering a variety of input and output capabilities. Students and staff are already familiar with cell phone functions and how to use them. This is adaptive aid with little or no cost to the school. Not only for school use, but outside of school and into the world of work, cell phones can be used by students to serve special needs. Here are 3 ways to support special needs with cell phones!

1. Classroom Story-Texting   Gerald is a twenty year old student with cerbral palsy and hearing loss. Gerald has a reading and math level of 5th grade. With one arm not fully functional, he is allowed to use a word processor or scribe as needed. He does not want either one of those options. He was down to only needing to finish his Civics class to graduate, but he was stalling out and not making any progress. He was in my counseling office continually upset over social issues, many of which involved text messages back and forth with peers. I watched a couple of texts get sent while I took a phone call and he waited. I realized that he could text one handed at an amazing speed. So I talked to his Civics instructor and got it approved that he text in the answers to the review questions at the end of each chapter. This resulted in an amazing transformation. Gerald's depressed state became positive, hopeful and outgoing. His progress through the remainder of the Civics class was steady. He was able to complete the class on time and graduate, all thanks to texting.
    He just sent the notes to my email, but since we have used notebook features through wetxt and celly that create a record of students’ texted notes that can be organized and searched.

2. Classroom Story-Voki A Spanish speaking student suffering from extreme shyness was struggling in my Freshman English class. We were doing oral reports and I knew she would be terrified. The language barrier itself would make the assignment extremely challenging. However, I wanted her confidence to grow and her oral language skills to be practiced and improved. So, I set her up with a Voki and let her start calling the Voki number on her cell phone and saying her oral report, then listening to the Avatar say it back, and re-recording as needed. She practiced her language skills repeatedly, made edits, and improved her report each night. After about a week, she told me she was ready. Her Voki gave her report to the class (and was shared with her parents and on the school wiki).   By the next oral presentation unit, after practicing on her voki, she gave her report to the class herself. She gained practice, repetition, learning, confidence, pride, success, etc, all thanks to calling her Voki on her cell phone. The ESL teachers jumped on this and all of their students are using their phones to practice their oral language skills, listening skills, and improving!

3. Classroom Story-Flickr We have limited electives at Delta Opportunity School, a new alternative high school. Art is the only “elective” class we offer as most students earn their elective credits through work study. Alex loved art, but was unable to do any of the projects due to some fine motor problems. However, he loved art and wanted to take the class. We thought about having him do art with pictures, find art in the community that were examples of the projects and create a slide show. However, the family did not own a camera and we were nervous to let him use the school camera because we have no budget to replace it if something were to happen. But, he did have a cell phone provided to him by our Student Work Alliance Program (SWAP-a program for SPED students through voc-rehab money). The phone had a camera and we taught him how to take pictures and then send them to the Flickr address for the account he set up for art. The subject of the message became the picture’s title and the message became the caption. He could create a slide show through his phone (his one hand was able to text-a feat he had achieved on his own due to a strong desire to communicate with friends). His final project was just as wonderful as all the others and he was very proud.

A FREE Teaching Generation Text Webinar on Monday!

2011-12-01T14:00:00.000-08:00

Register for this webinar for FREE, Either go to SimpleK12 where you can register for any webinar, or use this direct attendee registration link, which is only good for our webinar:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/975369746

Forwards for Support in Times of Crisis

2011-11-27T16:16:00.000-08:00

A forward is simply a text message, usually with a picture and sometimes with music that is sent out with the request to “keep it going” or to “forward to all of your friends.” They are the same as the email forward, but most likely a little shorter. Forwards are something students are used to sending to groups and they realize the value. When you don’t have a set group and need to reach many of your students in times of crisis, a forward may be your best option, which is illustrated in the following story.

