Professional learning · Leaders, Coaches, Teachers · 70 minutes
Minutes With a Purpose: A Screen Time Audit
Teams audit a fictional district's school-device minutes by purpose, not just by total, and draft grade-band guidance that protects unplugged time and asks for evidence of learning.
Texas HB 1481 (2025) settled the personal-phone question for the school day, and it explicitly leaves out devices the district provides. How much and how well students use school-issued devices is still your district's call. In this audit, teams read a fictional district's device-use snapshot critically, sort real-feeling classroom uses by purpose (creating, researching and collaborating, practicing with feedback, or just watching), and apply the 2026 ELE question: "What evidence shows the technology improved the learning?" They leave with draft grade-band guidance and an honest, privacy-safe plan to gather their own local data. The goal is intentional, age-appropriate use judged by learning, not a blanket cut.
In this packet
- Handout A: Pecan Creek ISD Device-Use Snapshot (fictional) (organizer)
- Handout B: Purpose Sort (card sort)
- Handout C: Grade-Band Guidance Drafter (worksheet)
- Facilitator key (last page)
TCEA ELE indicators
- L3.2 I can interpret complex digital data sets and communicate findings effectively using data visualization tools.
- L4.3 I am aware of strategies to address digital divides and promote responsible technology use.
- L3.1 I know how to use digital data tools to drive school improvement efforts.
- L1.1 I know how to create and communicate a compelling vision for technology integration in the school.
- C3.1 I know how to use data to inform instructional decisions.
Full facilitator guide: mglearn.github.io/eles/activities/minutes-with-a-purpose.html
Handout A for Minutes With a Purpose: A Screen Time Audit
Pecan Creek ISD Device-Use Snapshot (fictional)
FICTIONAL DATA for practice. Pecan Creek ISD, its people, and these numbers are invented. Average minutes per student per school day on school-issued devices, from the district's device reports for one week in October.
| Purpose category (as the report assigned it) | K–2 | 3–5 | 6–8 | 9–12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Create (writing, video, design, coding tools) | 6 | 10 | 18 | 34 |
| Research (search, databases, digital library) | 2 | 8 | 22 | 30 |
| Practice with feedback (adaptive and drill apps) | 24 | 31 | 26 | 18 |
| Assess (quizzes, benchmark tests) | 8 | 12 | 14 | 16 |
| Communicate / collaborate (LMS messages, shared documents, video calls) | 1 | 4 | 15 | 28 |
| Consume / watch (video sites, streaming) | 14 | 17 | 29 | 26 |
| Unassigned (app or site not on the category list) | 5 | 8 | 21 | 33 |
| TOTAL minutes per student per day | 60 | 90 | 145 | 185 |
| Devices counted | Shared classroom carts; cart minutes divided by class enrollment | Carts in grade 3; one device per student in grades 4–5, kept at school | One device per student; school-day minutes only | One device per student; school-day minutes only |
| How a minute was counted | App window in front and device awake, whether or not anyone was using it | Same | Same | Same |
| How purpose was assigned | By app or site name, one category per app, set by the tech office | Same | Same | Same |
| Note on the week | Includes one district benchmark day | Includes one district benchmark day | Includes one district benchmark day | Includes one district benchmark day |
| Voices (fictional) | Kindergarten teacher: "Our cart logs in under a class account, so our 'watch' minutes include the phonics song we dance to every morning." | 4th grader: "When I finish the math app early, I get to watch videos until everybody's done." | 7th-grade teacher: "Research minutes went way up after we got the new database. I honestly don't know if the research got better." | 11th grader: "Unassigned is probably the coding site for CS. Sometimes it's just a tab I left open while I did the worksheet on paper." |
Handout B for Minutes With a Purpose: A Screen Time Audit
Purpose Sort
Cut apart the strips. Sort by what students actually DO and what evidence it leaves, not by the app. Before placing a strip, finish aloud: "The evidence of learning here is ___."
Create
Research & collaborate
Practice with feedback & assess
Consume / watch
Handout B for Minutes With a Purpose: A Screen Time Audit
Purpose Sort: cards to sort
Cut apart the strips. Sort each one onto the mat and be ready to explain why.
Sheet 1 of 2
1. Kindergarten: the class watches a 4-minute read-aloud video of a picture book while the teacher sets up centers. No discussion follows.
2. Grade 4: pairs build a stop-motion clay video explaining the water cycle, then revise one scene after peer feedback.
3. Grade 7 science: pairs find three sources on whether a local creek is safe for swimming and record who published each one.
4. Grade 3: 20 minutes a day on an adaptive math app. The teacher reads the weekly report but never changes groups or reteaches from it.
5. Grade 10: students watch a 12-minute documentary segment, pausing at three teacher-set stops to write a claim and the evidence for it.
6. Grades 9–12: students take a 20-question online benchmark test.
7. Grade 6: students co-write a shared document with a class in another Texas city comparing a month of local rainfall records.
8. Grade 8: students who finish early are told to "get on your device" and quietly watch short videos until the bell.
9. Grade 1: children use a drawing app to make a labeled picture of a plant, then tell the teacher what each label means.
