Teaching is an "emerging profession," meaning we aren't at a place yet where teaching has the same status as the other professions (medicine, for example) but there has been movement in that direction over the past decade (witness the establishment of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, which is similar to the American Boards of Medicine). Technology and leadership are new factors in this professional context and are shaping and being shaped by this movement. The resources you've explored were selected to encourage you to consider what this means, from your perspective. There are three guiding questions for entries in this discussion (you can answer them in one large posting - or - break it up into three smaller postings:
- The article examining the role of technology as a change agent in teacher practice describes the knowledge and skills that will be needed to capitalize on the potential of technology to transform teaching and learning. After reading this article, what are your thoughts about the implications for leaders who are either formally or informally responsible for paving the way for this "change agent" and the transformation of teacher practice; what do they need to know and be able to do?
- In looking at the information about the new Teacher Leadership National Board Certification, the WV Professional Teaching Standards, and the ISTE NETS-T Standards, what role do you think Teacher Leadership plays in the context of efforts to "professionalize" teaching, and what does TL look like from the perspective of these professional standards?
- In her interview, Gayle Moller describes what she believes are conditions and/or resources are necessary to promote and support Teacher Leadership, what do you think of her position?
I have been out of the MAT program for just about a year and I was not aware of the efforts to create standards for teacher leaders before reading some of these articles. Although I am not always a fan of standards in this case I am. I am a older student and was involved in efforts by the American Dietetic Association to add standards to the profession. Like teachers there was certification before the standards of practice but with the addition the professionalism went through the roof. The profession seen more value by other health care professionals as well as business leaders. I think the efforts of the National Board Certification along with the WV Professional Teaching Standards will also make the profession of teaching more professional. I am a union member and the unions have often fought merit raises or retention of workers based on reviews but when reading the article that outlined the process being used in some states I think it is a good idea. I think that support of new teachers is very important. Teachers go through a training period but when you are in charge of your own classroom things happen that you may not have expected and many new teachers are timid to ask for help but if they have a mentor that have their success at stake and are available and open to help the new teacher has a valuable resource. When reading Gayle Moller's interview I was glad to see that there is a growing interest in teacher leadership and changes happening in how teacher leadership is viewed and going back to my first statement I was not aware of the changes taken place before this course and reading more articles. I think for me the most important sentence was ...teacher leaders accept responsibility for achieving the outcomes of their leadership. I think that this is so important because if the teacher leader does not take responsibility for the outcome of others they will lose opportunities to help others. I am glad to see that there are ongoing efforts to support peers and that teachers are being held accountable. Now that I said that I am also glad that administrators and the educational community are providing leadership opportunities and in doing so support for teachers who need some guidance.
ReplyDeleteAs educators I think that we need to be involved with developing the standards for peer evaluations so that they reflect what makes an effective teacher and make sure there is help for teachers who maybe struggling in some areas.
Teacher's need to be responsible for their classrooms. A professional takes responsibility, enjoys the benefits, but accepts the consequences. I agree that there is a growing movement in education for the teacher to take more responsibility. The only concern I have is being held accountable for problems that are out of a teacher's hands. As a teacher I have authority and can effect change in the lives of my students, however, there are other influences that have more effect than I. If accountability is the goal for education then it should take into consideration the other, more powerful, outside influences that effect test scores. Just as action research is qualitative because it is impossible to eliminate all outside factors to obtain clear causality, so should student test scores be considered qualitative. Evaluations can literally destroy a person's livelihood. As a result I do not feel student test scores should be included in teacher evaluations, especially as long as the evaluation process is so clearly black or white, competent or incompetent. The word "incompetent" has such negative connotations associated with it that to be labeled such would destroy a teacher's career. Mentor's and teacher leaders could help but only if they treat the "incompetent" teacher as one of their students, where they teach the teacher's entire being, head, heart, and hands. The teacher leader must be compassionate and understand the entire situation before casting judgement. I am a competent and talented teacher and I will never be a teacher leader who decides which teacher's should stay and which should go. I will not be the first to throw stones or cast judgement. Let one whom is more intelligent than I decide who is "incompetent."
