During the Ramadhan, I did writing to my 5 Bestari on an argumentative essay with the topic of
Yes or No to bringing handphone to school.
Brainstorming session
A very slow process. Maybe because of the insufficient flow of oxygen in their brains due to fasting. What they came out with were these:
Advantage: (1) for emergency. (2) phone usage such as calculator and converter may help in lessons.
Disadvantage: (1) distraction. (2) phone misuse (pornography, cheating in exam). (3) social problems (theft, bullying).
Writing first draft
An arduous task. It took them 2 lessons to complete their first draft. Two groups even had to do
'ketuk-ketampi' for not handing in their essays on time. Nevertheless, they managed to complete the draft successfully.
Peer discussion
A copy of the group's essay was given to the other groups for peer correction. They underlined and gave suggestions for the other groups' first draft. The copy was then given back to the original group. They made correction where they thought suitable and returned the original essays to the teacher for marking.
Teacher's correction
My turn to make all the remaining corrections. Here are their essays. My choice is
Group 5. How about you? Read all before deciding :)
Group 1
Yes or No to bringing handphone to
school
Nowadays, people, especially students, are desperately crazy
about getting their hands on the variety of handphones such as Iphone or the
Galaxy Notes. However, there are advantages and disadvantages of bringing the handphone
to school.
For one thing, handphones can make the lesson easier. A handphone
has a lot of usages. For example, students can use the handphone to calculate
in Mathematics lesson by using the calculator function. Furthermore, the students
can also listen to music to release the tension during recess.
On the other side of the coin, bringing handphone to school may
invite the phone misuse. Taking and sharing inappropriate graphic materials is
one of the misuses of handphone. Irresponsible students like to download and
share the explicit materials although the materials are not suitable for them.
Besides, it can help students to cheat in examinations easily. So, the increase
in their marks means nothing because it does not show their true academic
performance. Thus, there is no guarantee for the students to have a bright
future.
Secondly, bringing handphone to school is very important
because it can be used for emergency. For instance, when fire happens at
school, the parents can call their children and ask about their condition.
Besides, it can also be used when students are sick at school. They can call
their parents to tell them about their health. They can also use their handphone
to call their parents when they are late to return home.
Meanwhile, bringing handphone to school can cause many
social problems. Problems like bullying and theft will arise because of the
handphones. If the senior students see that their juniors are bringing more
expensive handphones to school, they will feel threatened. As a result, they
try to seize the handphone forcefully. Theft or stealing may also happen when a
student carelessly leave his handphone in the classroom.
On top of that, handphones will become a distraction in the
student’s lesson. New messages or incoming calls will surely distract the
student’s focus on what the teacher is saying in front of the class. Their
brain cannot cope with doing two different things at the same time.
In a nutshell, whether bringing the handphone to
school is good or bad highly depends on how the students use it. Unfortunately,
their immature behaviours are not suitable for this privilege because if you
give them an inch, they will take a yard. Thus, the government should not allow
the students to bring the handphone to school.
Group 2
Yes or No to bringing handphone to
school
The handphone is on everybody’s lips nowadays. It is such as
a wonderful tool for education, work, information and play that sometimes we
wonder how we survived before this. Some people call it the eighth wonder of
the world while others think of it as disruptive. So, does a handphone become a
wonderful tool or a disruptive tool at school?
For one thing, handphone can be used for emergency calls.
When a student feels sick or involved in an accident, the teacher may quickly
call the student’s parents and tell them about their son’s condition. This is
because the parents’ numbers will already be in the student’s phonebook and the
teacher does not have to waste time searching for it in the school students’ database.
On the other side of the coin, bringing the handphone to
school may cause unwanted distractions. Students can easily lose focus in their
lesson when they receive new messages or have incoming calls. The school may
instruct the students to turn off their handphones during lesson but, in
reality, there are not many students who really adhere to school rules and
regulations.
Secondly, there are many useful functions for the handphone.
It can normally become a calculator, a music player and also a unit converter.
