But he didn’t raise the issue in his classroom the next school day. Instead, he took to his class blog.
Brennan, a teacher at Kelvyn Park High School, asked what the dust-up meant for the state of affairs between Iraq and the United States. Students responded with their thoughts, albeit at times expressed in informal language and with casual punctuation.
That was OK, though, Brennan says. In the classroom, the lax language wouldn’t fly. But away from school, he let it slip. He was just happy his students were engaged outside of the classroom.
As students increasingly communicate in the digital realm, teachers are grappling with the consequences. Casual text messages littered with misspelling and abbreviations raise questions about when grammar rules should be enforced.
At the same time, teachers are finding that technology provides new ways to communicate with their students, and they’re striving to make their lessons more interactive.
Brennan says he’s fine with occasionally suspending spelling requirements.
“It’s OK to talk like that on the computer. It allows them to be heard.”
And he knows that connecting with students means treading on their home turf —texting, Web surfing and blogging.
Educators shouldn’t give up traditional teaching methods in place of a blog or list of Web sites for curriculum, but they shouldn’t ignore new media either, Brennan says.
“I’m open to finding a balance,” he says.
Schurz High School Guidance Counselor Victor Ochoa says grammar issues can be a problem.
“Students already struggle with punctuation, spelling and grammar. When I think about if texting affects it — it doesn’t help,” Ochoa says.
Julian High School Japanese teacher Xian Barrett finds that some of his students are more likely to use text spellings of words or language they would regularly use online instead of proper grammar.
He’s seen abbreviations like “LOL,” short for laughing out loud, creep into the academic writings of his students.
Despite those issues, many teachers sense an opportunity.
When Barrett saw his class discuss a students’ bill of rights by pecking out positions on their cell phones, he realized text messaging could be productive.
“It’s not just recreation. This is real powerful work sometimes,” Barrett says.
Teachers will have to learn how to incorporate new media into their classrooms to stay relevant, says Steve Jones, a communications professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
“We’re not even beginning to see what the consequences of technology are going to be for education,” Jones says.
He says the grammar issue shouldn’t prompt many concerns.
“Has their language changed? I actually don’t think that’s happening,” Jones says. “They’re very good at writing for a specific audience.”
Jones, who also has written widely on the social impact of new media, predicts that it will take several more years before the classroom setting catches up with the way students communicate and interact in their off time.
For example, laptops, eBooks or small electronic notebooks could replace paper notebooks, Jones says.
“We’re on the brink of seeing these kinds of changes in the classroom,” Jones says.
Some teachers want to incorporate new technology in the classroom, but the resources aren’t always available, Brennan says.
The Chicago public schools face a budget shortfall, and keeping pace with technology has been a struggle, says Chicago Teachers Union spokeswoman Rosemaria Genova.
Some schools, she says, aren’t able to provide students access to usable computers.
“I think that’s always been a struggle, and it would be wonderful if CPS had the funding to keep up with the advancements of technology, but I don’t know if that’s possible,” Genova says.
Barrett says the new technology creates added responsibility for educators.
“The students see (new media) as almost an extension of themselves. When students move into a new arena, it’s our job as educators to not stifle that but teach good citizenship and decision making within that environment,” Barrett says.
One of the first steps is getting all teachers on board with new media, whether that means through new technology in the classroom or asking students about current events on a school blog, Brennan says.
“I certainly don’t know the ins and outs. As new technology comes along, if (educators) realize it can help, then why not?” Brennan says.