DeleteI agree with you that “teacher leaders accept responsibility for achieving the outcomes of their leadership.” I think if you go into a leadership position and do not expect to see changes, then you’re not really a leader. But that being said, I’m not sure I like the Moller’s ideas on peer evaluations. Every teacher is an individual. Just as every student is an individual, with different learning styles that fit their abilities and personality best, every teacher has different instructional styles that best fit their personality and their manipulation of their content. I have seen with various technologies (clickers, interactive whiteboard, student laptops, iPads, etc.), and I have seen some work great in one teacher’s classroom because it fits his/her teaching style, but not be effective in another teacher’s classroom because it takes too much effort to make it fit, energy and effort that could better be used on an instructional method/technology that fits their classroom. One size does not fit all.
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ReplyDelete3. In her interview, Gayle Moller describes what she believes are conditions and/or resources are necessary to promote and support Teacher Leadership, what do you think of her position?
ReplyDeleteGayle Moller states that teacher leadership must start with the principal in the building and work its’ way down to the bottom. Another critical part of having teacher leaders is having a good working environment that will foster growth and allow and encourage leaders to emerge from the ranks. I think that she has an interesting position on the concept. She also stated that policies could be developed in which teachers who take a leadership role can be compensated financially.
While learning in this class and through reading the various articles, I have become more aware of the ever changing system that has developed over the years. Department chairs have waned in my school district and more teacher leaders have stepped forward to fill in various needs in the school. The appearance of these leaders is a welcome addition to our school culture and greatly helps the development of both staff and students. It has established an interactive staff that is friendly and learns from each other on a daily basis. This culture of sharing information and ideas is to the benefit of everyone involved. Teachers have the potential to get more ideas and student scores go up.
Personally, I don’t see a problem with her vision of paying teachers for their extra work. The only foreseeable problem with this idea and she mentioned a way to compensate for it in her article was developing a system that is comprehensive and is based on several people to ensure that people do not get paid unfairly. Currently, teachers are learning more because they want to become better teachers and to help their district perform better. Even though I do not see anything wrong with compensating teachers for their time and hard work, I do think that something can be said for teachers who just want to make their school better.
The article stressed the idea that technology should be used for more than just a supplemental tool for the current modes of teaching. Technology can be used to usher in a new era of education where the students are the teachers and the learning is collaborative between all parties involved. The students can use technology to teach themselves and their peers. The teacher no longer needs to be the all knowing authority figure in a classroom because technology can play an equal role. Now the classroom has many teachers and the old teacher has become a facilitator of learning, not an imparter of knowledge. Technology enables students to reach vast new opportunities of learning including working together to form a database of combined knowledge or publish their reviews of a book they have read just to name a few. These examples of how technology can take the burden of the all knowing and replace it with a sense of philosophy, discussion, cooperation and debate.
ReplyDeleteFor this new frontier of education a teaching professional must be prepared to relinquish control of knowledge. The students may know more about a subject than the teacher and that is okay. Pride and a sense of purpose are potential gains for student education if the teacher can learn to embrace technology in its fullest extent. Technology is not meant to replace the teacher but is quickly become an equal. As an equal technology will provide helpful insight and effect methodologies to aid in the discovery of new knowledge for the student. A teaching professional can use technology in the best possible way for the education of the students and in doing so will find a means of blazing a trail to the new horizon of education.
The new professional standards represented in the articles are great news for teacher leaders and education in America. Long has education been the subject of great debate where all those present are intelligent and worthy to offer insight, but notably lacking from the debate are the teachers themselves. With these new standards of professionalism a teacher leader can stand tall in the presence of other professionals. We are professionals and now we have the standards and the practices to prove such statements. Teachers now have the documentation to enter into the debates that continuously swirl around the education of this nation. Professionals who are outside education must recognize the wisdom, forethought, and insight that is now joining the debate in the form of the new professional teacher leader.
Gayle Moller has a ton of wonderful ideas. She is one of the founders of the teacher leader. Gayle helped establish teacher professionalism and she continues to be a voice of guidance for those teachers who seek to become more than their current education atmosphere will allow. The idea behind Gayle's ideas is that a teacher should never settle for mediocre. Teachers should continuously grow just like their students and in doing so they become capable of helping others grow as well. A teacher leader is a teacher who is interested in helping other teachers become better educators and grow as a professional. To critique another teacher is hard but Gayle suggests going into other teacher's classrooms and providing support and guidance as they grow to better educator their students. The evaluation process of teachers is meant to be a support system to ultimately help the students and if there is meaningful feedback from someone, a teacher leader, who understands the subtle intricacies of teaching then the students gain tremendously. In this way Gayle's ideas of teacher leaders and the teaching professional become manifest. Peer reviews and a co-worker's critique of best practices is common place in other professions and now that idea has taken hold in education.
