Does technology such as texting hinder students learn, especial, reading and spelling?
As a teacher, I have seen an increase of problems due to cell phone use. "No phone allowed in class!" is a very hard rule to enforce as students are very sneaky and can text without even taking the phones out of their pockets. Also, simply placing their phones on vibrate makes a constant distraction that prevents the students from ever really engaging in the class. Another problem I see is that the shortcuts created to make IMing and texting quicker and easier are creating a problem for learning how to spell. GR8, LOL, OMG, and PROBLY, ROFL, may make texting faster by these type of shortcuts prevent students from actually having to sound out words or know proper grammar.
One mother I talked to about the issue says that her son, age 16, didn't even know what she meant when she told him to "look up" a word in the dictionary. He had always used the computer to do spell check and it never even occurred to him that he could look it up in a book.
An article from the New York Times, says that the average teen send a text every two minutes during their 24 hour period. Even through the night. This hits on another very important issue, sleep. If students having been texting all night how in the world will they be ready to engage in their school day.
On the other hand, some parents believe that texting and IMing have given their children a boost in typing and computer skills. I would agree with them there.
It does seem to me that there are most tallies on the "Cons" side than the "Pros." How do we as a nation fix this problem?
Great topic! Hello, fellow teacher!
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I think as teachers and adults we must model how to utilize their new skills and how to apply them to classroom assignment.
The technology boom is not going anywhere...so, why not incorporate more techonology in the classroom...make a tool, not an enemy.
It's amazing that the boy didn't know how to look something up in a dictionary. We are so technology based that something so simple seems out of this world.
ReplyDeleteThis reminded me of when I was about 14 and my mother asked me to look something up in the phone book and I didn't know how. It didn't take me long to figure it out, but, I had never needed to do that before. Today, everything is online and accessed through technology.
ReplyDeleteGreat question! I do not know if there is a simple solution to the question. We, as a society, may have to learn to live with these issues. It would be nice if parents could set a time limit to when their child text, such as at 9 o'clock the child is unable to text any more. But what is that saying to the kids? I think we need to education the children, teach them the effects of sleep derpevation and of driving and texting and hope they make the right decession.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great topic, Lisa! When texting interferes with students' learning, I think teachers need to address it. In the F2F classroom, my technique is to use texting as a sign that students aren't busy enough. If I see cell phones, I switch to group work or something more interactive. If I banned cell phones, I wouldn't know students needed a change of pace. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Leonel and John that cell phones are here to stay and using them as part of class could work well. How about asking students to use their phones to research a topic quickly? See who can access the information fastest. Or, ask students to use their cell phones to collaborate to answer a question. My problem is that I don't have a cell phone, so I don't really know how they work or what might be the pitfalls of trying to teach with them. Once my daughter is older, I imagine we'll get some family phones... Nancy
This was an interesting topic Lisa. I think that there is alot that we can use cell phones for like accessing maps and using them to google for information. However they can be very distracting. I have had to ban them at work because people were facebooking, texting and making personal phone calls more than working. It is so much fun being a supervisor sometimes! ugg
ReplyDeleteInteresting topic, I actually thought the other day, because my son's first day of kindergarten was a few days ago, to get him a phone. Am I crazy? I feel that if anything was to go wrong, especially now days when students come in shooting a school up, that it would be for safety. I do understand it being annoying for a teacher, while trying to get her class to listen. I always thought it was silly, why do you need a phone while in class? I mean if there is an emergency that person could just call the school to reach him/her, right? I can't believe a 16 year old didn't know what a dictionary is, but the parents wyou think would have told him long ago. I think also that technology is a blessing and a curse, depending on how you use it.
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