Mobile Phones, Arts Integration, and English Language Arts

This chapter considers the affordances of smartphones as tools for arts integration in English language arts classrooms. It discusses the importance of students as creators of content and how teachers may capture the social tools already within student possession to function as learning tools as well. Arts-based instruction is briefly discussed as an important element for students' full participation in the multiliteracies that make up much of communication in modern society. While literacy in the form of reading and writing must always be the goal of the ELA teacher, it is also important to recognize the role of multiple literacies as legitimate forms of text. The chapter also includes specific ideas for students' smartphone compositions that teachers may consider.

Music and Mobile Phones

In a discussion of student behaviors, the author considers the affordances of mobile phones in the English language arts (ELA) classroom. The author believes that mobile phones establish a private, first space where students interact both socially and academically as they appear as audience/observers and agents/creators. In addition to practical affordances, the author discusses social-emotional aspects of mobile phones as they have become part of students' first space, representing both culture and identity. The author believes that music, which exists in students' private first spaces, affords teachers an opportunity to establish and engage students in a neutral third space where meaning and knowing occur without scripts or strategies but rather curiosity, respect, and connection. The author also provides vignettes of practical implementation of digital literacies.

Decriminalizing Cell Phones

The purpose of this chapter is to discuss cell phones in the classroom before and after the pandemic. The author discusses the problematic history of cell phones in the classroom, and how teachers have struggled and fought against them, many times outright banning cell phones. Instead of this approach, the case is made for the need for students to learn how to use them, and why they are so useful in the classroom for both formative assessment and feedback. Next, this chapter discusses how the author leveraged cell phones during the period of crisis instruction at the end of the 2019-2020 school year. The author was able to launch and successfully complete a unit that combined social justice themes, graphic novels, and podcasting – all of which utilizing cell phones. Finally, specific tools, resources, and strategies are shared and discussed that were used during this time, with recommendations for the future of education no matter how it may look.

The Role of Cell Phones in Online Learning, Connectivity, and COVID

In this chapter, the authors used the lens of COVID-19 to explore how mobile phones and general technological connectivity can be both a positive learning experience and contribute to connectivity fatigue and burnout for both teachers and students. The authors will reflect upon their own experiences and conversations as well as expand on the research regarding 24/7 accessibility in an online environment. The second author provides a particularly powerful voice in this chapter as a current pre-service teacher. His vignettes were used throughout the chapter to add a student perspective that is often omitted from the scholarship.

Early Childhood Teachers' Usage of Mobile Phones in English Language Arts Classrooms in Nigeria

The study explored the use of mobile phones by the early childhood teachers of English language arts (ELA) in Nigeria. Descriptive survey design was used using an online survey to assess early childhood teachers' use of the mobile phone in their classrooms. Ninety-eight teachers who responded to the instrument online formed the sample for the study. The instrument entitled Mobile Phones in ELA Classrooms' Questionnaire (MP-ELA-CQ) was used to collect data for the study. Data were analyzed using percentage and Pearson Moment Correlation Coefficients. Results indicated that teachers—both preservice and in-service—need regular training in technology and education to help them effectively utilize mobile phones in their classrooms.

Reimagining Mobile Phones

As the number of students with access to cell phones increases, so do opportunities to bridge the technology divide that may exist among them. With the shift towards virtual learning gaining momentum, now is the time for teachers to increase their digital footprints in the classroom, and utilizing available mobile devices is one way to increase digital access for all. Coinciding with the ease of access to mobile technology is the growing research that supports the adoption of multiliteracies to foster readers and writers who can participate in and impact the world around them with nontraditional forms of communication. Digital multimodal compositions (DMCs) are digital texts created through the use of various modes, including written text, audio, visual, and other interactive media. DMCs are an effective way to incorporate both mobile technology and multiple literacies into both face-to-face and virtual curricula.

This Is Next Level

This chapter features instructional approaches positioning video games and literature as text sets that can promote reading and writing engagement in English language arts. Smartphone-accessible games were recently combined with middle school literary assignments in an after-school esports club in which students who identify as English language learners expressed an increased interest in academic tasks that prioritized smartphone usage. Grounded in digital literacies and text-based gameplay, this chapter showcases how a text set framework can offer literacy instructors multiple pathways for student engagement that leverage diverse learners' sociocultural meaning-making toward success in school. Recommendations are offered for teachers, including a series of pedagogical moves that can be implemented in secondary language arts classrooms, as well as affordances and challenges to smartphone-driven teaching.

The New Normal Is Cell Phones in the Classroom

This chapter seeks to compare and contrast a classroom without student cell phone use in 2000 to the ubiquitous use of cell phones in today's classroom and society. Cell phone use and how to include them in today's classroom is a hot topic in school systems and teacher education programs in America and therefore relevant to establishing instructional guidelines for cell phone inclusion in the classroom. The author will share lived classroom experience in the 20 years from cell phone infancy to usage by more than 90% of students in today's classroom. The author will share effective use of cell phones in the classroom and pitfalls to allowing cell phones in the class without a well-planned instruction basis for cell phone use.

Cell Phones and Classroom Management

This chapter outlines and analyzes various classroom management strategies for teachers to regulate cell phone use. Beginning with the background of why cell phones are known to cause distractions in the classroom, the chapter then focuses on using both positive and negative reinforcement strategies for teachers to structure and encourage proper mobile phone usage. The author also includes the benefits and challenges imposed by various classroom management systems in order to guide teachers in making the right decisions regarding cell phone use in their classrooms.

Beyond Apps and Activities

This chapter examines the importance of intentionally planning with an instructional framework to leverage the use of technology. The author provides an integration framework to support middle and secondary language arts teachers. The author shares how she has refined the process of using mobile phones in her classroom. Initially, her focus was on trying new mobile applications in her language arts classroom by adding technology to existing lessons or adapting lessons to use with the mobile application. Next, she became more strategic, examining student thinking and actions throughout a daily workshop lesson and developing and applying a resource guide for mobile applications specifically geared for each lesson segment of class: opening, work period, and closing. No longer focused on application fit or application first, the author shares the transformative power of deliberately planning for the use of technology: a practice that has improved her clarity and amplified student learning.