After reading the Facebook Exodus article. I have decided to do a twitter style essay response to the idea. I believe, that we the users must critically ask ourselves questions when we choose to consume a product. Much like when read the nutrition labels on food, we should research the concerns of a social media platform. With Facebook, we should ask ourselves “Is my data safe” , or “Is my privacy valued.” Sometimes we should even asking more practical questions such as: Will this effect my mood?, Will this effect my self worth?, Am I likely to get addicted to this?. As a consumer, you can choose which media you subscribe to. That being said, young Facebook users, are deleting the app. They are subscribing to other social media platforms, or dieting from social media all-together. This is due to a number factors; many of which borderline : mental health, privacy concerns, and lack of online safety. In this article and my twitter essay, it discusses various issues with Facebook. I have posted a screenshot, and then a link to the essay incase anyone wants to further discussions there. I believe that our society has become more expectant of having things instantly. Although digressing back to previous communications is not a popular opinion, we sometimes find things that are recycled back to the for front. In the recent years in music, vinyl records have made their way back. Imagine a society, that kept cellphones, but the only way to contact people was to call them. Sometimes, we need to go to far, to realize a healthier medium was already discovered. I believe that with facebook, the social media platform has given it’s users “trust issues.”

Before this article, I was mostly engaged with the idea of dieting on social media. However, Facebook, would be what was what I was thinking of keeping. After this article, I realize, that it is the social media platform I need to diet from the most. I am looking at reasons why users are removing facebook. I realize now, it is for various reasons that I would like to as well. News feed is mainly programmed media, which is a waste of my time and brain cells. Gazing at my facebook newsfeed, would be like eating Junk Food everyday, then wondering why I am unhappy with myself.

Twitter Essay 

Natasha Singer’s article “Privacy Concerns for ClassDojo and Other Tracking Apps for Schoolchildren”, discusses the controversial behavior-tracking applications that are available for teachers to use for free in their classrooms. ClassDojo is the most popular of many applications that award students points for good behavior and subtract points for poor behavior. The app displays each student’s name, an avatar and their behavior score for that week. Singer gives a great overview of the many benefits and drawbacks of using apps of this nature, which really helped me to reflect on this topic and make an informed decision about whether or not I agree that these type of software programs should be used in classrooms.

The primary concern about applications like ClassDojo among parents, teachers and privacy law scholars is how the data being collected is used. Although the app’s terms and conditions state that teachers who are signing up are confirming that their schools have given them authorization, it can easily be used without permission from administrators. Therefore, parents are not giving their explicit consent before teachers begin to log their students’ data, and must ask the teacher or email the company directly in order to remove their child’s data from the app. So where and how is this data being used? Although the co-founder of ClassDojo assures that their company is committed to never selling the data, there is a clause in the privacy policy that indicates that they may show the user advertisements “based in part on [their] identifiable information”. Moving past the privacy concerns, there are several other problems associated with behavior tracking software. They encourage compliance based on bribes and threats, which the author compared to a “carrot and stick” method of classroom discipline and the treatment of children like pets. Publicly displaying behavior scores is also concerning because it shames students in front of their peers. ClassDojo emits an audible, disappointed pong sound to the class when a student is penalized. These types of applications are also critiqued for being too subjective, since teachers are adding or removing points based on arbitrary behaviors such as disrespect or leadership – which could look different for each individual student. Finally, critics argue that behaviour databases promote labelling students as a “problem child”, which could harm their interactions with teachers and students throughout their education.

Despite many drawbacks associate with behavior-tracking applications, they can be an effective classroom management strategy to help regulate students’ conduct in class. Not only could they help reduce undesirable behaviors, but they could also help to promote positive behaviors, such as leadership and teamwork, to create a healthier classroom environment. Beyond the classroom, it is an effective tool for keeping up on communicating directly with parents. Some parents really enjoy the fact that they are able to monitor their child’s progress and receive reports from teachers on a regular basis, without a formal interaction. Teachers say the application encourages them to record classroom conduct, which might otherwise get pushed to the sideline, although it is useful data to have come time for parent-teacher interviews and writing report cards or progress reports. Special education teachers have expressed the functionality of such applications to help them set individualized goals with students and their parents. To counter the criticism about shaming students by displaying their behavior scores to their classmates, the application does allow teachers to select whether points are shown publicly or privately, to accommodate the needs of each individual classroom. One teacher has said that he prefers to display points publicly, and awards many more points for good behavior than he subtracts for bad behavior, in an effort to illustrate that the good outweighs the bad. Keeping students aware of their scores could also promote self-awareness.  Some teachers have asked students to award themselves points for teamwork, for example, which encourages them to reflect on their own conduct and contributions.

