EDU 6250 article 2

Powell, W. & Kusuma-Powell, O. (2015). Overcoming resistance to new ideas. Phi Delta Kappan, 96 (8) 66-69. Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=9&sid=5e0ea98f-c262-45f0-89fd-d88dae804bda%40sessionmgr115&hid=101&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=a9h&AN=102291250

The article I read dealt with the resistance to change many teachers may face when implementing new strategies in the classroom.  Technology is often a new idea for the classroom, and is constantly changing, but this article covered a wider concern than just technology.  The article begins by discussing how during a staff survey about differentiated instruction, many teachers had negative feelings toward the validity or viability of implementing differentiated instruction.  Many teachers either saw no reason for the change, because they felt their students were succeeding with the current model, or thought there is simply not enough time and resources to complete the adaptation.  The article discusses how this negative feedback is a result of underlying beliefs and attitudes that many teachers have that cause them to cling to the status quo for their classroom.  In many cases, the teacher may not even be aware of the fact that they have an underlying belief that causes them to be so resistant.  The author notes that these teachers who had these adaptive challenges were generally considered good instructors, and had their student’s best interest in mind. 

The proposed idea to combat this resistance was to create opportunities for deep reflection and cooperative learning.  The article mentioned how important it was to create an environment where the instructors did not feel threatened, as many teachers strive to "protect our self-esteem, our reputation with colleagues, our perception of past success, and even our feelings of professional fulfillment" (p. 67).  The study was conducted by grouping the resistant teachers together, and giving them an opportunity to explore their underlying beliefs by answering open ended questions.  These questions dealt with feelings of success in the classroom, strategies for helping struggling students, and what student success really means to them.  These questions provided an opportunity for the teachers to reflect and discuss their ideas about how their classroom is structured.  After the discussion, teachers were asked to identify one goal they had for their classroom that involved adaptive change, and then they were set up in groups to help them co-plan, co-teach, and co-reflect on the process.  This process was continued over an extended period of time, as the changes in the classroom are often not made overnight, but rather through a gradual process. 

The outcome of this study was that by introducing this reflective method to a small group of teachers, the method spread throughout the school.  The teachers in the study used to the same reflective process within their team and department meetings.  The teachers saw the benefit to working collaboratively and using the reflective process to overcome obstacles in making changes in their classrooms.

This article I believe really hits at the heart of the resistance to technology.  Many teachers become comfortable with the status quo, and perhaps without even realizing it, develop underlying beliefs that cause negative reactions to implementing new strategies / technologies.  The study suggests several good ideas for overcoming these issues, however in my experience for the college level, it is much easier for instructors to resist the team approach.  The cooperative exploration may help many teachers at the college level, but there are those teachers who will choose to omit themselves.  There is not much an associate dean can do to force participation by individual instructors.  In a public school system, it would seem much easier to require this type of training.  This isolation only becomes an issue if new technology requirements need to be approved by an entire department, which often is not the case.  Thus I think using this cooperative strategy, which my college are encourages, is a great way to overcome obstacles in continually updating a teacher’s current style.