Text Talk: Stories from the Counseling Office
It was the first weekend of Christmas break when Ariel, one of the most beautiful, outgoing, friendly students in our school, was tragically hit by a car. She was taken in the flight for life helicopter to the hospital one hour from our town. As word got out, the students started texting me. In the night, during the day, in pain and full of questions. I could quickly answer with what information I had, clear up misinformation, and offer a few words of encouragement. After speaking with Ariel’s father and being aware of the true nature of her condition, that she was brain dead and that they were only keeping her alive on machines so organs could be donated, I could begin preparing the students. Two of her best friends and I prepared a “forward” type picture message with a recent picture of Ariel, her favorite song, and an announcement of the situation. When Ariel did pass, her mother prepared a similar forward with a picture, a song, and the following text:
“To all of my amazing friends
I love you all so much. I am right where I am supposed to be. I am with God. You have all meant so much to me. I don’t want you all to be sad….not for too long anyway. Thank you all for all the amazing memories, you all gave me them to…and I have taken them with me. My most favorite thing in the world to do was to laugh. So please laugh again. You are all so awesome. I am totally at peace. Take care of my mom and yourselves. I love you all…
PEACE
With all my love
Ariel
PS please pall along

This started the healing process right away. The remainder of the holiday was spent with all knowing that Ariel was in a better place. Text check-ins and words of comfort and support were what my students preferred from me and what they needed. When we returned to school there was not a typical “crisis” situation where the counseling office is full and there is a lot of open emotional expressions. It was with sadness, but with focus on doing what Ariel would have wanted by moving on and remembering her smile. Thanks to text messaging.

Respond to the Naysayers with these Answers to FAQs about Using Cell Phones for Learning

2011-11-25T07:36:00.001-08:00

When it comes to using cell phones and other student devices in the classrooms a lot of questions come up. Below are the answers to the ones that my co-author, Willyn Webb and I hear most often.

If we allow cell phones in school, how do we keep them from being a distraction?
Teachers across the globe are empowering students with the freedom to learn with their own devices. These teachers are finding that with the right strategies and building blocks in place, learners are much more engaged in connected classrooms. Building blocks include working with students to determine responsible use policies, permissions, holding one another accountable for inappropriate use, and having clear consequences in place. Teachers who collaborate with students and develop effective policies and procedures report a dramatic decrease in cell phone discipline and behavior issues. Samples of such policies and procedures can be found in Teaching Generation Text. When teachers incorporate the use of cell phones into learning, students appreciate that their teachers are trusting them and empowering them to learn with the tools of their world. As students discover how to learn with their devices, they are able to extend their learning beyond the school day and continue participating in online discussions and collaborative activities for academic purposes. This advantage encourages them to become more self-directed, motivated, and reflective about their learning, anytime, anywhere.

What about students who do not have cell phones? The digital divide exists whether or not we allow students to bring the devices they own to school. It is illogical to prohibit those students who have devices from using them in a desire to achieve a sense of equity rather than to provide devices for those who need them. When we allow all students to bring their cell phones and other devices, the students without will have even greater access to school-owned technology since they are no longer competing for access. Students can also be encouraged to share, borrow, or use the phone a family or friends. Since phones these days can be acquired at little or even no cost, schools could hold “donate your device” days and partner with a service provider to offer steep discounts to families in need.

What are some ways that cell phones can be used in a lesson?
Cell phone technologies support and enhance research-based teaching and learning strategies. An entire chapter of Teaching Generation Text shares how this can be done and offers lesson plans as examples. Cell phones provide ways to poll students, create phone casts, use Avatars for oral presentations, encourage note taking, summarizing, brainstorming, and goal setting. They also offer organizational tools and homework help while increasing communication among teachers, students, and parents. Many of the NET Standards are met through the use of cell phones as a free piece of student owned and loved technology.

Could I use cell phones to support my students’ learning even in my school where they are banned?
The first four steps in the Teaching Generation Text “Five Step Plan to Harnessing the Power of Cell Phones” involve using the devices outside of school. Cell phones support educators as professionals in our own learning and communication with colleagues, they are a valuable tool in strengthening the home-school connection with parents, and they support students in homework efforts, often taking the learning from class into their lives in a powerful way by extending collaboration, offering expert help, and making lessons doable on the go.