After much deliberation about my own thoughts regarding behavior tracking applications, I have decided that I would not use them in my own teaching practice. I personally prefer to log data in an analogue fashion, and maintaining students’ dignity is a big priority for me, which is believed is compromised when a student’s peers witness them being awarded, or deducted points. I also do not personally believe in negative punishment as a classroom management strategy, as studies have proven positive reinforcement to be much more effective. Drawing on the SAMR technology integration model, I would consider ClassDojo to be an example of augmentation at best; it is a step above substitution since the information can be transferred to parents. Before I read Singer’s article, I had been exposed to ClassDojo from a classmate who presented it for a “Technology in the Classroom” assignment. My classmate highlighted all of the benefits of using the program, but did not offer any of the concerns that were outlined in the article. I felt a lot more favourably about using ClassDojo in my own classroom as a teacher, before reading the article and getting a well rounded outline of the application. For these reasons, I am opposed to the use of behavior-reward software programs.

I decided to do a stop motion video for my multimedia piece, because I saw it used in another class and I thought it was an engaging way to summarize important information. This is the first time I have ever created something like this, and it did not turn out the way that I had hoped. I created a rough draft for my project before writing the good copy on a Bristol board, but I had not practiced taking photos, which would have helped me realize that it is important to take them from the exact same angle every time. When I went to edit my photos, I was not able to take out some of the edges, because I had not taken the pictures from the exact same position each time. I should have tried editing some photos during the process, instead of waiting until the end because I might have realized how I could improve the quality of the pictures. I also realized during the conception of the project that there was a lot of writing that was moving quickly, which might make it difficult for viewers to read. During the editing process, I felt discouraged and wondered if I should scrap my idea and try something else. I put myself in the shoes of the teacher, and asked myself what I would think if my student submitted the product that I have created. I decided that I would applaud the effort, and recognize that the student tried something new and out of their comfort zone to produce a multimedia artifact that still encompassed all of the requirements of the assignment. In a future assignment, I would definitely give this type of multimedia production another try, now that I have learned more about how to create a better product.

I read the article, Privacy Concerns for ClassDojo and Other Tracking Apps for Schoolchildren and it was very interesting to read. First and foremost, I never heard of this application and never thought one existed. While reading the opening few paragraphs, when it is discussing how a teacher can give points for treating others well, bringing supplies in to share for the class, and completing your homework, I thought, “well that is a neat idea on how to give points to a student. It is motivating the students and in return they are receiving points for their work.” Then it continued on saying, if you take your cellphone out you will get docked points, or if you do not finish your homework when it is due, you will also get docked points. As well, I thought, “well that is a great system on how to award points and take them away.” Right then and there, I was sold on using this app in my future classroom, but only with my principal’s and/or my school’s permission to use it. Teacher’s today have to be safe on sharing any confidential information online about their student. I would like to watch over my back and be safe if I ever work with this site. Your job is (always) on the line.

Continuing to read the article, I began to change my mind on the possibility of using this application. First off, I have to believe companies that make applications for school’s to use or just in general, make long ‘Privacy Acts’ that most of the time, the customer will just scroll through to the bottom and hit “Agree.” When I read that it was 18 pages long, I immediately thought, “no one is going to read every single word. They do this on purpose because they’re smart enough to know that not one teacher will read this agreement.” You may have a few teachers that will read a few paragraphs and give up because it is too long of a read, or you may have teachers that read the whole agreement. 

Relating this article, to our classroom and what we have learned about how social media works, is that I will not use this application in my classroom. There is always tweaks in the ‘Privacy Act’ that will get you. The company will know how to work around their terms because they will write them so vague, that they will leak students’ information to the world. But who knows, they might not do that. They say the teacher owns 100% of the rights on their profile. And again, no one knows because companies can figure out ways to outsmart the user. 

In the article, laptops, classrooms, and matter of electrate concern, they discuss the use of laptops in the classroom. The discussion surrounds whether the laptops have a positive or negative effect on a student’s learning. The article discusses a study done to test the use of laptops and found that students who use a laptop to write notes result in lower understanding on tests and those also distracted by students using laptops result in lower understanding as well. It then goes to explain that the education system needs to rethink their views of laptops. Instead of disregarding the use of laptops, educational systems should rework their pedagogy to fit the use of laptops. The word that the article says is “electracy instruction”, which is the shift towards this new type of pedagogy that should be implemented into the classrooms.

