LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Read about the health benefits of taking a tech break; identify tech-free alternatives to common online habits.

HEALTH ED STANDARDS

NHES 2: Analyze influences that affect health and well-being of self and others.

 

CASEL: Responsible decision-making, self-management

Lesson Plan: Give Your Tech a Time-Out

Here are four offline alternatives to take a mini-vacation from your screens.

PREPARING TO READ

Before you read the article “Give Your Tech a Time-Out” ask your students the following pre-reading question:

How can taking a technology break benefit your health?

READING AND DISCUSSION

  • Have your students read the article “Give Your Tech a Time-Out”; read the article out loud to them; or have students partner-read the article out loud.

  • After they’ve read the article, revisit the pre-reading question. Have their answers changed? 

BUILDING COMPREHENSION

Check students’ comprehension of and engagement with the story with the following assessment tools:

  • Comprehension Quiz

EXPANDING SEL OPPORTUNITIES

Continue the learning journey with the following extension activity:

In YOUR TECH, YOUR BREAK, have your students use the prompts in the skills sheet to complete a guided journal entry responding to the article. In the journal entry, they should share which online habits they engage in the most and how being online a lot makes them feel. Then, they’ll consider which of the tech-free alternatives seemed most appealing to them, and why. If you like, you can also have interested students commit to a tech break over the winter break, and ask them to report back on what benefits they experienced from it.

Print the Lesson Plan

Text-to-Speech