A pencil is a word processor

Suppose I were to offer you a fantastic word processor, capable of operating in any language, readily available, that people from 1 to 100 could easily use, that is small, portable, and needs no batteries. There is such a word processor. It is called a pencil.

Now suppose I were to offer you a personal computer, so powerful that it could be used for any number of tasks, is portable, and user friendly. And nearly every one of your students already has one, so you don't even have to supply them. It's the cell phone! It is the most pervasive computer in the world.

Most teachers are well aware of cell phones, mostly as a nuisance in class, where they spend a lot of time taking them away from students. Well, you wouldn't take away their pencil, so why take away the cell phone?

The cell phone may be used as a computation device, a camera, a text messaging device, portable storage, a music player, a word processor, and probably more. Why on earth would I take that away from my student? Besides, as you probably already know, it's a losing battle, so why fight it?

Of my 150 students, about two-thirds have a cell phone. I have their numbers, and they have mine. If a student is habitually late to school, I give them a call to wake them up. If a student is absent, I send a text message to ask where they are. If a student has a problem that they need help with, they get in touch with me directly. I remind them of upcoming assignments. Other teachers, who know what I am doing, ask me to get in touch with students for various reasons.

The obvious objection from teachers is that phones are a distraction in class. In my day, I doodled, with a pencil. You know, that other word processor.