How do I protect my privacy if I text with students?
By setting the stage with the establishment of acceptable use policies, establishing clear boundaries, using the tools of group texting sites, and having permission forms signed, you are in a position to avoid risk and enjoy enhanced learning. Teaching Generation Text provides samples of these policies and forms as well as a workshop for staff, parents, and students for addressing boundaries, privacy, and safety which not only creates an environment for success with cell phones, but also teaches valuable life lessons for cell phone etiquette and good decision making.

Won’t they use them to cheat?
Students who are hiding their phones in a school where they are banned may use them to cheat, however, in a school where cell phones are used for learning, they will be appropriately managed. That said, there is a growing belief by educators that what we called cheating in the industrial age, we call collaboration today. If a student can access information on their phone, why should we create an artificial environment where they can’t? For those times where using cell phones would be inappropriate, putting in place the proper classroom management tools found in Teaching Generation Text solves the problem of potential inappropriate use with fair and agreed upon consequences. By embracing cell phones for learning, the cat and mouse game ceases to exist, discipline is no longer necessary, and students are well-equipped to learn in effective and appropriate ways.

Who has cell phones?According to the Center on Media and Child Health, 22 percent of young children own a cell phone (ages 6-9), 60 percent of tweens (ages 10-14), and 84 percent of teens (ages 15-18). And cell phone companies are now marketing to younger children with colorful kid-friendly phones and easy-to-use features.

According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project’s February 2010 study, Teens and Social Media, 74% of American teens have a high-speed Internet connected computer at home, but 93% of American teens say they go online. That same report states that 41% of teens whose family income is less than 30K, go online using their phones. That number drops to the twenty percent range for higher income brackets. Clearly, students are bridging the connectivity divide with portable devices like cell phones and MP3 players.

For answers to more questions as well as ideas, resources, and workshops outlining effective ways to use cell phones for learning, including research-based strategies and lessons, check out Teaching Generation Text.

5 Ways to Use Cell Phones To Combat Bullying

2011-11-22T14:06:00.000-08:00

A smart step toward empowering students in anti-bullying efforts is allowing them to have their cell phones on school grounds and encouraging them to use them against bullies. Educators can support students by sharing 5 ways they can use the tools in their pockets to deter bullying, increase their knowledge about how to deal with bullies.

1. Video
Encourage students to take videos of bullying behaviors they are experiencing or witnessing. Often a video can be taken from any angle and the words will be heard, the actions shown, and the involved individuals identified. This makes administrators more capable of addressing the behaviors directly rather than spending time interviewing and trying to determine the truth. That time can be spent working on interventions and change of behavior. This also empowers the students to collectively fight bullying by supporting each other. From across the room or the other side of the playground or parking lot, a simple cell phone video can be shot anonymously and make all the difference in the outcomes. Read about students proving that bullying was occurring though the use of video here.

2. Texting
Gain valuable information by having a cell number where students can text staff through a free group texting site such as Celly Have students put the number in their contacts during registration/orientation/first of school activities or during the anti-bullying workshop. Put the number in the handbook, on the website, and make it available to parents as well. Encourage students to text the line with information, pictures, or video whenever there is bullying or talk/actions that don’t seem right. If a student is being bullied through texting, he/she can be encouraged to forward the message to the staff text line. So much more private than a phone call, texting can be done in their pocket, under the desk, or by an observer without causing risk from awareness by the bully. Maintain the confidentiality of the report. The risk of sending a text is much less than a face-to-face report, a phone call, or a written report. It can be done in the moment or later from a safe location and no one has to know, but the staff member who receives it.

3. Pictures
Students can be empowered through their cell phone camera when they are taught to use it, not only appropriately, but in capturing evidence that will incriminate bullies. When there is bullying, aggressive behaviors, or even an unwanted presence, encourage students to use their camera to capture the moment. Just having this preventative policy in place will deter many bullying actions as the bully sees the crowd getting out their phones. Also, if a student is experiencing cyberbullying through social networking sites, he/she can take a picture of the inappropriate messages and send them to the staff text line.