1. Technology is the biggest change agent in education that we've seen in generations. As a technology leader in the formal sense, I think teacher technology leaders in the informal need to know what I know in order to be a successful in their positive impact on their school. For one, I am against technology for technologies sake. Unfortunately, there is a tendency towards that in education. Teacher leaders need to get past these types of technologies to find the technologies that students can use to create meaningful and long-reaching learning experiences. Students, as the article alluded to, need to be engaged in technology that is relevant and technology that prepares them for futures in our global competitive market. Teacher technology leaders need to know curriculum, content, student-learning and our global society in order to make these decisions.
ReplyDelete2. The efforts to professionalize teaching, whether it be National Board Certification or the ISTE NETS-T, require the teacher to never stop learning. In order to be an effective teacher , the teacher must constantly crave and seek out continuing education. West Virginia teachers are required to take eighteen hours of continuing education credit every school year. The ISTE NETS-T strand 5 states that “teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model life-long learning, and exhibit leadership...” It takes this continuous education to create not just a good teacher, but also an effective TL. What an effective teacher leader will share with other educators will come from this constant continuing education. In addition, as districts build their professional development plans, they should include teacher leaders. Teacher leaders will give the districts an insight on what specifically teachers in their building need training or education on.
3. I believe Gayle Moller has good intentions, but I think some of her thoughts need major tweaking. For instance, I am wholly opposed to tying teacher evaluations and pay to student test scores. Until we fix many of the problems related to these standardized tests, it's not fair to a teacher to tie their student test scores to his/her pay, his/her livelihood. A great example of this is the tenth grade student who suffered brain damage as a child. In years past, he would have been termed “slow.” Today, he is labeled special education and reads on a fourth-grade level. But he is required in West Virginia to take a standardized test for the tenth grade because that is his age. Should his teacher be punished when he scores novice in every subject on the test? NO! It's not his fault, and it's not the teacher's fault. I read a wonderful article just last week that goes along with what we are talking about here in Module 2: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-shatzky/educating-for-democracy-i_1_b_777236.html . What if doctors were treated like teachers?
Thanks for sharing. That was an interesting and thought-provoking article.
DeleteQuestion 1. After reading the article, "Technology as an Agent of Change in Teacher Practice", I believe the implications for leaders in the transformation of teacher practice are great. Those who are going to be "change agents" need to be able to effectively integrate technology into the curriculum in a meaningful way. The article suggests that technology can be used to aid instruction or radically change education. Currently, I feel that technology is only aiding teacher instruction as additional materials and resources during our instruction. However, I believe teachers are hampered at this time from increasing the role of technology in our teaching. School systems create a pre-determined curriculum based heavily on textbook and traditional instruction. Many teachers utilize the internet for downloading additional worksheets, videos, and other materials. We are mostly limited to these uses not only because of expected curriculum that we must follow (curriculum mapper,etc) but also, technology available to our students. For example, my school has 3 small computer labs to service about 700 students. Effective change agents will have to increase the number of available technology (computers) for students).
ReplyDeleteThe article does suggest some great ideas for using technology. I particularly like using technology for project completion. The article suggests using technology to complete activities that would otherwise be too expensive, dangerous, or radical to complete in real life (i.e. chemistry experiments). Technology can also expand our students world-views. Communicating with scientists, astronauts, or students in another country is possible through the internet.
I agree with the article's summary that teachers will be the key to change in technologies role. We must however, be given the resources and freedom to pursue this role.
