Cell phones in a classroom is a big controversy nowadays however, although I do not condone talking on a cell phone while on school time is acceptable, I must say that I strongly believe in texting as a form of communication among students, teachers and parents. This form of communication can result in a win-win situation between student-student, student-teacher, and teacher-parent. Let's face it, almost everyone owns a cell phone and the younger generation is much more efficient in texting.
Teachers can easily use this form of communication to remind their students on an important project or paper due. They can remind their students of an upcoming exam. Or if a student has a question regarding homework they can text each other. Parents can benefit through this form of technology too. If a teacher needs to schedule a conference they can easily text them. I am sure parents are busy working during school hours and usually have difficulties picking up phone calls. Or another great way to use this would be by sending a text directly to a parent when their kids miss school. Which in turn, hopefully, will have students thinking twice on whether to "skip" school or not.
I found 2 articles on texting. The first one, "Five Ways to use texting in the classroom", is a great article. They discuss the pros of using texting as a form of communication and how this great tool should be used. It talks about how phone users are using more texting than actual phone calls and how this can be efficient tool. The second article talks about texting and twitter. The author, Bea Fields, agrees that these forms of communication can be effective.
Enjoy the articles and text away :)
http://connected.waldenu.edu/archive/item/663-five-ways-to-use-texting-in-the-classroom
http://www.beafields.com/2009/03/should-teachers-incorporate-texting-and-twitter-into-the-classroom/
