Many classrooms these days are looking to make the technology in their classrooms seamless, a standard part of what they do. This is great. Our students live in an environment where they use technology outside school all the time and to keep it out of their hands at school would be doing them a huge disservice. However, it’s important to remember what it means to have technology be seamless, and truly a standard part of what we do.

Pencils are used seamlessly in schools. They are available to students when they want them. The students know how to use them safely. And the adults don’t take them away (unless, of course, the students are using the pencils in an unsafe manner). And of course, no matter how poorly a student may have behaved in one subject, it would be unheard of to then take away his/her pencil for another subject.

But in too many classrooms where we are trying to integrate technology, our mindset isn’t quite where it needs to be. If we truly believe that we want to seamlessly integrate technology, then we can never use it as a behavioral carrot. If the plans are to use iPads (or any other piece of technology) in math, then no matter how poor student decisions were earlier in the day the iPads have to come out in math.

We can no longer say, “Well, you didn’t listen well in that last lesson, so we’re not going to use [insert shiny technology] this afternoon.” Would we ever catch ourselves saying “Well, you didn’t listen well in that last lesson, so we’re not going to use pencils this afternoon”? Or lined paper? Or pattern blocks? No, that would be absurd.

Technology cannot be a carrot. It can’t be a behavioral bribe. If we truly believe technology is a core part of what we do, then we can’t take it away (unless students are using it inappropriately).