Texting vs. Research-Sometimes It's Okay to Break the Rules

Teenagers love to text message their friends and it's common for high schools to have rules related to cell phone use during class.  The other day, one of my guitar students was holding his phone down low (in the manner in which students hold their phones when they are trying to do some clandestine texting).  I peered over his shoulder, and to my surprise, Mark had found guitar tabs on the internet using his iPhone.  He was trying to decipher a song he wanted to learn, since he had already completed the assigned traditional notation and chord work that period.  I had Mark place his iPhone on his music stand so he could see it better and we went over some of the tablature together.  The internet has been a great resource for years, in terms of having all kinds of information available to anyone who has a computer and an internet connection.  Since computer devices continue becoming smaller in size, people have the option of carrying access to resources and information in their pockets.  Having a palm-sized computer increases the spontaneity of the moment for checking information and for doing research quickly.  Mark has been using his iPhone regularly in class and he is making excellent progress on several songs he is trying to learn.  He is not limited to the books and music that is available in the classroom, and his motivation and interest are bringing his skills to a whole new level of musicianship.

When I was in elementary school, I remember going to visit my dad's office at Bell Labs, especially around holiday time.  My dad was a computer programmer and Bell Labs had the newest, most modern technology of the time.  I recall being thrilled to be handed a stack of binary code punch cards and thinking how amazing it was that a machine could read them and complete a calculation.  The computers themselves were immense, taking up the space of entire rooms from wall to wall.  No one owned a home computer in the '70's (or a digital cordless telephone for that matter!)  By the time I was in the fourth grade, Bell Labs had a new device - a special pad that one could "write" on with a pen-shaped object connected by a cord to a computer.  It was like magic!  Whatever was drawn on the pad appeared on the monitor.  Now, people are accustomed to using touch screens on tiny computers that they carry in their pockets (and phones they wear on their ear).

Today's students have been surrounded by technology from the day they were born.  They have a wealth of information at their fingertips.  Kids are naturally curious; they like technology and teachers can nurture their students' interest by using current technology for spontaneous research ... as long as their students are not losing focus by texting during class!