I agree with the article- I believe that we need to shift towards this type of electronic-centered pedagogy. The use of laptops in the classroom are becoming more popular among students. Throughout my years of going to school I always wrote my notes; but, being French Immersion made that difficult for me. I was not able to write notes fast enough during lessons and it made it difficult for me to read them afterwards. I am also a perfectionist so when I handwrite notes I get distraught when my notes become disorganized. Throughout high school, I was told that we were not allowed to use to laptops to write notes; so, I continued to handwrite my notes even though that wasn’t the best method for me. Once I reached post-secondary I saw other students writing notes on their laptops which influenced me to give it a try. After writing notes for 5 years I have found that I am less stressed, and I am more organized. I also found using Microsoft Word made it easier and faster for me to write notes. This method improved my learning and I strongly believe that we allow students to choose as well. Each student learns differently and finding that note taking method is important to allow the student to be able to learn. What I learned from this article is that there are ways to execute this new pedagogy into my classroom effective. For example, the article mentions leaving the front two rows for students that don’t want to be distracted by laptops. That method could work to allow students that prefer to handwrite notes for my lessons they will be able to do it effectively and it won’t affect their learning.

There are benefits of using laptops in the classroom as well that help the students to improve their learning. Students can have online collaborations, in ways such as talking to other students from different classes or schools, or they have the ability to be able to collaborate with students in their class in online-discussions. I have done online discussions over the past few years and they allowed me to learn new information that I would have never found myself. Another benefit is being able to search more information, for example if a student does not understand a certain concept or term, they can immediately look it up on their laptops to better understand. The students will also have different ways for to learn the information, such as videos, images, or interactive websites. I am a visual learner, so going on the Internet to understand a concept better helps me to grasp it rather than only listening to the information being taught. The next benefit is the students will have organization. The students need organization in order to succeed, the laptops have notes that can be left on their home screen and there is a calendar built into the laptop that leaves notifications. I use my calendar on mine and it has helped me to stay organized and complete tasks on time. The next benefit is teachers can assign work online, such as on open source learning websites. Students use their laptops almost daily and assigning work online will help students keep on tracker with what is coming up. When I was in elementary and high school assignments had to be written down in my planner or given to me as a handout, but now the Internet allows for teachers do both, give a handout and assign it online. I have found it much easier for me to be check Blackboard for my assignments rather than having to carry around my binder with the assignments. The next benefit is review/feedback process is easier for teachers. If students hand their assignments in online the feedback and edits can be given instantly rather than waiting to give it to students. If assignments are close together I find it beneficial to get my feedback and edits faster to be able to start the next assignment. The next benefit is it improves student’s computer skills, which becomes useful for the students. The students will be using computers in the future for their jobs as it has become a desirable trait to have. As a student becoming a future teacher having computer skills is important, I had to teach myself how to use computers and now using my laptop more often has helped me to work towards better computer skills. These are the benefits of having laptops in the classroom and ways to improve students’ learning.

There are different ways that laptops can be useful to facilitate students learning in the classroom and outside of the classroom. A new teaching style is starting to become popular, which is called flipped classroom learning. The flipped classroom style is assigning a video or an article the night before a class to give the students an idea on what they are going to be learning the next day. I didn’t experience this kind of learning until university, which I would have liked to learn more this way. The students will be required to answer questions or come prepared to discussion the topic beforehand that way they have a little bit of knowledge before the lesson. The other usefulness of having laptops in the classroom is having online discussions, this could be with fellow colleagues in the classroom or with other individuals around world. I got to experience talking to another student from a different school in grade 8, which we called a pen pal. In the classroom we would write letters to our pen pal, but it became lengthy and difficult getting the letters back and forth. The technology now-a-day allows for faster responses to other schools or places. The other way that laptops can be used is to do research during lessons or for assignments. During the lessons students do not understand every aspect that is being taught and having access to a laptop allows them to research aspects in which they do not fully understand. Throughout high school if I didn’t understand an aspect of the lesson I would not think about or research it until I had to study that aspect. Now with laptops students are able to search for terms or concepts in an instant. The other way that a laptop can be used is to do online quizzes, rather than printing off multiple quizzes, the students could access them on the Internet. There are sites that I have used in the past, such as Quizlet or Plickers. I found them to be very useful to give students marks on their learning either after a lesson or the next day. The other usefulness of laptops is to edit, review, or give feedback either from the teacher or fellow students. I used a website called Peergrade that allows students give feedback to their fellow classmates. This will help students to learn new things from their fellow classmates and to practice edit and giving feedback to others. These are some of the many ways that allowing and using laptops in the classroom are useful.