4. Sound Recording
Teach students how to call Ipadio and put in the code, which could be done discretely in the pocket (if they had put it on speed dial and practiced, which could be a class or workshop activity) and then the bully is recorded to be played back later from the ipadio website as evidence.

You can eliminate the need for a code by setting up a Google Voice number for reporting bullying. Have students put the number in their contacts during the workshop and then if bullying happens they can call the number and let it record. This goes directly to the administrators account and provides an in the moment way for students to gain evidence to be used by administrators in addressing the behavior.

5. Wiffiti
Encourage students to safely share using a daily or weekly Wiffiti. Wiffiti is a free, web-based way for anonymous texting about bullying that is happening or may happen. Just set up a Wiffiti board asking the question then provide the code to include in the text during morning announcements or to them through group texting. Students can text in anonymously to the wiffiti and report any bullying they have experienced or witnessed. By checking the wiffiti throughout the day, administrators, counselors, and staff will be fully informed regarding any bullying that needs addressed.

Keeping kids safe is of the utmost importance to parents who have long known the value of cell phones when it comes to keeping their children out of danger. These are additional ways that parents and teachers can empower young people to learn in an environment that is as safe and healthy as possible.

For more ideas, resources, and workshops outlining effective ways to use cell phones in school check out Teaching Generation Text.

Texting is Caring

2011-11-20T06:35:00.000-08:00

Text Talk: Classroom stories (Willyn Webb, counselor)
When I first started texting, I simply mentioned to a class of students that I was concerned about expressing my feeling through text. Before I could look up from my computer screen, I had two papers on my desk illustrating the most common emoticons used for common feelings. They loved being the experts on something and proceeded to show me examples on their phones and the internet. One particular female student that was part of this interaction was often in my counseling office. This opened up a whole new means for her to express herself to me. I was all for her releasing her turmoil in texting rather than cutting herself. It is amazing what can happen when we let students lead us into their world, even just a bit. Whether it is the learning that comes from teaching or the awareness that the teacher cares enough to value what is important to them, encouraging students to incorporate their phones, teach you what they can do, and lead the way will have positive effects on your classroom climate, learning, and rapport with students. We all know the impact a setting such as this has on test scores, not to mention, making our days more fun.

With all of the free tools available through cell phones to support learning, we sometimes forget the value of a simple, individual text. Teachers are always encouraged to increase communication with students and parents. The most effective tool, in today's world, is a text message. According to Start Up Nation

18-29 year old consumers use text messaging more often than voice to communicate.
On average 94% of text messages are read.
80% of consumers keep their mobile with them all day.
When given a choice 39% of US consumers — 76 million people — prefer text messages to radio or TV advertising.

With proper boundaries in place, texting is an easy way to communicate with students and parents with very little time involved (less than a phone call or email). Show you care by using the communication method they prefer.

Teaching Generation Text Goes Global! TODAY!

2011-11-13T23:36:00.001-08:00

Join Lisa Nielsen and Willyn Webb, authors of Teaching Generation Text, as they present two sessions at the free online Global Education Conference today!

The Texting Teacher

4:00 EST

join here

Break the Ban on Cell Phones

and Open the Door for Global Connections: A 6 Part Plan

6:00 EST

join here

Learn about all of the exciting ways you can empower students, using only the cell phone in their pocket, to take their learning to a whole new level with global connections.

