But it's feeling like it'll explode from Things 2 and 1

Thing 1 and Thing 2 – the topic sounded innocent enough, sort of reminiscent of Dr Seuss’s mischievous Things 1 and 2. But very quickly I went from “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” feeling to one, more like Alice in Wonderland going down the hole and observing the Queen yell, “Off with her head”. Well, I want to keep my head but I also want to keep the heads (brains) of the 8th graders engaged. The Time article and the video very powerfully made their point that we need to use the technology that is so much a part of the students’ lives. However convincing the video (accompanied by an even more stirring musical background), I was ambivalent by the principal’s quote used to rationalize using cell phones and podcasts for instruction – “If you can’t beat em’, join em’”. I wouldn’t have used that as an argument for any action that I would want to take, especially one that may have so much power.
I took this class because I need to learn more technology: I can’t say that it is to keep up with technology since I feel so techno- illiterate. I am happy to say that I can see already an application of cell phone use in a similar way as that suggested by the video – to use it for a survey and then expanding the results into a large point. I could see my students (after school) texting students in other schools, rural, urban, other states, in connection with a science project during Black History month. My students have researched African American scientists from a list I provided. They prepare a list of a dozen scientists after skimming through 100’s. After doing preliminary research on the dozen they then choose one to research more in depth. Invariably, they question why they are researching African American scientists and not Caucasian or simply any scientist and I say that if I asked them to visualize a scientist that most would see only white and male. So I would like them to get an answer to their question of me by texting other students and asking other students in other communities if they can name any African American scientist and their accomplishment. I know that this is not quite the same as the visualization I mentioned earlier but I think that although they can’t name more than a couple of white scientists that when faced with the evidence of African American scientists (and their life stories) that they may then visualize scientists differently.
Now how would I contend with all of their cell phone roaming charges?