Not a day goes by that I don’t have a conversation with my own kids about screens: No screen time tonight. Close the laptop. Please close the laptop. Five more minutes and it’s off. No, you can’t get a phone. These phrases pour out of my mouth with the same ease as an I love you or a sleep tight, goodnight, or a more honest – please hurry up.
Screen time and all that comes with it is an incessant struggle for modern day parents. At The Village School, these kinds of questions land on our desk daily: “Just how much screen time will my child have?” “How much time are the kids on their laptops?” “Do you have built-in screen breaks during the day?” “Are the kids just on their computers the whole day?”
Wonderings around our school’s technology policy have always come up, but over the past several months we’ve noticed an exponential increase. This newfound awareness over screen time might have something to do with Jonathan Haidt’s latest book, The Anxious Generation and the passionate following that has ensued since its release. Inspiring parents and policy-makers alike, the book has resulted in 17 states including Virginia passing school cell phone bans, and Australia passing legislation restricting access to social media for children under the age of 16.
Haidt’s book was a Parent Book Club pick last year and our Guide Team read several excerpts that validated and inspired some of our learning design regarding healthy tech boundaries. As a learner-centered school many assume we rely on technology more than a more traditional, teacher-centered environment. If there is no “teacher” then the kids must be relying on their tech to learn…right?
When it comes to our approach to technology use we are guided by the same throughlines that shape all parts of our school: research-based, developmental appropriateness, and thoughtful design. Despite perception, our learners spend the majority of their time at school away from the screen, and the time they do have tech access is intentional.
This example schedule is a helpful gauge of the screen and screen free time our learners have. Out of the 35 hour school week, learners in our elementary and middle school have access to their computers for 9 hours, which makes up 25% of their time at school. Early childhood learners have even less, technology only being an option for 1 hour for older learners who have mastered either reading or math curriculum and are preparing to transition to the next studio.
Lunch, outdoor play, and afternoons at the park are strictly tech-free. This is a boundary many Guides new to TVS are surprised they have to enforce – as learners will often insist on bringing their laptops to lunch or to the playground to continue their Khan minutes or Lexia streaks. Telling a young person “no, you can’t do any math right now” feels awkward at first, however our commitment to screen-free, unstructured play is an essential part of our learning design.
There are two specific times during our schedule where learners have access to their computers: Morning Work and Project Time. During Morning Work learners might use their computers to achieve some of their individual badge goals such as reading fluency (Lexia) and math (Khan Academy). Laptops are also necessary for some of their other individual goals such as Typing Club or certain aspects of their reading and writing curriculum. There are also individual badge goals that are intentionally designed to avoid the use of technology such as reading and practicing fact fluency. The Discovery Studio writing curriculum requires learners to complete the majority of their writing by hand, with the exception of the final draft.
Each studio also abides by a Technology Contract that acts as safety guardrails supporting learners in healthy tech habits.
When a learner breaks the tech contract, they lose the privilege of using technology in the studio for a week. Breaking the contract and facing the consequences is something the Guide Team considers an important rite of passage for a self-directed learner developing a growth mindset. In fact, we expect this to happen at least once during the course of a learner’s time at TVS. When this occurs, some parents are concerned about their child’s ability to work on goals and complete work without access to their laptops. Guides and learners know this is not the case: there are many tech-free options, not to mention the important learning experience of dealing with an inconvenience.
The screen time debate is certainly an inconvenience for me as a parent – but I know well enough that it’s not going to disappear anytime soon. Just like the TVS approach, I believe technology is an important tool that my own kids (and myself, too) need to learn how to learn with and learn how to learn without. At TVS our learner-centered approach means school is less about learning with technology and more about learning about ourselves through a mindful approach with or without a screen.
villageschoolnova.blog 