No hat, just ponderings re: Technology Integration

I've been doing a lot of thinking about something a colleague recently posted in a discussion on reluctance in technology integration in schools. He said that perhaps the key to success is pulling people into technology instead of pushing them. He suggested that instead of making people buy into an idea, we should let the people who already accept the idea encourage others by sharing how easy/useful it is for them. Hopefully, by hearing how wonderful other people think it is or seeing the difference it makes in their classroom, the reluctant ones will come to accept the ideas well. At the time, I thought it was a really inspired idea. After thinking about it for a few weeks and interacting with people who are reluctant technology users, I've changed my mind. Sometimes people really do need a push, even if they don't realize it.

It was sharing my internship experience with someone that recently really got me thinking about the whole push vs. pull argument. When I requested my internship placement, I put heavy emphasis on the fact that I wanted to teach the primary grades. It was what I knew, loved, and was comfortable with. Everyone wants to have a positive internship experience and in my mind, a primary placement guaranteed a positive experience for me. You can imagine my trepidation when I received notice that I would be in a grade 6 class. I was terrified. Those middle years' kids were bigger and meaner and scarier. I went into my first week of internship expecting the worst from the students AND myself. I was out of my element and so had little confidence in what I was doing. After a somewhat bumpy start, I discovered that I loved teaching middle years. The independence the students were able to use was something I wasn't used to working with and neither was the ability of the students to form opinions and share thoughtful discussion. I was floored. And every day since then I have been so thankful that the universe pushed me out of my comfort zone and allowed me the opportunity to experience something I never knew I could love. If that push wouldn't have come, I'd probably be singing "Itsy bitsy spider" and sewing sock puppets, never realizing what I was missing.

If I hadn't been pushed to try teaching middle years, would I have done it? I doubt it. It's this realization that has me questioning the power of "pull". I knew people who loved teaching middle years, I knew people who wouldn't have taught anything BUT middle years, but did that make me want to do it? No. I chalked it up to a difference of opinion. The pull of hearing great things about how much people loved teaching middle years' kids, did not make me want to try it. I had to be pushed into it. I think technology is the same.

If we as ET's are really serious about integrating technology, we're going to have to push a few people out of their comfort zone to do it. However, we also need to be there to support them in their efforts and make the experience as positive as possible. I also think that we need to be selective about what we push and when we push it. Pushing someone into trying something that is way beyond their ability level or pushing something that hasn't been tested (and proven) will probably end with undesirable results.

I'm not saying that every push will have the same results as my internship experience, but sometimes it also takes being pushed out of your comfort zone to shock you into re-evaluating your practices. Teachers are supposed to adapt the best practice to educate students. Sometimes that best practice isn't going to fit into your comfort zone. So when resisting that push, you need to consider why you are resisting. Is it because you really don't think it will help educate your students or because you are comfortable doing things the way you've always done them?