I was having a conversation with some co-workers today regarding why some teachers are so reluctant to using technology in their classrooms. I told them I believed that many teachers are reluctant to use technology because they themselves are afraid of technology. Many veteran teachers are hesitant because for many of them they have never had a need for technology in their lives, let alone in the classroom. I asked one veteran teacher why she is so afraid of computers, she is self-admitted technologically challenged, and she stated that she has yet to have a need to use technology. It has been her experience that any technology she has needed was either done for her or she made due without. On a bright note she did say that she would be willing to learn computers if given the opportunity and time. Of course, this opens up a whole new dilemma of where teachers find the time to learn and practice something as important and ever changing as technology.
Something that I have found at while working at my school is that even though many of the veteran teachers don’t want to use technology, they still want all of the up-to-date technology in their classrooms. There is one teacher in my school that uses her Smart-Board maybe once a year (during her yearly observation). This upsets me so much because I think that it is so selfish of her to keep something in her room that she never uses, knowing that so many other people could potentially get great use out of it! She is a veteran teacher. It would be one thing if she wanted to take the time to actually learn how to incorporate this technology into the classroom. But it is a totally different story to keep something in a classroom just because she is a veteran teacher and feels as though she deserves it!
Well, it’s encouraging that she’d be willing if she had the time. How important is it that teachers be learners? To be truly great teachers; we need to be students. It’s easy to forget what it’s like to be a learner.
pete
When someone has the drive to learn, they find the time. But I think it’s easy for us to stay in our comfort zones, especially if we believe that our methods, routines or whatever, are working.
Schools can spend tens of thousands of dollars on technology, but if they don’t provide (sometimes ongoing) training, and if the teachers are not enthusiastic about the technology, it will never be used.
This is something I think about often. I think it really comes down to self-motivation. If a person is open-minded to change and sincerely believes in being a lifelong learner, then that person makes time to try out new things. Of course learning about or using technology for technology’s sake is pointless. Teachers need to see and believe that incorporating a new technology into their repertoire is either going to help them appeal to more student needs or boost their personal productivity. Unfortunately, in just 1 1/2 years of teaching, I have run into a number of colleagues who are closed-minded about anything new. By their actions they’re saying that if something has worked for me all along, why should I change it.