I removed technology from my out-of-control classroom, and the difference was astounding.
By: Mr. Troy
Tags: Learning, Tech, Children, Education Reform, Child Development

When I stepped into my new classroom in June 2015, I could tell that something was wrong. I entered in the beginning of summer into an after-school and summer-care program for children ages 5–12. I was ready to teach about literally everything I possibly could. However, my plans were immediately tossed out the window.

What I came across changed my entire understanding of education from that moment onward. I was brought in to help with academic studies. Math, language arts, history, science, etc. I was supposed to continue onward with this teaching, but there was no way it was even possible.

The room I had entered was, effectively, in a Cold War situation. At any moment, it felt like a bomb could go off and set the room ablaze. There was enough tension that you could only cut through it with industrial-grade machinery. No one wanted to share, those who wanted to play with each other would immediately get into screaming matches, and the rest were busy with one of three things: iPads, smartphones, or the Wii that was situated in the back of the classroom.

See how calm this kid is? Now, make her angry and put, like, 5 other kids around her who are also angry. That was my situation. Photo by Drew Rae from Pexels.

There were toys untouched, but it’s understandable: These toys had been through the ringer. They were marked up, torn, broken, missing pieces, or just downright filthy. I didn’t want to play with these toys either, and I absolutely love to play with toys!

I had inherited this classroom from someone I would later consider a friend and mentor, but they had inherited that room before me with most of the toys within years ago. The budget was seemingly tight, and childcare centers are notorious for their worn-out goods.

So, I did what all teachers would do in this situation: Spend my own money and hope that I can get reimbursed for everything so I can still provide for my family. Luckily, in most cases, I did get reimbursed, but I know there are still some sweet, sweet dollars out there waiting for me to finally take them back.

My yearly salary in one photo. Photo by cottonbro from Pexels.

I digress. I had to completely redo everything about the room after observing how it ran on its own. It was chaos. I saw older children fighting, biting, hitting, climbing, screaming, throwing, running and jumping over furniture, etc. Now, I know, you may be thinking that this was typical behavior for children. Trust me, it was not. These children had come from difficult backgrounds and had that baggage with them on top of everything else they had to handle when coming to the center.

So, I started off with the room arrangement, cutting down on running space as much as possible and getting designated areas. This helped slightly, but the boredom from that classroom still caused too many issues. So, adding on to this, I started spending my money as I mentioned before, getting basic supplies they did not have, such as glue, scissors, pencils, paper, etc. Yes, I also assumed a classroom would have the basics, but it didn’t happen and barely could happen: We would only get a new shipment of basic crafting supplies every 6–10 months and, even then, we had no idea what was coming. There were some shipments that had no paper, and others that had no crayons after about a year.

You don’t know horror until you’ve found doll body parts in random places in the classroom, such as wedged in the bathroom sink.

So, new things were added on top of changing the layout. Behaviors slowly began to slow, but, again, there were still problems. After only a few weeks, everything I was doing wasn’t working. I tried many, many other techniques: Outdoors activities, special projects, jobs, etc. None of them worked. Everything had become boring and things began to stay on shelves.

Finally, one day in the middle of the summer, I saw the problem: It was the tech within the class. Each classroom was given two iPads for children to use and play games. Some children had brought in their smartphones. Others would play Just Dance on the Wii for hours on end, regardless of what I would say (We had floating staff come to relieve us for breaks, and they allowed anything to happen, regardless of the classroom rules.).

With each and every piece of technology, I saw what was going on. Those with smartphones would sit with 5 other friends and just watch random things from the time they came in to the time they left. The Wii caused incredible amounts of fighting over what games to play or what songs will be played for dancing. The iPads were the worst of all: Compounding the smartphones’ and Wii’s issues with the problem of save data being overwritten, they became my biggest enemy.

This little robot feller is plotting our demise along with its Wii and iPad brethren. Photo by Kaboompics .com from Pexels.

At first, I tried to limit everything to a set amount each day. This only created turmoil and strife, with children fighting over who was actually the next one on the list, or saying another child got more time than they got, or saying they weren’t done yet and needed finished. I tried limiting for a couple of months to absolutely no avail: Problems still arose consistently and, at times, would surpass the original issues, at least in terms of argument.

This is when I decided to finally follow the title of this article and remove every bit of tech from the class that could be used by individual children. The Wii left, the iPads disappeared, and smartphones were banned from being used. I know, this seems like a bit of an overreaction, but I assure you: There were no options I had left at the time. These children became obsessed with the tech, setting aside any real developmental capabilities.

Over the next few months through January and onward, the behaviors had completely switched. I didn’t have the climbers and jumpers, the constant screaming, or the fist-fights and pushing anywhere near as much. The items on the shelves were finally being used and shared with the children. They didn’t ask about the tech any longer, and they became vastly more creative and friendly. That December was the happiest month of my career at that center.

This is me, with all of my smug Christmassy goodness. Photo by cottonbro from Pexels.

Now, mind you, I am not opposed to instituting technology in a classroom. I like to teach through the familiar as much as possible, using video games and movies to show historical and literary context. The childcare center specifically wanted children to be exposed to this, but it was the worst thing for this group. The aggression was absolutely absurd, almost as if the technology had become an addiction to them. I just wish the administrator would have let me continue on with my technology policy, but that’s another story for another day

Removing the tech created an astounding change in the children, and I would later employ this method 3 years later in a different classroom. Technology has its place, but when dependency begins to occur, there need to be some serious changes.

Robotic uprising cancelled. Photo by InstaWalli from Pexels.

Thank you for joining me in this reflection. If you would like to see some of my basic-level-and-hopefully-will-become-better-after-I-have-an-actual-budget children’s content, please join me on my current site while I work on a more official, less Facebook-y site!