Wednesday March 5th 2014

 

Week #2 Blog #1

 

 

Well I did it...I really created this Blog space...(wait I have to thank Wendy and her tireless patience with me) but ok...WE did it!! I am swimming around this world of Technology, not completely drowning because I've got my cyber "floaties"on. So I'm here..having fun and feeling quite smug to say the least!!

So what have I learned this week? Wowzers it's been a great week for a tempestuous topic like Mobile Phones in the classroom ...Way to go Wendy ..can open, worms everywhere.....

I am a girl who grew up in a household with 2 academics for parents (PHD Chemistry and English teacher..so there was no hope for me!) and we had no television. In fact I bought my first Television when I was 25. Technology has not been a major part of my life but I'm also aware that I am a mother of 2 and I don't want to be out of date, and boring...!! I now have a Smart phone (but I'm wondering why they act so dumb), a computer (of course) and my latest addition is a Tablet..(I'm still wondering why my partner decided I needed it but bless him)!! So I'm all kitted up, and yet still I write my notes on paper. I still use my handy dandy highlighter and I take pride in my personal library of actual books!

I've done lots of reading on arguments for and against this idea of mobiles in the classroom and I'm still not swayed to the Yes team.

So I Googled "Should mobile phones be banned from classrooms?" and found that there are many and varied opinions on this topic out there.

 

I read and article http://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/nov/27/should-mobiles-be-banned-schools

and found some very interesting arguments that I had not even considered. One that was alarming is that "Pupils come to school without a coat or without having had any breakfast, but they always have a phone,’ These are lifelines to many people and I find that rather sad rather than empowering. Safety and social standing aside, these bits of plastic and metal cannot be part of your entire self and yet sadly they (for many) are.
As I'm having issues with my technology today I'm going to post this just to see if indeed I can get it out there.
Happy Thursday folks...
Cheers Marsha (-: