The iPhone in the classroom

Let me say this first: I am all for using technology in the classroom for educational purposes. To try to stifle it is impossible and impractical. Just look at China or North Korea. You can't stop that kind of train.
But in the classroom, students using technology during classtime, particularly cell phones, PDAs or iPhones, are unacceptable. You may confiscate phones at the door or request that they all be turned off during classtime. But there will be perpetrators no matter what. While students' eyes are focused on you and your lecture, their hands are under the desk, busy texting overtime. Not a good thing. Strains the relationship between student and teacher and creates a class distraction.
However, to somehow incorporate texting into the lesson, might be a win-win situation. I stumbled on Joel Heffner's blog and got the idea of incorporating texting. Heffner has been a teacher for 28 years and served as a staff developer for the New York City Department of Education's Office of Instructional Technology. So he has some authority on the subject. When he was teaching, he was just fine with using technology in class. He would Twitter homework, have students read chapters on their iPhones and on and on.
My idea, inspired by Heffner's tech acceptance, was to have students text group work in class. Those without phones or texting capability, could be paired up with someone who has a phone and they act as a unit. The teacher might ask students to get into groups of three, text opinions on Marco Polo then reach a consensus, all on their phones (no actual talking). Then the teacher could immediately post Student analysis on the overhead. This way, while you do risk some students not doing the work, most, I feel, would participate.
You could have students pairing up to do instant research. "Jerry, go online and find out what agriculture skills African slaves brought to states such as South Carolina. Then read your results to the class."
That kind of instant information and engagement will be essentaial in the coming years.
So, while you don't want students goofing off, a teacher would do him or herself a service, and actually challenge themselves, by finding ways to use technology, such as iPhones, in the classroom.