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Free Lesson Plans for Teachers
Alpha Stage
Cell Phone Lesson 2
Text Messaging



Rumor has it that email is quickly becoming obsolete.  Ask your students how often they send emails.  
Now ask them how often they text message.  If students say that they send emails more often than
they text message, please let me know.  I'd be shocked.  

So, the question is how can we use text messaging for educational purposes?  

Alan November, a well known writer and speaker about educational issues at the beginning of the
Twenty First Century contends that he would love to see school buildings built without walls.  Why,
you ask?  Because, walls are constraining.  Classroom walls indicate that there is one expert and many
novices.  This could not be further from the truth.  As a teacher, I can assure you that I know I am
not an expert in the content areas that I teach.  Sure, I know a lot more about them than my students,
but there are others who know a lot more than me.  




Cell phones in general, and text messaging in particular, allow us to bring outside experts into the
learning process.  After a major scientific advancement is made challenge your students to find
somebody outside the classroom who can explain the advancement through text messaging.  Make it a
race!!  Obviously this activity will not only produce a description of the advancement.  It will also
involve students in the exciting process of finding somebody to text message them.

When reading a novel by a particular author you might ask students to find somebody who has met
the author and can share an interesting story about the author to text message them.  Or, students
might find somebody who has visited a community described in a novel to text message them.  

If the class is studying about a foreign nation, challenge students to find somebody currently in the
nation to text message them.  

Will students learn facts through the use of text messaging?  Probably not!!  However, they will
practice the process of finding the information that they need.  Just imagine the process that students
will have to go through in order to achieve one or more of the above objectives.
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