“Could we agree to put our devices away, at least while we’re having dinner?” asked a friend of a loved one recently. Apparently, all the devices had ended conversation at the dinner table. Often, when a classroom teacher asks students to put away their Chromebooks, half the class groans. At home, parents struggle to get their children off their phones.
Meanwhile, school leaders are wrestling with screen-time policies, device restrictions, and questions about how much technology belongs in classrooms. Sound familiar? These conversations often focus on how many minutes children spend looking at screens, but I’ve been wondering whether we’re asking the right questions. What are students doing with those screens? What are they learning? And could they accomplish the same thing, perhaps even better, without a device?
Those questions are behind several activities I’ve been developing for the TCEA Essential Learning Expectations (ELEs) Activity Bank. They offer five practical ways for parents, teachers, and students to think differently about screen time, with something you might find surprising: Many of the activities about technology don’t require technology at all.
1. Make Screens Earn Their Place
Think about the last lesson you taught that involved a Chromebook, tablet, or other device. Could students have reached the same learning goal using paper, conversation, or hands-on materials? I’ve found that teachers sometimes reach for technology because it’s available, even when a simpler approach might work better. The ELEs encourage educators to begin with learning goals, consider the evidence students will produce, and decide whether technology contributes something worthwhile. This shifts screen-time conversations away from arbitrary limits toward instructional purpose. The same thinking applies at home, where families can examine whether screens support learning, creativity, relationships, or entertainment.
Here are three examples from the ELE Activity Bank you can adapt right away:
- Does This Need a Screen? (20 minutes, teachers and librarians): Educators sort 14 classroom tasks into four categories: unplugged, digital, Gen AI-supported, or “it depends.” Using printable sorting cards and a planning checklist, participants discuss whether technology actually improves learning. This works well as a faculty meeting activity and requires no devices.
- Screen Time, Green Time (30 minutes, grades K–2): Students sort everyday activities into screen time, green time, or both. They compare how their bodies feel after sitting still and moving, then develop a family balance plan using printable worksheets. The activity helps children recognize that screens can serve useful purposes while encouraging healthy, screen-free experiences.
- Screens at School, Screens at Home: A Family Conversation (40 minutes, family engagement): Families sort common screen experiences by purpose, discuss school and home expectations, and begin developing a family media agreement. Printed cards, conversation guides, and worksheets make this an unplugged activity suitable for a school family night or community gathering.
Each activity approaches screen time from a different perspective, but all three require participants to explain their thinking and make decisions. That shared emphasis on reasoning connects directly to the TCEA ELEs.
2. Help Students Recognize Their Own Habits
Children hear plenty of adults telling them to get off their devices. How often do they have opportunities to examine their own habits and decide what needs to change? The ELEs emphasize student responsibility, self-awareness, and goal setting, all of which apply to managing screen time. In Screen Time, Green Time, for example, young students discover how sitting still and moving affect their bodies.
Older students can take this further by keeping a simple paper-based activity log, identifying patterns, and discussing which screen activities were worthwhile. The goal is to give students experience making thoughtful decisions rather than expecting them to follow rules they may not understand.
3. Use Printables to Move Learning Offline
One thing I’ve tried to emphasize in developing the ELE Activity Bank is the value of printable materials. Teachers and families should be able to select an activity, print the handouts, and get started without creating accounts, installing apps, or requiring students to spend another half hour online. Card sorts, reflection sheets, family agreements, and discussion prompts can all support meaningful learning without a digital device. This is especially useful in classrooms with limited technology access, during family engagement events, or whenever students need more face-to-face interaction. Technology may help educators find and prepare the resources, but the learning happens through what students say, do, create, and explain.
4. Bring Parents Into the Screen-Time Conversation
One frustration parents sometimes express is that schools tell children to reduce recreational screen time while assigning work that requires hours on a device. Teachers face the opposite challenge, trying to explain why some digital activities are necessary even as schools limit personal device use. The ELEs offer common ground by encouraging families and educators to look at the purpose of screen use. The family conversation activity provides an opportunity to discuss expectations without assigning blame, while the printable media agreement gives families something they can adapt to their circumstances. A school might use it during a parent night, then invite families to continue the conversation at home. That seems more productive than sending another reminder about screen-time limits.
5. Make Screen-Time Learning Accessible Across Languages
Screen-time concerns affect families regardless of the language they speak at home, but school resources are too often available only in English. I’m working to expand the ELE Activity Bank’s multilingual support, including Spanish and Vietnamese translations, so families and educators can use these activities in languages that are more comfortable for them. The translations are still being completed and reviewed, but the intention is to make the activities and printables accessible to a wider audience. That matters when you’re asking families to discuss expectations, weigh choices, and make decisions together. A parent shouldn’t need to struggle through an English-language worksheet before having a useful conversation with their child about technology.
Getting Started with the TCEA ELEs
The TCEA ELE Activity Bank offers a practical starting point for addressing screen time through digital citizenship, student responsibility, family engagement, and purposeful instructional design. You can use these resources during classroom lessons, professional learning sessions, or family events, with printable materials that allow the conversation to continue when the screens are turned off. I hope educators and families will take advantage of that flexibility rather than assuming every lesson about digital life has to take place online. Choose one activity, print the handouts, and see what happens when students, teachers, or parents have to explain their thinking to each other instead of clicking through another screen-based assignment. I’d be interested in hearing what you discover.