Time Line of The Cell Phones for Learning Movement

2011-11-12T16:05:00.001-08:00

When	What
Early 1990s	Schools banned all electronic devices, (pagers, beepers, cell phones) which tended to be associated with drug dealing or gangs.
Late 1990s	Cell phones became commonplace, smaller, and cheaper. Text messaging became popular, especially with teens.
1999 - 2002	After the Columbine High School shootings and the acts of terrorism on our country, parents wanted to be able to communicate with their children at any time. Cell phones, parents argued, were necessary for safety, and the ban was relaxed in many schools. As stated on the Education World website in an article on school issues in 2002, “More than a decade after many school systems and states prohibited students from carrying and using cellular phones in school, state lawmakers and administrators are rethinking their positions. The widespread use of the devices and parents’ concerns about their children’s safety are prompting new policies that allow students use.” (Delisio, 2002). The National School Safety and Security Services acknowledged that schools were looking into this issue and, “...some have reversed their past positions of prohibiting cell phones in schools” (2002).
Mid 2000s	Technology advanced and the industry exploded making phones no longer a luxury item. Many school districts allowed phones, but they had to be off during the day. Some tried to ban camera phones or ones that had text messaging. Not just for emergencies anymore, many parents are using cell phones and text messaging daily to communicate with their children, keep track or them, and manage busy schedules. More and more, cell phones are seen in the elementary grades. Recently out of college teachers (those who spent their own teens texting), innovative teachers, and teachers who are parents of teenagers themselves are using cell phone technologies as tools for teaching. According to Georgia Senator Richard Marable, chairman of the education committee, “Times change,” he told Education World, “Certainly we can protect the educational integrity of schools and still utilize this high technology” (Delisio, 2002). Most major school districts (12 out of the 15 largest) allow phones at school. “It is the policy in Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Houston, San Diego, and Dallas” according to Gotbaum, (City Council Hearing, 2006). Articles such as “Becoming a ringleader: teaching with text messaging” and “SMS is the Top of the Class” appear (Smith, 2006, Clickpress 2006).
By 2007	Across the country in schools and in families, cell phones are seen as important in learning, communication, and safety. In Conneticut cell phones were seen as “…serious educational tools, and the results are already impressive” (Whamond, 2007). In Nevada, “Instructors at University of Las Vegas are now using text messaging as a tool to teach students” (Sheneman, 2007). In Pennsylvania, “Penn State uses text messaging to communicate with students (Glazer, 2007). In Tennessee, administrators handed out phones (up to 50 ) to a student advisory council made up of average students with leadership qualities so that they could communicate with principals in order to keep the school safe (Pytel, 2007). Cingular Wireless released a survey indicating that “63% of parents who use text messaging believe it improves their communication with their children” (McCarthy, 2007).
By 2008	Brooklyn schools doled out 2,500 cell phones to students (Medina, 2008). International Society for Technology in Education published the book Toys to Tools: Connecting Student Cell phones to Education (Kolb, 2008). "According to a Nielson Mobile Survey, more American cell phone users are using text messages than using cell phones to make calls” (Reardon, 2008) Many colleges were utilizing cell phone technologies in educational practices. Individual teachers were incorporating them into their classrooms and lesson plans across the country.
By 2009	Changes in school policy begin again. “The Collier County School Board recently voted to change the student code of conduct regarding cell phones and, in the process, expanded the code to allow schools to petition to allow students to use their phones in the classroom—to some extent” (Albers, 2009). “Florida schools allow cell phones to be used in class” (Solochek, 2009). “Suzette Kliewer, the teacher who administered the Digital Millennial program at Southwest High School in Jacksonville, N.C., said the phones excited her students and made them collaborate and focus on their studies, even outside of school hours. ‘They took average-level kids and made them into honors-level kids’” (Richtel & Stone, 2009). In Charlotte, North Carolina, it wasstated in the Charlotte Observer, “…some teachers in Charlotte are seeking to harness [texting’s] power. Researchers back this approach with new evidence that texting teaches some positive language skills, and pragmatists argue that a war on texting is unwinnable.” (Elder, 2009). According to a Times Daily article, “The Lauderdale County school board changed its policy on student cell phone usage this year to allow students the freedom to not only have them at school, but to use them at specified times during the day.” This policy change reportedly reduced cell phone violations by 85% and according to Superintendent Billy Valentine, “‘It's working so far” because ‘It’s not practical to eliminate cell phones altogether.’ A principal in the district says he’s seen a renewed sense of responsibility from his student body since the new policy went into effect” (Singleton-Rickman, 2009).Text messaging for teaching is a hot topic at many educational conferences.
by 2010	Cell phones and the technologies they provide for educational enhancements, especially text messaging, will be so obvious that school policy allowing them within classrooms and for educational purposes will begin to be adopted throughout the country. Gartner Inc, a Connecticut-based technology research and advisory firm, predicts that by 2010, 70 percent of residents in developed nations will spend 10 times longer per day interacting with people in the e-world than the physical one. (Dunewind, 2003). Additionally, “The only difference now between smartphones and laptops, they say, is that cellphones are smaller, cheaper, and more coveted by students” (Richtel & Stone, 2009). As cell phone technologies continue to improve, become more available, and have more computer connections, their use as educational tools will continue to grow. "But with cell phones tucked in the book bags and pockets of three-fourths of today's teens, many high schools are ceding defeat in the battle to keep hand-held technology out of class and instead are inviting students to use their phones for learning" (Malone & Black, 2010)
and beyond	More than half of the world’s population now owns a cell phone and children under 12 constitute one of the fastest growing segments of mobile technology users in the U.S. according to the The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop (Shuler, 2009)

