At Cleveland Elementary, some classes have been allowed to make use of personal electronic devices to support learning and organizing. It has been seen as something that is more suitable for grade 7’s .

Ava, a grade 4 student, has written a persuasive essay arguing for students in all classes to be allowed to bring their own devices. I am sharing her essay with her permission.

The Electronic Project

If schools across the country allowed kids to bring one electronic device to school to help them with their work and to listen to music when working, kids would be happy coming to school. We should have one electronic device on our desk or in our desk during school hours because the people who don’t speak English as well as other children could use the translator on their device to help them understand difficult words like literacy. I also think kids should be listening to music when we are working, and that we can take a picture of the agenda.

Many children in our schools don’t have English as their first language. So if we had an electronic device at school the ELL children (English Language Learners) could use the translator on their device to look up the words that they don’t understand when the teacher is speaking. Another reason is that the ELL children could use the translator when they come across a word when reading that they do not know or understand.

I think kids should be allowed to listen to music when they are working. Listening to music is going to make kids work more because they will be listening to music and not talking to other children. You are probably thinking, “What if kids are listening to explicit music?” Well, I have a solution. Kids would make a playlist with no explicit music and check it over with their teacher or their guardian. If they are listening to explicit music during class time, there will be consequences by the teacher and guardian.

If we were allowed to bring an electronic device to school we could take a picture of the agenda or homework. I know that lots of kids don’t like writing in their homework agenda. But if we could take a picture of the agenda, then everybody would. It only takes seconds. It also saves time, like if you are on a hurry to get your work done.

Since electronics are so useful in our lives, we should be allowed to bring an electronic device to school. Why not let the ELL children use the translator? Why not let us listen to music when we are working? Why not let us take a picture of the agenda? “WHY NOT?”

That is why we should be allowed to have one electronic device at school.

Thanks Ava,

Take care