Sometimes, students use the handphone to calculate numbers in their Mathematics
lesson, and some other times, they use it to convert numbers from meters to
inches in their Science lesson.
On the other hand, the students act immaturely and misuse
the handphone functions. There are many instances where students use the
handphone to take and share pornographic pictures or videos. Irresponsible
students might also use their handphone to cheat in examinations. What is more
with the handphone’s ability to store so much information in its memory card,
the students can put the whole text books in it!
Moreover, the adverse effect on students when they use a
handphone at school is the increase of social problems. For instance, when a
student brings an expensive handphone to school and his friend is jealous of
him, theft or stealing may happen. This kind of social problem will only add to
the many socials problems already at school.
In a nutshell, bringing handphone to school will
only become a tool of destruction instead of a tool of construction. Therefore,
it is better to leave the handphone at home.
Group 3
Yes or No to bringing handphone to
school
Nowadays, handphone usage is popular among the students.
Every student wants his or her own handphone. Moreover, the phone has many
usages apart from just being a tool in communication. Students use it in nearly
everything they do and they cannot be separated from their handphones even for
a second. The interesting news is handphones can now be brought to school. Is
it really a good idea?
For one thing, handphone can be used when there are
emergency cases. For example, students can use the handphone to contact their
parents when someone disturbs them. Additionally, when they have an extra class,
they can inform their parents that they will be late in returning home. So, their
parents will not be worried and waste their time waiting for their children.
However, handphone usage in the class will distract students
from concentrating in the lesson, especially when they receive text messages or
calls while the teacher is teaching. Their fragile concentration will also be
disturbed when some boring students start playing phone games or surf the
Internet.
Secondly, handphone has many useful functions such as being
a calculator or a unit converter. Students can use these functions to help them
in their lesson. Besides, handphone can be used to release their tension by
listening to the music while teachers are not in class or during the recess.
However, there are also tendencies to misuse the handphone.
Students might use their handphone to take or share pornographic pictures or
videos. What is more, they can also use the handphone to cheat in examinations.
In addition, bringing the handphone to school may increase
social problems such as bullying and theft. Bullying usually happens when the
senior students discover that their juniors bring more expensive handphones to
school. They will think that it degrades their reputation. As a result, they
will try to take the handphone by force. Furthermore, students who are careless
and put their handphones everywhere will invite thefts. This will bring more
unwanted problems to school.
In conclusion, bringing the handphone to school
is not a good idea whatsoever. The disadvantages far outweigh the advantages.
With our students’ immature and irresponsible attitude, the handphone will quickly
become a tool of destruction. So, in order to prevent this from happening, it
is best to prohibit the handphone usage in school.
Group 4
Yes or No to bringing handphone to
school
Bringing handphone to school is happy news to student
because they like it very much. With the advance in handphone technology, is it
possible to bring handphone to school? Like everything else, there are
advantages and disadvantages. I feel that the disadvantages far outweigh the
advantages.
For one thing, handphone can be used to make emergency
calls. For example, students can call their parents when they want to return
home early if they are sick at school. On top of that, they can call their parents
when they want to return home late after school because of the extra class or
co-curricular activities.
On the other hand, using handphone during school will cause
distraction. Students who use the handphone during lesson will lose their
concentration. For example, when their teacher is teaching, they use the
handphones to text someone. As a result, they will lose concentration to what
the teacher is saying. They will also lose their focus if they are
concentrating on the lesson and a new message suddenly shows on the screen.
Secondly, using handphones can help students in studying.
For example, the students can use the calculator function of the handphone
during Mathematics lesson. Besides, students can also use the unit converter to
convert numbers from meter to inch. Furthermore, students can also listen to
music when the teacher is not in class while doing their work or at the canteen
while having their meals.
However, there is a tendency of students misusing their
handphone. It usually happens when they use the handphone for useless or
dangerous information. For instance, they download pornographic videos or
pictures and share them with their friends.
Moreover, bringing handphone to school will give rise to social
problems such as bullying and theft. Bullying sometimes can cause death. It
happens when students want to take other students’ handphone. In addition, the
students who leave their handphone everywhere can cause theft.
