What Happened When Our School Went Tech-Free for the Day

What would happen if teachers didn’t use any technology for an entire school day?

As part of our district’s two-year digital wellness initiative, we decided to participate in the Global Day of Unplugging: “A worldwide 24-hour digital pause where people and communities power down devices and power on real-world connection.”

So from the start of the day until the very end, classroom laptops stayed closed, interactive displays remained dark, and teachers simply taught their students without any technology at all.

SO, WHY DID WE UNPLUG?

You might assume this decision arose out of a desire to condemn technology or encourage educators to move away from digital learning (especially given the current climate around edtech and student use of devices). As a school community, we have not at all given up on the promise of thoughtful high-quality tech integration. We simply wanted to create an opportunity to pause and reflect together—asking a question I believe educators at all levels should consider: Is our current approach to integrating technology serving the learning?

On the day before our scheduled unplugging, I kept thinking about one teacher who quietly admitted to me, “I don’t know if I can teach without technology.” As with so many educators, technology had slowly become an integral part of how she planned, organized, and even delivered instruction; she was struggling to picture what teaching would look like without it.

Her comment stayed with me because I suspected she wasn’t the only one feeling that way. Asking teachers to unplug for an entire day seemed, at first glance, to contradict the very work I myself had dedicated my career to. As my district’s educational technology director, I’ve spent years helping teachers thoughtfully integrate technology; I believe deeply in its power to increase access, amplify student voice, remove barriers, and create opportunities that simply weren’t possible before.

But ease of access to technology can sometimes outweigh intention. You can find yourself reaching for a certain tech tool or device simply because it’s available, rather than considering whether it will actually help students demonstrate what they know or meet the learning target.

Unplugging classrooms for the day can provide a valuable opportunity for your school community to evaluate what is (and isn’t) working, and recalibrate toward practices that best support students and their learning. If your school or district is considering a similar experience, here are a few of the lessons that shaped my thinking and a couple of recommendations:

PREPARING FOR A SUCCESSFUL UNPLUGGED DAY

A successful unplugged day begins weeks or even months in advance, long before students walk through the door.

The planning process creates space for teachers to collaborate with their colleagues and intentionally redesign lessons around the learning (rather than the technology).

Leaders: To start, set aside faculty meeting time to introduce the purpose behind unplugging. Build in dedicated planning time for teachers to collaborate and rethink their lessons together, rather than expecting them to prepare on their own. Encourage teachers to make good use of existing structures like grade-level, department, or professional learning community meetings, where they can share ideas and troubleshoot challenges together. If your school has instructional coaches, curriculum specialists, or instructional technology coaches, ensure that they’re invited to work alongside teachers.

Encourage teachers to walk through each lesson, asking themselves questions like the following:

• What is the learning goal?
• Where is technology genuinely enhancing learning? Where might you be using technology more out of habit?
• If this tech tool or device weren’t available, how else could students achieve the same outcome?
• What materials or supports will students need to be successful without technology?

Once teachers answer those questions, they can begin making intentional adjustments. Here are some examples:

• Directions that are typically projected can become printed posters or handouts.
• Collaborative activities that might take place in shared documents can shift to chart paper, whiteboards, sticky notes, or gallery walks.
• Videos can be replaced with demonstrations, discussions, read-alouds, or hands-on investigations.

Ensure that classrooms are stocked with chart paper, easels, whiteboards, markers, sticky notes, and other materials that can help make student thinking visible. As instructional planning progresses, check in on the conversations and pay attention to what comes up throughout the process.

PARTNERING WITH FAMILIES

An unplugged day shouldn’t begin and end at school. Helping students to develop healthy digital habits requires schools and families to work together. I strongly recommend engaging families to partner in this work early on. Share information through existing communication channels, like newsletters, email, school social media accounts, or your school’s preferred communication platform.

Start by introducing the initiative to families, explaining why your school is participating, then invite them to participate as well. We encouraged families to unplug alongside us: for a meal, an evening, or part of the weekend. Providing practical resources like a list of unplugged activity ideas or conversation starters makes it much easier to continue these important discussions at home. I provided a Screen Time Code of Conduct template that families can cocreate and fill out together.

WHAT DOES UNPLUGGING LOOK LIKE INSIDE CLASSROOMS?

One of the things that surprised me most was how differently teachers approached the day. There wasn’t one singular shared model for what unplugged learning should look like, yet inside every classroom, students were deeply engaged. This reminded me that meaningful learning doesn’t have to look the same everywhere; it reflects the unique creativity of the teacher and the needs of the students.

Unplugged learning looked like the following:

• Investigating: Through building their own paper cup telephones and electromagnets, students were able to explore how sound travels and how magnetic fields work.
• Discussing and debating: Students analyzed historical figures, examined primary sources, participated in fishbowl discussions, and reflected on novels and current events.
• Creating: Students designed ceramic watercolor palettes, built cardboard playhouses, created paper communication boards, and completed design-thinking challenges.
• Communicating: Older students practiced their Spanish and French through games and student-created skits, while younger students explored literacy through play and storytelling.
• Collaborating: Older students mentored younger classmates in chess; students solved math problems together; and classrooms relied on discussion, teamwork, and peer feedback throughout the day.

Students were actively participating in hands-on learning experiences, and each classroom was filled with conversation, curiosity, and collaboration. Teachers captured learning the same way they have during many high-quality lessons: via classroom observations and discussions, written reflections, photographs of student work, and the authentic products that students created.

KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING

My biggest takeaway didn’t come while I was walking through classrooms. It came afterward, during the conversations teachers had as they reflected on the experience. Those discussions were just as valuable as the unplugged day itself. Set aside time to reflect on the experience together as a team.

Encourage teachers to think about the following:

• What surprised you most about this experience?
• Which lessons would you teach exactly the same way again?
• Where would you intentionally add technology back, and why?
• Which unplugged strategies will become part of your regular practice?

Technology coaches and instructional leaders can reflect on these:

• Which lessons revealed new instructional strategies worth sharing?
• Where can technology meaningfully enhance learning without becoming the default?
• How can this experience shape future coaching conversations?

School and district leaders, consider the following:

• What patterns emerged across classrooms?
• What did this experience reveal about your school’s/district’s relationship with technology?
• How will you continue this conversation throughout the year?

Ultimately, our participation in the Global Day of Unplugging strengthened my belief that intentional use of technology can help us transform learning and open doors for students in remarkable ways. But I also believe that every digital tool must earn its place in the classroom.

I’ll leave you with the same question I started this with: Is your current approach to integrating technology serving the learning?

Looking to bring an unplugged day or a broader digital wellness initiative to your school? I’ve created free, ready-to-use resources, including turnkey faculty meeting slide decks and other implementation tools that schools can adapt for their own communities. These resources are available at alanawinnick.com/resources.