Break down
the walls:
CONNECTING WITH TECH-
RESISTANT TEACHERS
Access to technology
does not equal equity.
School leaders must
attach the technology
to an educator’s
purpose, creating
connections and
building capacity to
ensure every student
has an up-to-date
learning experience.
16
Leadership
Walk into the classrooms of
any school in the nation, and you will wit-
ness varying levels of technology integra-
tion.
In one classroom, students may create
stop-motion animation videos to dem-
onstrate the laws of physics, then post the
videos on a website to teach a partner class
halfway across the world.
In the classroom next door, you may dis-
cover a teacher fraught with frustration as he
or she once again struggles to remember the
username and password to log in to his or
her email. In this classroom a Chromebook
cart remains locked, unopened, and collects
dust in the corner of the room.
Rolling out 1:1 devices to all classrooms is
not enough. Access alone does not guaran-
tee equal opportunity.
Devices are not the answer. Innovative
teachers who recognize the power of tech-
nology will maximize the resources avail-
able to them. One teacher may allow stu-
dents to access their personal cell phones to
research information on search engines and/
or YouTube, yet another collects all personal
technological devices prior to the class pe-
riod with a strict “No Cell Phones” policy,
requiring students to rely solely on an out-
dated textbook to access information.
Students have a wealth of information at
their fingertips. They have calculators and
encyclopedias available at the touch of a but-
ton via a smartphone. As educators, we have
a moral obligation to guide students in using
these devices safely and appropriately.
The students of today may have grown
up with technology in their hands from the
time they were toddlers, but that does not
mean they know how to curate information,
analyze the credibility of sources, or provide
attribution to creators of media.
Educational leaders play a vital role in
guaranteeing an equitable environment for
each and every student, to ensure that re-
gardless of the class that each child is in, he
or she will receive a technology-rich learning
experience that promotes responsible use.
Create connections to build capacity
How might we create equal opportunities
for students when we face teachers who are
resistant to technology integration? As lead-
ers, we could opt for a top-down approach
with mandates and new initiatives. This may
By Katherine Goyette and
Adam Juarez