Journal #4

From Toy to Tool By: Liz Kolb

The article “From Toy to Tool” deals with using cell phones inside the classroom as tools for assignments instead of the toys that teachers usually see them as. Many schools ban cell phones in schools with the fear that students will be text messaging instead of working as well as using them to cheat. This article shows how cell phones can actually benefit teachers. Cell phones many times have recording features on them as well as camcorders and cameras. Even ones that don’t have any of these can still be used at video recorders using Audioblogging through different 1800 numbers. This article was interesting because cell phones have always held a negative view in schools, with many schools banning them altogether. This article shows how instead of banning something that is part of many people everyday life the ways that even cell phones can be incorporated into classroom assignments.

What is another project students can do using Audioblogging?
A project that I think would be fun for the kids is interviewing their parents/guardians. By having children interview their parents; their parents are able to see what they are doing with their cell phones and better understand how they are being used. This also gives the children time to get to know their parents/guardians and allows them to find out things they may have never known before (ex. did you have a dream job as a child?). If the children do a project on their parent/guardian students who don’t have cell phones can use their houseline instead and still get a feel for how the program works.

Can this be used in an elementary school classroom?
I think that a fewer number of students will have cell phones in elementary school but that the project is still do able. Teachers can get grants to try and get a few cell phones for the class to share or can use their home phones to do interviews. That was students get the idea of how they can use this technology later on when they get a cell phone.