With all these benefits there are limitations to having laptops in the classroom. The first limitation is students becoming distracted on their laptops. During lessons when students no longer have the attention span during lessons they begin to message friends, check emails, or go on social media. This could affect their marks, but that depends on the students as well as some can still succeed on tests if they only get distracted for a few minutes. I have become distracted during lessons as well during school, but I still succeeded in my classes and went onto to working towards my dream job. The other limitation is students not having access to the Internet or laptops. Some or a majority of students may not have access to laptops or to the Internet, but there are solutions to that problem as well. Schools are now assigning iPads or Chromebooks to students that need them to use in school and at home. The teachers will also have to allow students to work on assignments in class to make it fair for all students. I have always been lucky enough to have access to Internet and a computer to work on my assignments, which I understand not everyone has. These are the limitations of using laptops in the classrooms.

I choose to do an infographic for my multimedia reflection, I choose this because my family was sent an infographic for our Russell’s 3on3 Hockey Tournament fundraiser and it inspired me to do one as well. I have never made an infographic in the past and making one for this made me nervous. I didn’t know how much information is too much or not enough. After making one though I feel more comfortable making it, I understand more what goes on them and how the organization aspect of them is important. The infographic I created is my view of having laptops, so I put an introduction, the benefits, a statistic, the limitations, the applications, and a conclusion. These certain things will help individuals to decide whether they agree with my view or not.

Infographic – You Never Know Unless You Try here is a PDF version as well.

The Article (original)

laptops, classrooms, and matters of electrate concern

The much more creative response (Original by: Kyle)

The Writing Part

I chose to do Piktochart again because I think this format can have a lot of fun and get the point across very quickly. The format also fit the article I chose to respond to, in case you missed it https://profalexreid.com/2016/05/17/laptops-classrooms-and-matters-of-electrate-concern/  is an article that goes on to say that technology is very scary and nobody has a real plan for it yet. When I say nobody has a plan, I mean nobody: not the teachers, not the students, not the parents or the principals. Yet this is an emerging area of learning that is only growing and it cannot be ignored, and it cannot be contained by a small plastic pouch.

It is easy to dismiss technology and call it a fad that is not worth investing too many resources in. However, is that what teaching is really about? I always thought teaching was about pushing the envelope and refining your lessons and making them as interesting for the students as possible. Technology is giving us (the teachers) a chance to teach in a way that was not available before and will improve before we know it; and I intended to embrace it and try and help my students see past technology as a faucet for social media. When I decided on becoming a teacher I envisioned myself being the laid back English teacher who would do things as boring predecessors had done before me. As I spent more time in the ed program I realized how fun being new could be and all the technology I had at my disposal could help me make a difference. In my placements I never really used tech at all, aside from a slide show or two. Reflecting on those experiences I realize how I can add to each lesson or change them entirely with different mediums that I never would have thought could be used for teaching. Twitter and instagram were becoming less of a social media construct and became a way to easily share and reflect on one another work. Technology is something I will be using in the future and it will be something I’m going to fail at using but its going to be something I never stop trying.

Technology as I stated is always changing and improving which is why I chose to do a Piktochart again. If this platform is still relevant I wanted to show that I could improve on my work from the previous lesson because I felt that I could still do better. As long as a platform is relevant I do not see the problem in using it again as long as you can get a firmer handle on how to use it to your advantage. I think technology only becomes a problem when you are lazy with it. If you are constantly trying to better yourself like with any new skill, such as, juggling it only becomes boring when you stop adding more balls. When you feel like you’ve mastered all juggling has to offer go try a new skill. With regards to technology I feel like I have mastered Piktochart and I am eager to start my next response in a new platform I can grow with.

After reading the article “Leave no Dark Corner” I immediately thought of how different our lives would be if we grew up in a society with a social credit system.  As described in the article, citizens in this system would lose credits which would ban them from certain benefits/privileges in society such as using public transportation, travel, or certain jobs. The citizens in this system could potentially lose credits for what they buy, who they date/marry, who their friends are or who their parents are.

