Seventh-grade math teacher Dylan Kane, who says he had taken some tech routines for granted for years, decided to drop screens from his class for the month of January, 2026 to see what would happen, according to a Chalkbeat article. Kane teaches in Leadville, a rural mountain town in Colorado.
Educators and policymakers are also having second thoughts about the growth of edtech. Tech is sold as a way of personalizing learning but increasingly criticized for doing the opposite. Some school systems are scaling back the use of screens, and some states are restricting how tech can be used in class.
So far Kane’s experiment has been a success, he says. He has not brought screens back.
This interview with Kane has been edited for length and clarity.
How were you using tech previously?
All of my assessments were online. They were easier to grade. It was kind of on autopilot.
I also used a math practice website called DeltaMath. Students at the end of pretty much every class spent five to 10 minutes working through a short online practice assignment.
Third, about once a week I used free online activities that are interactive, that students do on their Chromebooks. They often give interesting insight into some mathematical idea or let students manipulate math in a different way than we often do on pencil and paper.
How did your experiment of dropping tech go?
I’m still tech free. I don’t find myself saying, “Wow, these things I used to do with technology are totally irreplaceable.”
What I like is so many fewer little logistical challenges. No more “I forgot my charger, my Chromebook’s dead. My screen’s cracked. The internet’s not working.” Those things are out the window. We have pencil, we have paper, we have whiteboards, we have markers.
Stuff I had students doing on their own, I’m now doing interactively in front of the class, like asking questions, having them answer on mini-whiteboards. I feel much more nimble, like I don’t have to get them to put their screens away — we can just talk about it.
I’m seeing a slight increase in effort across the board. Some students, especially students who are less confident in math, can sometimes hide behind their screens. Screens can just separate us into our own little worlds and it can be really easy to appear like you’re busy behind a screen.
I feel more in touch with student thinking. With pencil and paper, I just feel much more connected to what students are confused about, what I need to respond to, where I need to adjust.
What do students think of this?
I have some students say they love it. They either just don’t like a lot of the stuff we do on Chromebooks, or they feel fatigued by the amount of screen time across their classes, or they feel frustrated with all the little logistical issues.
Some students say the work is easier on a Chromebook. One reason is handwriting involves more effort. The effort that goes into handwriting might lead to more durable learning — that might be a good type of effort. Another reason is working on screens often gives instant feedback, so not having that feedback can feel a little more frustrating for students.
The loss of feedback feels like it could be a downside.
Instant feedback can be really helpful, but students can also become reliant on it, or it can lead to guessing and checking that’s unproductive. In a lot of situations, delayed feedback works better than immediate feedback.
Is there any part of tech that you miss?
All of this is more work. It’s way easier to assign a couple math problems for students to do online than it is to prepare a piece of paper and have all that ready for students in class.
I also find that students are a little bit more self-reliant when they’re on technology. They need less teacher interaction, because they’re getting that immediate feedback. But screens kind of divide people into their own world. Sometimes a student is really confused but doesn’t quite know how to ask for help. There’s definitely higher energy in my class without screens, that’s a good thing, but it can be exhausting as a teacher.
I’m giving quizzes and tests with pencil and paper now, and it’s a lot more work to grade. I’ve loved that because it’s helped me get students to engage more with their mistakes, but again, it’s more work.
Is your plan for the foreseeable future to continue to be no-tech?
Yeah. I don’t want to be someone who just says, “Hey, no technology ever again.” I plan on being a paper-and-pencil first teacher as much as possible. But if some new tools do come along that I think are doing a much better job than what I had access to before, I’m open to it.
Anything else you want to add?
Teachers can do their best work when we set clear expectations for what we think great teaching and learning look like, and within reasonable constraints give teachers some freedom. In some cases, technological tools can be a crutch to take away some teacher autonomy. I don’t think (tech) is a path to a profession where teachers want to stay in the classroom and where teachers can be responsive to student needs.
Chalkbeat
