Unplugged Teaching: Presence Before Platforms
Why the most transformative teaching doesn’t begin with tools—it begins with attention.
We talk a lot about engagement in schools.
But what if the most powerful tool for engagement isn’t a tool at all?
What if it’s the teacher’s presence—their eyes, their voice, their posture, their stillness?
The Big Idea
In a time of apps, dashboards, and infinite plug-ins, it’s easy to think that teaching starts with the right platform. The right curriculum. The right slides. The right AI tool.
But none of those matter if we’re not there—really there—with our students.
Presence Before Platforms is the principle that good teaching begins not with just preparation or performance, but with attentiveness.
To be present is to be available, open, and grounded. It means holding space for students to think, speak, try, and fail without fear.
Before students will care about your content, they need to know that you care about them, not as a strategy but as a habit of being. Authenticity is what makes you matter to them.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Imagine starting a class by sitting on a stool. No slides. No opening objectives. No tech. Just you and your students.
You tell them you’d be creating a story—together—and they would help shape it.
You made up a Latin sentence. Then another. A pattern emerged. A character formed. Laughter broke out. There was eye contact. Curiosity. Energy.
What you are offering them isn’t a feature: it is your full attention.
And the classroom would be transformed. Presence is quiet, but it’s powerful.
Unplugged Teaching is a series about rediscovering the joy of human-centered learning. Each essay explores simple, powerful strategies that require minimal tech, spark deeper student engagement, and help teachers reconnect with the heart of their craft.
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Why It Works
Because students are hungry for attention. Not performance. Not information. Attention.
In a noisy, distracted world, presence communicates something profoundly human: You matter. I’m with you. Let’s build this together.
We are all seeking acknowledgement. What is the most beautiful sound in the English language? Your name.
That’s where learning lives—in shared time, shared language, shared experience.
And here’s the secret: when presence is consistent, students begin to offer it back. They begin to listen more deeply. They begin to risk more openly. They begin to care about each other, about the content, about themselves.
No platform can do that for you.
How You Can Try This
As we return to school, try one thing new this year. Begin one class without any tech—just your voice and your eyes. See what happens. It may be a great way to start the school year.
Ask a student a genuine question and stay silent long enough to hear the full answer. Let that awkwardness settle in. The kind that makes everyone uncomfortable.
Pause before giving directions. Make eye contact with every student in the room.
Try not talking for a minute. Let the silence stretch into attentiveness.
Presence isn’t about charisma. It’s about making room.
Final Thought
I’m not anti-technology. Far from it! I use it every day.
But I’ve learned not to lead with it.
I gave a talk on the implementation of technology at a conference in Orlando back in 2012. Even back then, I was arguing for balance when it comes to the integration of technology in the classroom. I had an old friend, who was a colleague and our department chair, named Bill McGrath. He was a very traditional teacher—lots of paper, note-taking—but he was a jewel at our school because he cared. He connected. He shared stories. He made history come alive.
Bill was dubious of technology because he felt it complicated things, muddled voices, dulled the experience. So, when it came to the implementation of technology, I used an acronym: WWBMD → What would Bill McGrath do?
Sadly, Bill is no longer with us, but his example lives on in our hearts. I still use WWBMD to figure out whether or not I should integrate a new tool, or if I am gumming up the works.
Because what transforms a classroom isn’t what’s on the screen—it’s who’s in the room.
And whether we’re brave enough to be fully present with one another while we learn. Bill did that, we all need to follow his example.
Unplugged Teaching is a series on low-tech, high-impact teaching practices that prioritize presence, curiosity, and connection in the classroom.
If this sparked something, share it with a fellow teacher.