10 Talking Points for Texting (let's lift the bans on cell phones)

2011-11-12T06:50:00.000-08:00

By opening up conversations with the powers that be, you will begin the process necessary to eventually lift bans on cell phones, create acceptable use agreements, and change school policy.

Use this "10 Talking Points Worksheet" designed to be customized for your particular situation. If you are talking with (or happen to be) your building principal, your district administration, your school board, a policy review committee, or any combination of these; you will want to be prepared. By taking the time to insert data from your school or district that will support the main points for cell phone use, you will present a convincing case. Even if you do not have the time to compile the data or copy the suggested handouts, the points are still valuable to go forward and start the discussion.

Ten Talking Points to Lift The Ban and Begin Using Cell Phones for Learning

Harness the power of the tools already in student's pockets

The ubiquitous use of cell phones by our students illustrates the reason why we should allow cell phones, with an acceptable use agreement, and utilize the tools available on them for learning purposes inside and outside the classroom. Students are motivated to use them! The majority of our secondary students are sitting in classrooms with cell phones in their pockets regardless of the ban. Integrating cell phones is a student desired educational enhancement, making it very likely to be successful due to the bottom-up approach.

[Insert your school's teacher/student/parent cell phone survey results here. Example survey forms for students, teachers, and parents are included in the special materials section of this chapter.]

Cell phones have educational capabilities built in

Cell phones have many educational capabilities: Calculator, Clock, Calendar, Picture/Video, Stop Watch, Text Messaging for Communication/writing, Internet, Polling... Cell phones are used to support and enhance current research-based instructional strategies.

[Insert examples from this book that you personally feel will be valuable for the students in your classroom, school, and/or district.]

Save money for your school

Using student cell phone capabilities as educational tools is FREE, no hardware or software purchases required.
[Insert your school’s/district’s technology budget from previous years and projections/cuts, which cell phones do not require. ]

Little to no learning curve

Most educators already own and are familiar with cell phone technologies, thus integration would not require a large amount of time consuming and costly training. All it would take is an open mind. Students can teach educators how the tools can be used for learning.

[Insert your school's/district's training, inservice, workshop expenditures from previous years and projections/cuts, which cell phone use will not require.]

Decrease discipline issues

Utilizing cell phones for educational purposes should reduce phone-related discipline issues. Working with students to establish appropriate and inappropriate uses is useful in developing proper etiquette for use both at school and in the community. It teaches self control, boundaries, and compliance.

[Insert your school’s statistics on referrals, detentions, etc. from cell phones, which can be reduced through acceptance of use and establishment of protocols.]

Reduce cheating with cell phones

With acceptance of cell phones in classrooms and established policies and protocols in place, students will know what is acceptable. During assessment students and teachers will have established if cell phones should be out on their desks, under their desk, collected in a basket, or, just maybe, used as part of assessment. Consideration: If the answer is already available in a student's pocket, on demand, are we really assessing what is relevant in the 21st century?

[Provide a sample of classroom procedures addressing cell phones during testing such as the example feature in the special materials of Chapter 6]

Cell phones can be used to support research-based strategies

Cell phones can support research-based educational strategies while engaging learners and enhancing instruction. As we shared in Chapter 3 of this book, there are numerous research-based instructional strategies that can be enhanced with the use of cell phones.

