Discussion 2.5

• Review the resources provide in the Module Resources folder.  Use these and any additional supporting, scholarly documents as evidence to illustrate what you see as the best strategies for motivating teachers to collaborate and modify their lesson plans to incorporate technology.

When one teacher does amazing things you get two reactions.  One, everyone wants to follow him/her whether they know how to or not.  Two, people ignore him/her and pass off the amazing feats as silliness, ridiculousness or "my students couldn't do that".  This creates two possible reactions from the teacher who did the amazing thing.  He can either share it openly and try to pass on that great teaching moment onto others.  Or he can ignore the resentment and continue to do amazing things by himself.  For so many years teacher's lesson plans were their guarded secrets.  People were afraid that if you shared your lesson plan that someone else would get the credit for it.  But to my knowledge teaching has never been a job in which you got a raise for being a great teacher.  We all get paid on the same scale.  Fundamentally, teaching is not about teachers and their accolades, it's about kids learning in whatever method works best for them.  



John Hunter motivates teachers by motivating kids.  His inspirational talk about the World Peace Game would make anyone want to become a teacher.  He spent years perfecting a single lesson plan but will readily tell you that it is the kids who play the game that are creating the lesson.  Hunter would love to make money selling this game around the country but it is so complex he is hard pressed to even write down the directions.  If you come to his classroom you are more than welcome to participate and marvel as his students do what our Congress cannot and what the UN has been attempting to do for half a century (Hunter,  2011).
When teachers work together to put their best ideas forward and when they allow their students to be co-authors of their own learning everything is more effective and engaging.  Motivation stems from engagement whether it is teachers challenging each other's ideas to build a more rigorous unit plan or lesson or whether it's learners challenging their instructors to rise to their learning potential.  Collaboration is a way that teachers can feel like they are not in the dark all by themselves (Cofino, 2010).  When teachers have the opportunity to discuss concerns, ideas and methods it makes for a more comfortable environment and allows for many different ideas to flourish.  If there are a few teachers who are tech savvy then they can serve as somewhat of a mentor for the others who may be a little slower.  This allows the Technology Integrator to have more time to research for new tools and resources that can be utilized.  I do not think that the mentors should have all the burden but help serve as a quick reference.  If teachers are more willing to ask questions, as they encourage their students to do, then more progress can be made and the technology will begin to soar through the classrooms and become second nature.

Resources:
Cofino, K. (2010).  Creating a Culture of Collaboration Through Technology Integration.  Always learning:  Teaching technology abroad.  Retrieved from:  http://kimcofino.com/blog/2010/03/20/creating-a-culture-of-collaboration-through-technology-integration/
Hunter, J.  (2011).  John hunter:  Teaching with the world peace game.  TED.  Retrieved from: http://www.ted.com/talks/john_hunter_on_the_world_peace_game.html