Giving cellphones as a reward for good school work

There is something of a multi-faceted flap underway, as reported this afternoon in the New York Times, that has come up yet again publicly because word of a proposal under consideration slipped out from a class at Harvard. The proposal would be to give cellphones to kids who excel academically (but no mention of using the phones for education). Yet another wrinkle has thus emerged to the controversy in the New York public schools about cellphones. I have worked as outside staff and a volunteer for nearly 30 years with these schools, which form the largest system in the world so I know something about them. My opinion is informed; I think cellphones can help students big time.
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NECC Schedule Beta v1

So thanks to Jeff, I got the idea to publish where I’ll be at NECC. I think it’s a neat idea so we all can see where we’ll be. Come find me, to shake hands. Don’t stalk me. That would be weird.

Next to the titles in italics is my reasoning for attending this session.

Sunday, June 24
5:45-7:00pm
Opening Keynote - well, duh. It’s the first session, I thought it may be interesting.
GWCC Murphy Ballroom
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On 130+ Comments

I’m not sure exactly what it means, if anything, but I just want to reflect for a second or two on my post about 21st Century Skills for Teachers and the 130 comments and trackbacks that ensued. I’m not one to look at my stats very often or track visits to my blog, but I do know that the number of responses to that post pretty much obliterated the old standard in terms of the amount of conversation that transpired. And while much of it was obviously just a connection to what a lot of other folks were feeling or experiencing on that topic, some of it is no doubt due to more people, lots more people in the fray, reading, writing, participating, learning.

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