Meditating on media

I teach 7^th grade students and the district has policies in place to prohibit the use of cell phones in the classroom.  These policies do make it easy to enforce what behavior is expected of the students.  However I have allowed the students to use their cell phones for despite school districts rules.  I have allowed the students to film the projects they have built in action (of course I tell them that they have to let me know if they put me on you tube).  I have also allowed them to use them as calculators.  I would really like to find a way to use them more actively in my classroom.  However I also have to consider the digital divide and find a way for children who do not have access to the technology so that they would be able to access the class.

I wonder how much time I need to spend learning how to navigate different avenues of communication.  Written word, I hated writing in cursive!  Then the rotary phone, heaven forbid you dialed the last digit wrong or even worse tried to win a radio contest. Then typewriters and that darn ribbon, inky fingers.  How many times have we struggled for new ways to express our thoughts?  Why does anyone care what I think?  Hey you!  Why are you reading this?!?

The hardest thing about communicating this way is that I prefer to show my ideas in a drawing or even better a product.  This will be a real test in valuing my own thoughts.  Not just leading someone else to theirs.