Teachers and Tech.

It was interesting, I had the opportunity to read Vivian’s Weblog and she commented that children are very versatile,  but teaching teachers technology can be a big issue.  I could not agree more.  Although,  I am not all geared up about computers myself I have always been sure that I  learn what I need to, to do my job.  However, many members of my staff do not share my feelings on this matter. I can recall the opposition I received when I had to be the one to inform my staff that the district was requiring that all attendance be entered on CIMS (our districts management system) everyday by teachers.  During this discussion things got very heated and much of their frustration was directed at me (the shoot the messenger mentality).  The complaints ranged from my computer is crap, to I can never get on line,  to I don’t have the time, to what if the system crashes.  I have been faced with opposition before about things that have been directed by senior admin. however, this was unbelievable.  As I reflect back , I now know that most of the hostility was generated by fear, fear of the unknown.  Teaching is  something that many of these teachers are masters at but technology is an area they know very little about and quite frankly it intimadates  them.  At one point I had to be blunt and use the analogy that if they were in the banking industry and had been for the last 20 years that the job would look very different today than it did 20 years ago, so the technology piece in education is just a sign of the times as it is in all fields of work.