[Provide some examples from Chapter 3 of this book.]

Help your school go green with the tools students already own

Cell phones and text message communication are environmentally friendly and fit the trend of many schools to decrease paper. There are even a few schools across the nation that have become paperless (add reference).

[Insert your school's/district's paper/copy machine budget from previous years and projections/cuts, which can be positively affected by cell phone use.]

Establish a positive educational environment

An acceptable use agreement developed with the educators and students and shared with the school community can help establish a positive educational climate.

[Provide a sample agreement like the ones in Chapter 4.]

Many educators are already having success with cell phones in their classrooms

Use some of the examples given throughout this blog and in "Teaching Generation Text" of teachers who are having success with cell phones in the classroom.
[Tell a few of your own touching or motivating success stories. Use the results of your pilot program here!]

Practice language skills on the phone... ya think?

2011-11-12T06:01:00.000-08:00

Google Voice becomes a repository for oral reports, assignments, or sound bites. Not only is it a repository, but teachers can write notes on each clip, share, and post them. This is obviously an effective tool for auditory learners and a way to practice language skills--ESL and foreign language teachers listen up! In any language arts class, so often, there is not enough class time for oral reports, but now it can happen individually.

Ideas for Using Google Voice with Students

1) Have students do their oral reports using Google Voice. If they don't like how they sounded the first time, they don't have to send the message. They can re-record until they have something with which they are happy.

2) Use as an assessment tool to easily capture student's reading level. Not only to have you have a recording, you have a transcript too and a place to keep notes. Rather than talk to a parent about how a student has progressed across a year, let them listen to it their child themselves.

3) Have students share something interesting about themselves and post the recordings on a class page or in a blog where other students can listen or comment.

Text Talk Classroom Stories: Katy Taylor
At Holmdel High School in New Jersey, students in Spanish teacher Katy Taylor’s class practice their language skills on the phone. On their own time, students call her Google Voice number and read something in Spanish or create a dialogue which is sent to her Google Voice account. The kids respond really well to it and instead of taking up class time, they dial in to her phone number, and then she can go online to hear what they've done. She listens to their recordings and e-mails them feedback. Many students are afraid to make mistakes in front of their peers. When they receive a recording assignment, they're more apt to take risks because they have some privacy. The end result is students are speaking more and getting feedback.

Emoticons Enhance Expression :)

2011-11-04T12:32:00.000-07:00

Some critics of text messaging feel it is ineffective communication because it is void of emotion, lacking the message enhancements that tone of voice and nonverbal expression provide. Maybe those critics never received a love note. Yes, text messages are short, quick, and full of abbreviations. However, the back and forth nature of texting more closely resembles conversation than a note or letter. As we have seen, it is a combination of two forms of communication which has proven very appealing to teens and tweens. In addition to needing to find the right word to convey emotions A whole new means of communicating feelings and emotions has developed for use with texting called emoticons. Emoticons are symbols used to represent feelings. The use of emoticons in text messages makes them very effective in expressing the feelings that go with the words. In The Seattle Times David Silver, a University of Washington professor of communication who studies new media is quoted, “The beauty of language is that it’s infinitely morphable. The use of emoticons is amazing as a way of transmitting spoken language’s social nuances” (Dunnewind, 2003)

Of course, the nonverbals, which communicate much of the emotional content of a message, are not available in a text message. They have not been in e-mail, written letters, telegraph, or smoke signals either. Perhaps this condition encourages more expressive writing, better communication than a phone call or a face to face conversation, which can at times be too full of emotion. Rather than trying to read nonverbals, gain insight through tone of voice, or decipher feelings, in a text message we can use or see the feeling associated with the message through the use of an emoticon. There are websites that offer a glossary for emoticons. For example, at http://www.sharpened.net/glossary/emoticons.php you can type in the emotion and search for the emoticon. This, however, can be a little time consuming, yet fun. There are shortcuts for emoticons for all of the major instant messaging and email sites, and most are also usable with cell phones. Many cell phones now come equipped with symbolic expressions such as various smileys. You may want to search around on your phone or ask your students to show you what is on their phones. You will find that any feeling necessary can be expressed in a text message, possibly more clearly than simple body cues, facial expressions, or tone of voice.