In a nutshell, bringing handphones to school is not good for
students because handphones can make students unable to focus on the lesson.
Moreover, it adds to the long list of social problems which the school already
has.
Group 5
Yes or No to bringing handphone to
school
In this globalisation era, people feel like handphone is the
basic need in their life. It is the trend these days, especially for teenagers
and students, to desperately get their hands on the latest handphone so that
they will not lose to their friends. But the question is should the students
bring their handphone to school?
For one thing, students can use the telephone during emergency
cases which may occur anytime. So, students must take precaution in order to help
them whenever they become sick at the school, have to return home late because
of extra class or involve in accidents.
On the other hand, if we bring handphones to school, many social
problems may occur such as bullying and theft. Poor students who are unable to
buy a high quality handphone which may cost more than a thousand will resort in
bullying with the purpose of seizing the expensive handphone from the rich
students. Other than that, the problem of theft in school will increase
because, instead of money, there will be handphones for the taking. It absolutely
will waste teacher’s time and energy in finding the culprits.
Secondly, bringing handphone to school is important for the lesson.
The functions of the handphone such as being a calculator or a converter are
important to students. Students can also surf the Internet to find important
information for their lesson. They can finish their homework and projects that
need them to surf for information. The development of the technology may enable
students to surf the Internet anywhere. Thus, they can get benefits from this
technology if they use the handphone for good purposes.
However, phone misuse will definitely occur when the
students bring their handphone to school because of the teachers’ inability to observe
all the students at school all the time. With the latest technology in many
gadgets that are in the market nowadays such as Ipad, Iphone, and Android,
students can easily get negative information from the Internet. This may occur
in the form of inappropriate graphic materials. Irresponsible students download
them and share them with their friends. In addition, students can also cheat in
their examination by misusing this technology.
When all is said and done, it is confirmed that there are many
disadvantages of bringing handphone to school as opposed to its advantages. Students
need to benefit from this technology in a good way and must not misuse the technology
to do negative things but, unfortunately, their young minds still cannot tell
the difference between both.
Group 6
Yes or No to bringing handphone to
school
In this era of globalization, where the world is getting
smaller, handphone is on everybody’s lips more than McDonald’s or Kentucky Fried
Chicken. It is such a wonderful tool for communication, education, work,
information and play that sometimes we wonder how we survived before this. Some
people call it the eighth wonder of the world while others condemn it as
disruptive.
For one thing, bringing handphone to school has its
advantages. For example, it can be used in case of emergency. If the students
are in a dangerous situation like being alone at the bus stop or threatened by other
students, they can call their parents or the police for help. The handphone
will also become handy if they are going to be late because of the extra class
or co-curricular activities.
However, handphone may cause distraction for student in the
class. During the lesson, pupils will not concentrate on what the teacher is
saying because they can be very enthusiastic in meddling with their handphone,
either texting their friends or playing games. During examination times,
teachers do not want the pupils to be distracted, so allowing handphone in
classroom will defeat this purpose ultimately.
Secondly, using handphone can help students in their study. The
students can use the dictionary in the handphone to find meanings for difficult
English words. There are also many useful applications in the handphone such as
calculators, Internet browsers, cameras and music players.
However, phone misuse may happen. Irresponsible students
search the Internet for useless information or inappropriate materials and
share these materials with their friends. Another thing is, students might use
the phone to cheat in the examinations.
Moreover, many social problems such as theft will arise when
students bring their handphone to school. For instance, a rich student brings
an expensive phone to school. When someone knows about this and steals the
phone, the victim will report this matter to the teacher. Thus, the school has
to waste time and make an unnecessary spot check in order to find the culprit
and the handphone.
In a nutshell, whether bringing handphone to
school is good or bad depends on how the students use it. Unfortunately, the
students nowadays have the tendency to misuse the handphone because of their
immature minds. If you give them an inch, they will take a yard. Therefore,
school should not allow the students to bring their handphone to school because
it may cause more harm than good.
