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Abstract
Based on a small qualitative study, this article focuses on understanding the rules for cell phones and other social networking media in schools, an aspect of broader research that led to important understandings of teacher-student negotiations. It considers the rules that schools and teachers make, the rampant breaking of these rules, the self-imposed boundaries that students internalize, and the negotiating of rules based on relationships. Although schools and teachers set rules that define appropriate behaviors with social digital networks, it also appears that students and teachers frequently negotiate the boundaries through relationships founded on trust and respect. Situated within critical sociocultural theory, my research suggests possible pedagogical strategies around these issues.
Keywords: adolescent literacy, social networking, cell phones, teacher-student relationship
One of the more difficult rules to negotiate in schools is that of appropriate use of technological devices, particularly mobile devices such as cell phones, smart phones, and "wired" mp3 devices. These devices seem to be a pervasive disruption to the purposes and functioning of classrooms even though schools are scrambling to implement protocols that address this ever-evolving realm of student activity. This article uses critical sociocultural theory to discuss cell phones and other social networking media in schools and to suggest possible pedagogical strategies.
Extending Vygotsky's construct of the Zone of Proximal Development, Rogoff (1990, 1995) explained that opportunities for learning are bound and directed by adults who assign, structure, choose tools and companions for, and manage those activities. Agency, self-directed action, occurs within relations of power (Moje & Lewis, 2007), discordant or dissimilar groups of people (such as, adults and teens) can often work together to find consensus (Gee, 2005).
In my work, the issue of cell phone use kept creeping unexpectedly into the conversations, and an exploration of that issue became central to an understanding of how students and teachers establish democratic relationships of trust and respect within classrooms, often defying or altering institutional rules that govern social digital media. The study reported here explored the ways in which adolescents articulate and negotiate interactions with text across social, academic, print and digital contexts. A subquestion emerged around how youth and teachers negotiate the protocols around cell phone usage in the classroom.
Methodology
Throughout the 2008-2009 school year, I worked...