Lets think about cell phones not as villains of the classroom, but as teaching and learning tools.

Educators, it is time to embrace change again. We are learning to incorporate computer technology into our classrooms, so why not incorporate cell phones too. Children love their cell phones, so how can we get children to use cell phones in a manner that might help build their literacy skills?! Here are some ideas from the Journal, (2008) on how to use cell phones:

• Have students type their own cell phone novels or poems. Make sure to okay this with parents in advance! Text messagging can be expensive without a prepaid package!
• Have student make a photo documentary using the camera function on their cell phones. After they take a sfficient number of photos, they can upload them to sies such as Flicker and type narrative descriptions for each picture to share with their classmates, family and friends.
• Have student create educational podcasts with their cell phones using free services like Gadcast that allow users to record podcasts using their phones. The podcasts can then be loaded to blogs or other multimedia sites to share.
• Have students text message their parents homework assignment so that after school there is no confusion as to what is due the next day.