Least Tern > But not Least

But Not Least...June 7, 2004

The Teacher in Oz

Understanding the Reluctant Teacher and Change in School Culture

Continuing the discussion of Professional Development for the 21st Century begun in The Flickering Teacher

 Introduction: Other Models | Why Oz | Kansas | Finding Dorothy | The Journey | The Oz Team | How to be a Witch

The Yellow Brick Road | Getting FIT | Changing Home | Bibliography

The Oz Plan | The Total Cost of Change | Decision Prioritizer

In March of this year I wrote about The Flickering Teacher and the essential role (both positive and negative) that the School Culture plays in the continuing survival of this important component of education today. The points made in that essay, that school Leadership bears the burden of Change and of supporting the teacher's role in Change and understanding the inevitable tendency for the Flickering Teacher to become rigid in the classroom, are further expanded in this essay.

The metaphor, however, is different. In planning a presentation for the Lausanne Laptop Institute on "buy-in strategies" for "The Reluctant Teachers," termed The Late Majority (of adaptors of technology integration or technology use at all) by Geoffrey Moore, I determined that long-term professional development was the only viable focus of my attention. I revisited my earlier essay and investigated other models:

• I thought through the coming of age journey through futuristic Zimbabwe described by Nancy Farmer in The Ear, the Eye and the Arm. The three mutant detectives for whom the novel is named provide an apt metaphor for how professional development must be approached by school Leadership:
  • Listen carefully to the Teacher;
  • Watch her carefully and know where she has been, where she is, and where she is going;
  • Support her with a strong arm. 
• I considered Finding Nemo, another story of a reluctant and undeveloped character undertaking a learning journey. The story contains significant elements for comparison to our topic, such as the character and resilience of Nemo and his anxious father Marlin, and the unlikely alliances that help father find son and son to survive (pelican, vegetarian shark, Dory, Gill). It is important to think of the Reluctant Teacher, Marlin, as deeply attached to his children and willing to take risks in order to follow them along "dangerous" paths. The confidence gained by Marlin is actually confidence "regained" - just as the Reluctant Teacher will (or will not) find in the technology-enriched teaching experience a new confidence and new, different successes.
• I considered also the model presented by Steve Hodas in an essay entitled "Technology Refusal and the Organizational Culture of Schools," which makes the point that the school is itself a Machine and that the Reluctant Teacher survives by playing a role within it that is highly subscribed by custom and educational practice (described as the rigidity of the wick in The Flickering Teacher). This role creates a tension characterized by the push-pull of "fear of embarrassment by" and "necessary power over" students. He argues that until the school machine itself is able to reduce or eliminate this tension the Reluctant Teacher will not be able to embrace "new" teaching strategies necessary for technology integration. Furthermore, Hodas suggests that the ability of Reluctant Teachers to embrace technologies is related to the lack of curiosity and impetus for development that draws them to be teachers in the first place.

There are conceptual problems with all three models. Each powerfully underestimates the Reluctant Teacher. It is simplistic and self-defeating to view the Reluctant Teacher as overwhelmed by Technology's Negative Aspects, Frozen by Anxiety, Afraid of Change, On a Classroom Power Trip, Victimized and Helpless, or Technologically Inept. Teachers who fit these profiles do exist, but they are not in the Reluctant Teacher pool. Those teachers will NEVER embrace technology in the classroom and thus are outside of the scope of this essay. The true Reluctant Teacher is much more complex. He or she will, however, display the above listed characteristics at times, making it is easy to believe that focusing professional development upon any one of them will "solve the problem." But that is not enough.

I found a richer model in the story of Dorothy and her journey to Oz.

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Why Oz? 

Oz came into my mind on a tornado. In a short post to one of the lists, Nancy Willard (I believe) drew attention to a book by Geoffrey A. Moore.  Moore has, in fact, written two books about technology and change in the corporate world. Inside the Tornado focuses upon the precipitating event - the Tornado - and the range of responses to it. Crossing the Chasm discusses the gap which follows, a gap between the Early Adaptors and Early Majority, who I am going to call Enthusiasts, and the Late Majority, our Reluctant Teachers. If Moore's Technology Adoption Life Cycle holds true for education, as it does from my experience, Reluctant Teachers make up as much as 30% of a school's faculty & staff. Moore argues that the Enthusiasts are visionaries, while the Reluctants are pragmatists, or "prove-it" people. Moreover, he claims that the gap between them is widened by the inability of the Enthusiasts to talk to or understand the Reluctants. The Reluctants, on the other hand, are in awe of the Enthusiasts, believe and trust them - Enthusiasts become Gurus. Although I don't agree with much of this model, it provides us with a beginning.

Jamie McKenzie, in a From Now On article entitled "Reaching the Reluctant Teacher", alludes to Moore's work, but from the point of view of adult learning styles, identifying the Reluctant Teacher and the nature of the learning task that the Tornado of change drops upon her. He focuses upon the need for professional development over time and upon the pedagogical needs and standards that must characterize it . Although again I do not agree with some of McKenzie's opinions, professional development for the use of technology is definitely the middle of the story.

A good story also has a strong End, and it is here that I feel that the key to understanding and developing the Reluctant Teacher lies. Interestingly, after I completed the draft of my presentation Jamie McKenzie published another essay, this one entitled "Wonder Boxes, Window Boxes and Window Shades". He argues that the education of children has retreated from the development of Wonder. He fails, however, to apply this to the education of the Reluctant Teachers, and therefore, I believe, falls short of identifying the the best Ending. This is where we are going, for it is what happens after professional development that is the key to Reluctant Teacher "buy-in."

In short, I believe that the only possible solution to Reluctant Teacher buy-in is Professional Development coupled with a change in School Culture. Further, every bit of professional development for the Reluctant Teacher, from 15 minutes grabbed in a hallway to a summer long course, should be looked upon as a Trip to Oz. Jamie McKenzie argues that the Reluctant Teacher does not like surprises and adventures. I think the Reluctant Teacher does not like Professional Development Surprises and Adventures. However, as Seymour Papert reminds us, "Learning is hard fun," and few students rush willingly into the adventure. The Reluctant is far more capable of adventure than most administrators and trainers credit her for. By limiting our understanding of the teacher, we greatly limit our ability to move her toward technology adoption.

It is important to begin with an understanding of The Reluctant Teacher within the School Culture - Dorothy in Kansas.

Kansas

E. Sky-McIlvain 6/10/04