10. Grade 11: students type an argumentative essay, the teacher leaves comments in the document, and students revise twice.
11. Grade 5: 10 minutes of typing practice that shows speed and accuracy after each round.
12. Grade 12: a student messages a teacher through the learning platform to ask a question about a lab procedure.
Handout B for Minutes With a Purpose: A Screen Time Audit
Purpose Sort: cards to sort
Cut apart the strips. Sort each one onto the mat and be ready to explain why.
Sheet 2 of 2
13. Grade 6: a points-and-badges review game where the fastest answer wins, and no one explains answers.
14. Grade 7: students scroll a recommended-video feed "for research" with no question to answer and nothing to turn in.
Handout C for Minutes With a Purpose: A Screen Time Audit
Grade-Band Guidance Drafter
Draft guidance for school-issued devices that prioritizes creating over consuming, protects unplugged time, and names the evidence of learning you'll look for. This is a draft for discussion, not policy.
Our vision in one sentence: "In our schools, students use school devices when…"
K–2: purposes to prioritize • what stays unplugged (hands-on play, talk, handwriting, read-alouds) • evidence of learning we'll look for:
3–5: purposes to prioritize • what stays unplugged • evidence of learning we'll look for:
6–8: purposes to prioritize • what stays unplugged • evidence of learning we'll look for:
9–12: purposes to prioritize • what stays unplugged • evidence of learning we'll look for:
Who might be left out? (students whose IEP or 504 plan calls for assistive technology, emergent bilinguals who use translation or read-aloud tools, students without home internet) How does our guidance protect them?
Our local data plan. Sources (circle two or more): teacher time study • student logs • device reports. The question each source answers, and one limitation of each. Privacy safeguards: what we collect, who sees it, how we report it (grade band or campus, never by student), when we delete it:
How will families understand the change? One sentence we'd say at a family night:
Facilitator only for Minutes With a Purpose: A Screen Time Audit
Answer key and notes
Handout B: Purpose Sort
| Item | Sort | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Kindergarten: the class watches a 4-minute read-aloud video of a picture book while the teacher sets up centers. No discussion follows. | Consume / watch | No task is attached and no evidence is left. A live read-aloud with talk would teach more; the video could still work with a question before and after. |
| 2. Grade 4: pairs build a stop-motion clay video explaining the water cycle, then revise one scene after peer feedback. | Create | Students make an original explanation and revise it. The video and the revision are the evidence. |
| 3. Grade 7 science: pairs find three sources on whether a local creek is safe for swimming and record who published each one. | Research & collaborate | The evidence is the source log and the reasoning about who is behind each source. |
| 4. Grade 3: 20 minutes a day on an adaptive math app. The teacher reads the weekly report but never changes groups or reteaches from it. | Practice with feedback & assess | Students get feedback, but the loop stops there. Close call: it becomes strong practice only when an adult acts on the data. |
| 5. Grade 10: students watch a 12-minute documentary segment, pausing at three teacher-set stops to write a claim and the evidence for it. | Research & collaborate | The report calls this 'watch' because it's a video site, but students are gathering and evaluating evidence. The claims on paper are the evidence. |
| 6. Grades 9–12: students take a 20-question online benchmark test. | Practice with feedback & assess | Assessment. Ask how fast results come back and whether anyone uses them to change instruction. |
| 7. Grade 6: students co-write a shared document with a class in another Texas city comparing a month of local rainfall records. | Research & collaborate | The device makes the partnership possible; the evidence is the comparison and the questions students ask each other. |
| 8. Grade 8: students who finish early are told to "get on your device" and quietly watch short videos until the bell. | Consume / watch | Filler time. It shows up as school-device minutes with no learning purpose. An unplugged extension or a reading choice would do more. |
| 9. Grade 1: children use a drawing app to make a labeled picture of a plant, then tell the teacher what each label means. | Create | The telling is the evidence. Crayons would work too; the app helps only if it lets children record or revise their labels. |
| 10. Grade 11: students type an argumentative essay, the teacher leaves comments in the document, and students revise twice. | Create | Writing and revising is making. Close call with feedback: the visible revision history is strong evidence of learning. |
| 11. Grade 5: 10 minutes of typing practice that shows speed and accuracy after each round. | Practice with feedback & assess | Immediate feedback on a skill students will use. Keep it short and purposeful. |
| 12. Grade 12: a student messages a teacher through the learning platform to ask a question about a lab procedure. | Research & collaborate | Communication in service of learning. Few minutes, high value; minute counts undervalue it. |
| 13. Grade 6: a points-and-badges review game where the fastest answer wins, and no one explains answers. | Practice with feedback & assess | It is practice with right/wrong feedback, but speed can reward guessing. Close call: add a pause to explain one answer and the evidence improves. |
| 14. Grade 7: students scroll a recommended-video feed "for research" with no question to answer and nothing to turn in. | Consume / watch | Without a question, the feed chooses the path. Give students a question and a source log and it becomes research. |