Dave McDivitt

I recently read an article in THE Journal about 21st Century technology in the classroom.  The article focused on how the gadgets that are now available to kids are not the problem but the lack of manners that kids, and adults for that matter, have with the use of them.  In my school cell phones are supposed to NOT be seen during the school day.  We don’t fight a kid having a phone we just ask the kid not to use it during the school day.  But when the bell rings to end the day then kids are welcome to pull them out and text away.  That rule is fairly common these days and is well known in the school with kids and their parents.  However, I occasionally catch a kid with their cell phone out and they are reading and responding to a text.  Who is that text from……….well a lot of the time the text is from one of their parents.  Overall I am not offended by this exchange of information except when it is a disruption, which is rarely is.  So should our focus be on banning 21st century technology or should it be on educating kids when, how, and in what manner should these technologies be used?