The job of a technology coach is to help teachers become more comfortable, competent, and creative working with digital tools, especially as schools increasingly rely on those tools for instruction.
But getting buy-in from teachers for that coaching can be a challenge.
“It’s always been hard to get teachers to work with us initially,” said Patricia Ferris, a technology integration specialist for the Kankakee school district in Illinois. “They don’t really know about you. They don’t know what you do. They don’t really know if they need that [coaching].”
Teachers are on different points on the technology-use spectrum, Ferris said, from those who are not big tech users or are maybe afraid of using new digital tools to those who think they already know everything there is to know about technology.
Technology coaches need to keep that in mind when they are thinking of ways to get teachers on board and as they develop those relationships, Ferris said.
During a July 2 poster session at the ISTELive 25 + ASCD Annual Conference 25 here, Ferris and Stacie Tefft, an instructional technology coach for the Learning Technology Center of Illinois, shared the successful strategies they’ve used to incentivize teachers to work with the tech coaches.
Here are examples of those strategies :
- Coaching punch cards: This is an incentive system in which teachers receive a stamp for engaging in a coaching session, a tech-tool integration, or tech-related professional learning activities. When their punch cards are completed, teachers get a small prize or recognition.
- Digital badge program: With a badging system, teachers can earn microcredentials for mastering and applying tech tools aligned to district goals.
- Tech treasure hunt: This digital scavenger hunt guides teachers to explore hidden features or creative uses of familiar tech tools.
- Extreme makeover: Modeled after the reality TV show, this is a challenge that encourages teachers to swap outdated or inefficient practices for modern, tech-enhanced alternatives.
- 12 days of “techmas”: This is a holiday-themed daily tech challenge, in which teachers try new or new-to-them digital tools. They can receive small incentives for completion.
These bite-sized learning opportunities have helped teachers become more open-minded about tech coaching, Ferris said. Perhaps, most importantly, teachers have been grateful about learning new ways to engage their students.
“They’re like, ‘Oh, I didn’t really know technology could do this,’ or ‘My students are excited to learn with some of this tech integration,’” Ferris said. “Once you get the hook and the buy-in, [teachers] want to keep working with you on different tools and strategies.”
Ferris recommends starting small to build relationships and asking teachers what would work for them.
“Try some things out with some of the teachers who you know will want to work with you,” she said. “It’s a trial-and-error thing.”