Text Talk: Classroom Stories

I've learned to pay attention to emoticons in students' messages. I had texted a girl I was concerned about when she was absent for four days in a row. She texted back: "fine :(" So I asked her why fine with the frown. She said she hadn't wanted to bother me, but she had found out she had cancer. Many times the emoticon offers enlightening information that can be addressed to fully support students.

EmoticonEmotion EmoticonEmotion EmoticonEmotion

X-( Angry

:-> Grin
)-: Left-handed Sad Face
Broken Heart

=) or :-) Happy

(-: Left-handed Smiley Face
O.o or :-S Confused

<3 Heart or Love
=/ Mad
B-) Cool
{ } Hug
^_^ Overjoyed
:_( or :'( Crying
:-| Indifferent
:-/ Perplexed
*-* Dazed
X-p Joking
=( or :-( Sad
:-( or :( Frown
=D Laughing Out Loud
:-P Sticking tongue out

NY Times School Book

2011-11-01T09:48:00.001-07:00

We wrote for the NY Times! Join the conversation by leaving a comment.

Click Here to read the article, "Cellphones: Why Not Use Them to Teach?" by Lisa Nielsen and Willyn Webb

2011-10-30T14:58:00.001-07:00

Ideas for Bringing Your Own Device (BYOD) Even If You Are Poor

When the topic of bring your own device comes up, one of the first complaints we often hear, is "What about the have nots." Yes, there are have nots. However, students should not only be given the freedom to do what those who have the least can do. Students are not prisoners and they are not widgets. They are people with minds, choices, and parents or guardians who can make decisions and should be empowered to use the learning devices they choose.

While I believe schools should be wired places where community members can access the internet, I do not believe all students need the same tool nor do I believe all students need the government to provide them with the learning tools they deem best. When we shift our thinking fromdemanding the government provides one-size-fits-some solutions and move it to let's empower families to take ownership of securing tools for their learning, change can happen.

Here are some ways even low socio economic status (ses) students can acquire their own technology.

Business Refresh - Reach out to companies to see when they refresh equipment. Ask if they would consider giving old devices to students.
Craigslist - Students can use tools like Craigslist to announce that they are in need of a device that someone might be throwing away. Also, look at who is getting rid of devices. Some will give away technology if it is helping a student.
Facebook for Tech - A teenager I know needed a computer. She put her request on Facebook for anyone who might have an old computer. She had several responses. Students, parents, and teachers can use social media to share requests.
Mentors as resources - Establish a mentoring program. When I did this students developed relationships with their mentors, many of whom advocated on their behalf which included helping them secure resources for learning.
Entrepreneurs raise money for tech - The cost of tech has gone down tremendously. It doesn't take a lot for the entrepreneurial student to raise enough money for his or her own tech.
Tweet for Tech - When I noticed a young girl with autism in a rural neighborhood could benefit from an iPad I tweeted out a request for anyone updating their iPad 1 with an iPad 2 to donate a device. The young girl had a new iPad that week.
Recycle School Tech - I've seen schools dump tons of tech because they couldn't deal with the bureaucratic red tape required to give devices to kids. Ummm...gimme a break! Figure it out.
Payment / Layaway plans - There are schools that have figured out lay away, leasing, or school discount programs. Schools should be doing their best to provide these options for families.
Community Tech Day - Invite the community to come to your school and donate technology for children in need.
Hold a fundraiser - There are fundraisers for all sorts of things. Let kids work to raise funds for technology. Be creative. Hold a race, a car wash, a tournament.

Yes, there are naysayers who can shoot down every single way I've shared to empower students to secure devices, but when we stop thinking about why we can't and start thinking about how we can, the digital divide narrows before our eyes.