Question 2. Looking at the different standards reviewed, I believe they all encompass a goal of "professionalizing teaching". These standards raise the expectations and roles of teachers. Teachers must take a leadership role through continued learning, facilitating knowledge in the classroom, and collaborating with other professionals. Technology is a key component of this process. Remaining knowedgeable of new technology and teaching practices, sharing this information with other teachers and professionals, and utilizing it in the classroom is expected in all of the standards. WV standards require us to utilize 21st Century skills/strategies. NETS also requires teachers to utilize technology to facilitate and model digital learning. This continued expectation to remain an active learner, model professional standards in the school and community, and collaborate with others adds to professional credibility of teachers.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 3. I think that she presents several valid arguments in favor of the conitions and resources necessary to support teacher leadership. One area that I feel is being addressed in my school is teacher support from other teachers/professionals. I have a mentor who is there to assist when I have questions/concerns as well as a new teacher program where I attend educational workshops and receive support.
ReplyDeleteMs. Moller also discusses the role of prinicples in teacher leadership. Our administrators encourage our continued growth and learning through workshops and other opportunities to expand out knowledge. They also encourage us to work outside our "comfort zone" by requiring a technology component in our lessons and our participation in the recent digital learning day, where we were required to contribute a lesson utilizing technology.
I would disagree on some of Ms. Moller's stances considering teacher evaluation and pay. Some students have test taking deficits and learning deficiencies that will remain despite any teacher's effort. It is also unfair to consider standardized testing in such a light. Student motivation and ability often does not reflect the efforts made by teachers in the classroom in some cases. I work with students who have the ability to do much better than their grades/test scores reflect. I have worked dutifully with these students when they are at school and motivated. However, some of these students have missed over 20 days last semester or have other outside influences (parent, community, etc) that have stymied my best efforts.
The nation is finally starting to recognize the importance of teacher leadership. Teacher leaders are critical to advancing the nation’s agenda for school reform. Certification programs represent new ways to develop, recognize and retain top school-based leaders. Teachers who take on the leadership role should share their creative ideas, which is important in the new digital-age era. Teachers should work together to create alternative forms of assessments that will coincide with student’s interest. Teachers should serve as role models to their staff and students. Teachers should not only inspire their students, but they should also inspire other teachers and administrators. They should work together to create positive changes that will impact teacher and student success.
ReplyDeleteThe West Virginia Professional Teaching Standards not only utilize technology as part of curriculum and planning, but exhibit a focus on teacher leadership by encouraging teachers to work collaboratively to develop and support the school mission. My only experience in the school system is when I was student teaching. I didn’t notice any teacher taking the role as a leader, but I did notice that teachers worked together to share ideas, lesson plans, and effective classroom management skills. I agree with Gayle Moller’s three conditions that are necessary to promote teacher leadership. Maybe more teachers would take a leadership role if they were compensated for their extra work and be supported by their fellow coworkers and not ridiculed.
Technology is a great thing when functioning properly; you always have to have a back-up plan when dealing with schools and the Internet. It would be great for all classrooms and students to be provided with computers and be able to work on assignments in school and out. I am a business teacher and using the computer a lot for school work means providing in-class time to complete homework. Not every student has access to a computer outside of school, which can hinder projects and assignments. The Internet is an unlimited source of information that provides a variety of useful activities and real-world tasks. Technology can be the link to experienced learning by actually simulating a lesson, rather than just reading about it. Teachers should realize that empowering the student to search for information and explore possibilities allows freedom and motivation to accomplish a goal. This online class, using only Internet resources, provides a prime example of how teachers can incorporate the use of technology and be successful.
ReplyDeleteTeacher Leadership plays a huge role in building a professional outlook. Teachers need to collaborate with principals and colleagues to improve student learning. The success of the students depends a lot on the learning environment and the support of the teacher to be motivated to set and accomplish their academic goals. This cannot be done with just one teacher or principal; it has to be an overall consensus. Teachers must to work together to provide opportunities outside the classroom through technology and create endless possibilities for their students.
Gayle Moller describes career ladders for teachers; I think that would be beneficial to promote teacher leaders. It should be the choice of the teacher to take on leadership responsibilities, and they should be compensated for their above and beyond effort. I agree that teachers, who want to be leaders and receive a pay raise, do consider administrative positions to further their career. I know that I have considered furthering my education on the administrative career path for those reasons.