The article made me think about how different our childhood could have been and for some reason I thought of one of my favorite childhood TV shows (since I am being the shows character for Halloween). I chose to depict a scene of Steve from Blues Clues happily receiving a letter only to find out the letter is informing him that he has lost 10 social credit points. He does not understand why he lost these points, then in the next scene we see Steve’s twin brother Joe robbing a jewelry store suggesting that Steve undeserving lost his social credits due to a case of false identity.

I chose to represent this scene using the resource Storyboardthat.com because it is a new resource that i was recently introduced to that is easily customizable and i believed could be used to effectively present my thoughts on this subject.

I foresee a lot of issues with this social credit system. First of all in a world where identity theft is such a big issue, I see a lot of potential for undeserving credit loss. Secondly, I do not agree with the reasons you can lose credit. I believe the reasons for losing points will leave a lot of people vulnerable and isolated based on factors they cannot control. For example, losing points based on who your parents are and what they do is socially unjust and will only lead to cases of intergenerational poverty. This system will unfairly isolate those who are already born into oppression.

I completely disagree with this Idea of a social credit system mainly because this system will oppress people based on things out of their control. For example, my grandmother was born in an orphanage along with her nine other half brothers and sisters. She was one of the few who were never adopted and lived her life in orphanages or group homes until she turned 18 and was kicked out into the world. She was born into poverty and when my father was growing up he worked hard to escape that life and to provide a better life for his own children. If we lived with this social credit system, my father would have had to work twice as hard to get where he is now. He would have lost points due to my grandmothers misfortunes and due to the fact that my grandfather was an alcoholic. This would have most likely affected my life as well and my grandchildren as well creating a chain of intergenerational oppression.

I believe one of the biggest problems with our society is that people work against one another to get to the top and once they’re they they use their power to oppress those below them rather than help lift them up. This social credit system will only make this issue worse. As a teacher I want to help my students achieve their best potential in life. I believe in equality and not a system of social classes/cliques. Imagine you are planning a field trip for your students and then you find out that one of your students cannot go because he has a “social credit” of 50/800. Even worse, the reason he has this poor social credit is because he is the son of a criminal.

In conclusion, I believe a social credit system which grades citizens and can determine their quality of life is inhumane and is a horrible idea.

I chose to analyze the article “Tackling tech: How some Ontario teachers are attempting to limit students’ cellphone use” by Nadine Yousif. I thought that this article was written to an older audience, like students parents and grand parents who would be reading it thinking, wow that’s such a great idea. No offence to those who believe that it is, however I think it past time for teachers to welcome technology, including cell phones into the classroom. Yousif says “Its just another attempt at the seemingly impossible: separating teens from their smartphones”, in reference to a teacher who decided to lock his students phones in bags that can only be opened with a special device. Perhaps we shouldn’t try to go against the culture, or against what is normative for teens. Instead I think we should shift the focus from separating students from their smartphones, to integrating them in meaningful ways. The idea of banning cellphones in schools and classrooms is regressive in todays society.

Cellphones are a powerful tool that allow us to have access to the world at our fingertips. We have a wealth of knowledge in our hand, it is a library, a thesaurus, it allows us to connect to experts and thinkers in all fields, as well as have social connections and PLN without much effort. Teachers should welcome such an incredible learning tool and integrate it into their pedagogy and teaching practice. Doug Ford also suggests in a citation from the article that schools should have a phone ban to maximize learning time. I don’t think this will help math scores or school performance from students. I think it is not reflective of the real word. I think that having hard lines like a ban only makes students use their phones secretively, and when that’s the case they will never use them as a learning tool. No student is going to sneak on their phone and risk getting in trouble to look up information or fact check. Even the teacher who used a less severe method and had students put their phones in a bag that had Velcro (as a deterrent due to the noise) strikes me as a very authoritarian approach. This reminds me of an industrial teaching model where students are workers and the teacher is the rigid supervisor. I think teaching approaches are moving away from this model and becoming more student centered, and a student centered model considers students needs and learning preferences.

As a student in high school I remember having a total phone ban. If (or should I say when) a teacher caught you using your phone they would take it away and bring it to the office. We never were allowed to use our phones during class, nor did we have computers anywhere except the library (no tablets either). We were unable to access any information outside our often dry text books. As a student I find researching subjects, and looking at examples online very beneficial for a deeper understanding, and for idea generation. Sometimes when I don’t know where to start a quick google search helps me, as I am a visual learner. Also, even though we didn’t use our phones for education we all would use them to text as soon as we felt the teacher wasn’t looking. Due to the fact that they were banned I don’t think they were used to their potential.

