Monday, October 12, 2009

Phone cheating?

It was recently discovered that more than a third of teenagers with cell phones use them to cheat. A Common Sense Media Poll had collected information regarding this new trend. Some teachers say that they can spend most of their class time being a "cell phone cop." The students are losing out on learning valuable information they will need to pass upcoming tests in all classes, nevermind the state tests. This becomes very frustrating for teachers. Especially when they feel that the administration of their school is not doing enough to help Cell phones are a great piece of technology that I feel should be embraced. At the same time though their does need to be a balance as to how we use them and how much time we spend on them. I would not be surprised if sometime in the near future students will have to hand in their cell phones every morning and will get them beack until the end of the school day. This seems like the only way this issued can be controlled. I don't agree with it but it just might have to happen.

Vocabulary:
1) Administration- (N) Performance of executive suties
2) Recently (Adv.) During a recent period of time
3) Embraced (V) To take or include
4) Controlled (Adj.) Regulated, restrained
5) Regarding (Prep.) With respect to

1. He wrote a letter __________ the inappropriate use of cell phones in schools.
2. We ______________went on a trip to London to visit family.
3. These new strategies should be ____________ by all teachers.
4. The machines were __________ by professionals who are trained.
5. The _______________ of the school has not been very helpful.

Grammar Point:
Comparatives- Are adjectives and adverbs that end in -er
Superlatives- Are adjectives and adverbs that end in -est.

1 comment:

  1. I think at some point we will find a way to include cellphone usage into our strategies. That would solve our problems. And, if it's so easy to use cellphones to cheat, then we are clearly giving the wrong kinds of tests. If all a student needs to do is text a letter to someone so they can get a question right, we need to change our assessments into those that require more critical thinking with a wider array of answers. This may not be applicable to our TESOL studies, but it certainly is applicable in almost any subject area. Great post.

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