Screen-Free Week Recap

 April 29th - May 5th was Screen-Free Week! I talked about it with my class on that Friday beforehand, and we wrote some goals for the week about how we were going to eliminate or reduce screens in our lives.  I made some goals:

- No t.v.
- No Facebooking, Tweeting, or Blogging (the kids knew that these would be hard for me to give up!)
- Limited e-mailing/checking e-mail
- Limited texting
- More reading
- More writing in a writer's notebook
- More walking and exercising

How did we do? Well, I was moderately successful at best, and I completely broke down and ended my Screen-Free Week on Sunday afternoon.  I did well with no t.v. until Friday evening, and then I ended up watching Thursday night's recording of "Grey's Anatomy."  I just had to see what happened!  I was successful at eliminating Facebooking, Tweeting, and Blogging.  That was a killer!  I did limit texting and e-mailing.  I did more reading, but not writing. :-(  I did a little walking, but not every day like I was hoping.  It was a valuable experience, though, in that it made me realize how much screen time is a part of my life.  However, much of it is related to my passions - teaching and books, so the elimination of blogging and Tweeting felt very sad!  I was cut off from reading and writing about classroom ideas and books - that part I didn't like.  How did my students do?  Here are some snippets from their reflections today:

- Screen-Free Week was good for me, but boring for my brother. 

- I made a mistake telling my dad about it.  On the first day he started grounding us from electronics.  The fun part was on Tuesday we had family game night.  The next night my family took a walk around the neighborhood with Robby in his stroller.  The next day after that we went walking again but this time we found a path.  This week was awesome because I became closer to my family.  I gave in on Sunday.

- I learned that I use way too many electronics!  I found it very hard to just stay away from my iPod, t.v., and the computer.  I did get closer to my family.

- Screen-Free Week wasn't easy.

- I stayed away from everything except Minecraft and the news. 

- On Monday, I only did one screen thing: watched "The Amazing Race."  The rest of the week I read and played Legos. 

- I liked how I could spend more time with family.  I played outside with my brother.  I know I read more than usual.  It was hard to give up screens, though.  A couple of times I was looking at the computer and realized, "What am I doing?"

- I liked it and in some ways I didn't.  I liked it because it gave me more time to read, play outside, and study for the OAAs.  I didn't like it because it was HARD!

- I never want to do Screen-Free Week again!

- I had a Screen-Free competition with my friend Ryleigh and our brothers.

- I was moderately successful because I spent more time outside than in.

- I enjoyed Screen-Free Week because it encouraged me to go outside more.  I did not break my goals.  I did not text at all, and I barely watched t.v.  I barely checked e-mail at all.

- I tried to only be in front of the screen less than two hours the whole week, and I made my goal.  I watched 1 1/2 hours of t.v. all week and that's it.

- I was successful at Screen-Free Week, but the only problem was that time went by so slow!

- I was successful.  I went to my creek almost every day.  I had so much fun!

I enjoyed reading their reflections.  They were very honest! I think we all learned a lot from the experience.   What was YOUR Screen-Free Week like if you participated?