My associate teacher in a grade 8 classroom had a great system going for appropriate use of technology. He had made a pouch at the back of the room where each student had a slot for their phone with their name on it. Students put their phones in the slot during direct instructional time. When he had them working on an activity or looking up information they were allowed to go and get them and put a orange piece of paper in their slot. There where times were he would ask them to keep their phones in the pouch, and he  would make some keep their phone away if they abused the privilege. I found that students were very respectful, and this system worked well. My AT was aware that they may check a few texts or Instagram, however they did not take advantage of that. My AT was very engaged with his students and would walk around interacting with them during seat work. This classroom did not have computers or enough tablets for every student. Much of the research and information gathering they did was on their phones and with a handful of tablets. I think his classroom was a great example of what student led learning looks like.  In my future classroom I would like to follow a similar structure. I would also have an ongoing conversation with my students about being polite while being tech savvy. I do think its rude to be on your phone while someone is talking to you, but if the teacher is done talking and the student is engaged in learning, tech and phones can aid and engage students in the process!

Tabitha Klein

I decided to do a rant style video on some initial thoughts I had while reading the article.

#rantandrave

I chose to respond to the Tackling Tech article by Nadine Yousif. The article focuses on how technology affects students in Canadian classrooms. While technological devices can be great teaching tools in the classroom, they can also have a strong negative effect on students, causing them to become distracted.

The Globe and Mail article involves Yousif focusing on a couple of teachers at St. Mary’s High School in Kitchener, Ontario. Matthew Acheson, who teaches Grade 11 and 12, and Sean Zister, who teaches Grade 9 geography and religion. The two each use an invention created to prevent students from using their device in the classroom, thus resulting in becoming distracted. While the technological era continues to evolve, Canadian schools and school boards have each adopted their own device policies, exemplifying that technology is seen as more of a hinderance, rather than as help. In hopes of managing this issue, teachers have tried many methods of separating students from their devices including having students place their smartphones in clear boxes at the beginning of class, at the front of the room. While this option is more traditional, there are two new alternatives that can be used to regulate cellphone usage in classroom; the Yondr and Resistor Case.

The Yondr Case, created by Graham Dugoni, is a “specialized pouch that then locks, blocking any access to WiFi and social media apps” (Yousif, 2018) . In order to unlock the case, the student must visit an unlocking base that is controlled by their teacher. Similarly, the Resistor Case, created by University of Waterloo’s Critical Media Lab director Marcel O’Gorman, was created to achieve the same results. The Resistor Case “is designed to hold the students’ devices at their desk for the duration of the class, however it does not lock” (Yousif, 2018). It comes as a Do-It-Yourself kit that includes vinyl, Velcro, nails and duct tape. Since the sound of Velcro is loud and noticeable when ripped apart, its purpose is to make students think a bit harder about reaching for their device, making them understand the idea of self-regulation. Acheson and Zister both found each case to have positive impacts on their students. The Yondr Case caused Acheson’s class average to increase by eight percentage points.

Before engaging with Yousif’s article, I already had a strong sense of annoyance whenever I saw students in my placement trying to hide their cellphones in their lap or desk. After reading this article, I decided to research each case to learn more about how to purchase them. Both brands actually offer packages for schools where the pouches are available in bulk. I personally would like to see these products in more schools across Ontario, as I have noticed technology to be a drawback and distraction in previous placements. If schools across Canada implemented these cases into each classroom the element of distraction could be eliminated, resulting in student success. The article states that Premier Doug Ford has suggest an outright ban on cellphones in schools to “maximize learning time”, similar to the French movement of banning cellphones on school property entirely. I believe a line should be drawn as there are both many pros and cons to having devices in the classroom. While I do not completely agree with a ban altogether, I do believe educators, schools and school boards collectively should have better control on personal devices. To some, I believe they could think cases like Yondr and Resistor are extreme. To me, I believe they are necessary. Educators through the years, and even I in my placements have tried time and time again to separate students from their phones. Traditional methods do not work, these cases are next level inventions that are the answers to our prayers. I am thankful I have been introduced to both the Yonder and Resistor cases, as I had never heard of them prior to reading this article. Yousif’s article got me thinking of introducing the idea of protective device cases in my future classroom, should traditional methods be unsuccessful.

With that in mind, I decided to create an infographic. I wanted to capture the attention of educators and school administration by presenting them with facts and testimonials about each phone case, much like an advertisement would. To create this, I used the infographic template on Canva, and manipulated it to fit my personal liking and design.