Week 4: BP: Texting in MY Classroom.

"You Have Mail" (2010) The Stock Exchange http://sxc.hu

Today I tried a grand experiment bases on a segment on CNN Student News that I show my students. This particular segment talked about how cell phone use is banned in school. I got to thinking about ways in which I could incorporate their use in my classroom, and I came up with a grand idea.

I was not only going to break a school rule regarding technology (again), but I was also going to enlist the parents.

We are starting our project creating citizenship web modules and I am introducing Google tools in the classroom. While the students were typing their essential questions in an outline on Google Docs I got the idea that maybe the students should create their own PLN.

I had them text "What is the purpose of government" to an adult such as their parents, grandparents, older sibling, or guardian. Each class of 22 students received at least 11 text messages with some really great responses. I posted all of them on the example Google doc for the students to refer back to. Some of the responses were even quite funny. In fact, no less than 2 students were asked by their parents if they were cheating on a test.