Overcoming Resistance

"Where there is an open mind, there will always be a frontier." Charles Kettering

A resistant teacher is one who has no plans on using technology in their class, even though they might be capable of it. The resistant teachers often group together in support of each other. They have decided not to bother with it because of a variety of reasons, such as:

• Political

These teachers won't ever go along with anything that has been proposed by the opposition; which may include the school board, district superintendent, school principal, teacher's union, or fellow teachers. They enjoy being in opposition to someone else and have no plans of resolving their differences, unless everyone comes around to their way of thinking.

• Ideological

These teachers believe that technology is the current distraction that is drawing all of the energy and resources away from the true methods of teaching. They think that more material can be taught and the students learn better by doing it the traditional way with pencil, paper, reports, and textbooks.

• Practical

These teachers were once in favor of it, but now realize that it is probably never going to happen. They don't have the necessary tools in their classroom and see little hope of getting them. They aren't interested in spending their time writing grants or running around looking for old computers that they don't know how to use. They feel that the technology bus has passed them by and are relieved that it is something that they probably won't have to deal with.

The components of our plan for helping a resistant teacher to use technology are:

• Divide and Conquer

  

• Incentives

• Requirements

• Team building

• Resources