Secretary of Education Duncan Speaks Positively About Cellphones in the Classroom

Cathie: Did you catch the video interview with Secretary of Education Duncan where he said that cellphones in the K12 classroom are a good idea and can help children learn.
Elliot: He said that?! I am speechless.
Cathie: A novel feeling for you; better sit down and rest.
Elliot: Ha ha ho ho. That was a figure of speech; you know what I meant.
Cathie: No, you didn’t say anything; you were speechless.
Elliot: You are such a pain sometimes.
Cathie: Ok, next time I won’t take what you say seriously.
Elliot: UNCLE; you win. As usual. Just tell me more about Duncan’s statement.
Cathie: Uncle? That really dates you… as old.
Elliot: Duncan; tell me about Duncan, please.
Cathie: First Duncan said that since today’s youth are so engaged with video games outside of school we should use them inside of schools to facilitate learning.
Elliot: America’s highest education officer endorsing video games. I am…
Cathie: No, you are not “speechless”. You don’t have a speechless bone in your body.
Elliot: Clever – and true. More Duncan, pretty please.
Cathie: Well, the video clip on the website was a tad laconic.
Elliot: “Tad laconic”?
Cathie: You having trouble with the definition of “tad”, too?
Elliot: You are on a roll this morning! What did you eat for breakfast?
Cathie: Smart Start – just like every morning.
Elliot: I wonder whether our President agrees with him.
Cathie: If one can take his campaign promises seriously, President Obama wants to close the digital divide. And, as I have said before, cellphone technology is the surest way to close that divide. Rich or poor, having an Internet-connected cellphone in a child’s hand enables a child to answer his or her own questions – and those of his parents and his friends, too.
Elliot: That’s a blog of another color
Cathie: Nice turn of a phrase there, shorty.
Elliot: Folks, you’ll have to excuse us; I need to have a conversation with Ms  Cathie – privately. 

Comments

[Michael J. Trout]

Its going to get worse than cell phone. eSingularity is coming. You should read my post on the Future of education. Hold on to your hats because education 3.0 is coming to Asia and it going to dethrone the US education system and disrupt it in ways you cant even imagine ")

http://www.futureofeducation.com/forum/topics/welcome-to-the-erevolution

Its going to be one heck of a fun ride for some!

[Jan Duffy]

This past year, when any of my teenage students were absent from ballet class, I made a point of texting them a "short but meaningful" movement phrase from class that they needed to show evidence of having worked on at our next class meeting. If I was choreographing a new piece, I would text them to check their email (since the message would have to be longer), and copy their parent too, so no one could easily "forget" to review before coming back to class. The kids especially liked the text messages-which made it possible for them to practice while waiting around before or after school, or at Lunch during the school day.

One day I had three girls out who texted me they were all "trapped" at school play auditions for several hours after school, and didn't know if they would make it to class on time or not. Luckily, I was on a break- I quickly numbered and texted a different 8 count movement sequence to each girl, that when put together would equal one 32 count/4 part movement section since Girl # 3 was also texted: "repeat yr 8 cts". Instead of sitting together in the hall, just nervously waiting for call-backs, the girls distracted themselves by quietly collaborating-each taught the other two her 8 counts, and when they came to class, we actually got more choreography done because they arrived knowing half of the day's lesson.

I realize this won't work for everyone, but most of my students parents have purchased unlimited text messaging for their kids-because it's all they do. I just made that work for our class!