Schools begin to embrace the technology as a way to engage students.

According to an AOL News story, teachers around the country are beginning to embrace rather than fight texting in class, utilizing it for everything “from Spanish to science, from homework help to exam reminders.” At Chester Middle School in New York, text messaging has been used to teach poetry. “If the kids are motivated they do better than if they’re not,” says the school’s principal. “The kids are very motivated about doing this.”

“Make a place for the giant thumb,” says the Charlotte Observer, noting that “pragmatists argue that a war on texting is unwinnable.” According to the Observer, a new study suggests that “texting may actually help teens’ writing in informal essays and many other writing assignments.” In response to the essay question, “What does it mean to be happy?,” teens who used “more texting shortcuts performed better than colleagues who did not.”

“You’ve got a classroom full of students walking in with a computer in their pocket,” says a teacher in California. “Why would you not use it?” Because, one reader wrote, “It is time for us to make more of a leadership role as teachers and not give in to the pressures created by media or the kids themselves. If you give an inch, they will take a mile.”

Does texting belong in the classroom?