Teachers usually frown on students using cell phones in the classroom.

But if some Watkins Glen Middle School students look like they are preoccupied texting friends during class, they are really participating in the learning process.

Watkins Glen is the first school district in New York to take advantage of mobile learning devices offered by Verizon, with a pilot program involving the fifth and seventh grades.

Based on the success of the experiment so far, Verizon sent a video crew to the school Tuesday to create an infomercial that it will use to market the program in other school districts.

"The kids are learning faster than the adults, because this is their world," said Watkins Glen schools Superintendent Tom Phillips. "It has definitely impacted the excitement level and the energy level in the class for both students and teachers."

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