Teacher leadership, technology, standards, and so much more. It is safe to say that teacher leadership, and the idea as a whole, are here to stay. No longer can teachers be content to remain secluded in their classrooms. Technology is also constantly evolving, and with the adoption of new standards that not only include technology, but are directly linked to teaching the use and implementation of that technology, it is definitely here to stay. It stands to reason then that teacher leadership will include technology. It will be used to evaluate teacher leadership. Technology will be used to perform teacher leadership. In other instances, technology will be teacher leadership, as technology is constantly advancing, so too must teacher leaders that must teach the use of that technology to their peers. After looking over the different standards, from the National Board standards, to the WV teaching standards, it is apparant that teaching and technology go hand in hand. I remember when technology was its own seperate category, and it still has a small category all to itself. However, many of the standards in the old technology category have been adopted in the other standards, becoming common place in all aspects of teaching.
ReplyDeleteThe one condition that I completey agree with Gayle Moller on is that teachers must become their own advocates when dealing with teacher leadership. I know from my personal experiences, teachers I work with can be involved in leadership roles, but are not necassarily encouraged to do so. In my experiences teacher leaders are not cultivated and groomed, but grow through the small cracks that open when allowed. THe one bright spot I have noticed has been our S3 team. This team was created to address our safety at my school. Several teachers head up this committee. The administration participates in an ex-officio manner, guiding the group, but not involved in the final decisions, just the implementation of the committees decisions. I am hopeful that this leads to more opportunites for teacher leadership at my school.
I like your thoughts oon teachers becoming their own advocates. Being a new teacher, I find this is one of the most difficult aspects of being an effective teacher. However, with the support and collaboration of more experienced teachers, this role becomes much easier. It is nice that you have a team that assists each other in this role.
DeleteThe article examining the agents of change in technology and education bears heavily on the idea that we need to think of technology as amplification for regular lessons and as a change for how we teach. We can look at technology as another teaching tool used every day like pen and paper or we can change our way of teaching so that we use technology to take normal classwork and think outside the box. We now have the means and the connections to examine ideas worldwide instead of what is printed in a textbook. New challenges face teachers and students when looking at the validity of websites and information presented on websites. The question must then be asked, how can we recognize authentic websites from those that are somewhat make-believe? Teachers must be trained to find authentic, reliable sources that information may be collected from. This is where some educators are struggling with technology based assignments instead of textbook work. Teachers can create projects for students to complete using technology based assistance however, if the teacher cannot give the student the best places to find the information, they may not be learning the truth about their particular project. Technology leaders, or simply teacher leaders need to step in with the assistance needed to help every teacher get on the same path with using technology based educational reinforcements to better all students learning.
ReplyDeleteProfessionalizing teaching requires us to basically “prove our worth” to the doubters of our field. The standards the three organizations constructed show ways we can simply change our prospective on our lessons. They give us guidelines to follow to make our craft be more appreciated. WV feels these standards are important guidelines to follow as instructional teaching standards: S1 Curriculum and Planning; S2 The Learner and the Learning Environment; S3 Teaching; S4 Professional Responsibilities for Self-Renewal; S5 Professional Responsibilities for School and Community. As a whole they outline issues we need to be concerned with as teachers, if we follow and exceed their expectations then we will be able to succeed as leaders in our field. To become leaders in our field we need to examine all possibilities we can find to become better educated on new learning techniques whether it is technology or suggestions for a more smoothly run classroom. Everything we do to improve helps us become better leaders as long as we are willing to share and explain what we have learned to others in our field.
Gayle Moller states three examples of teacher leader improvements she hopes will emerge in our profession. The first example was that “meaningful career ladders” need to appear to encourage teachers to become leaders. She mentions that in some school organizations people might be ridiculed or picked on simply because they chose to assume a leadership role. Personally I agree with this idea. We have had the idea to constantly improve drilled into our heads since we were babies trying to walk; why would we not want to continue to rise higher in our profession. Teaching is a profession where we are always learning or teaching others how to learn we need to continue to achieve more for ourselves so we can share our improvements with others. She then states that when teachers add responsibilities to their job they should be given equal pay for the job they assumed. I think more teachers would be willing to take on leadership roles if they were given fair pay for their hard work. With that said if someone assumes a role and they simply can’t handle it then they should be removed from the situation or another teacher leader should assist the struggling individual until they have succeeded. Her last step is to see that school systems take responsibility to make sure their environments are supportive of teacher leadership. I work in very small schools and I have seen many examples of supportive leadership environments; however I have witnessed several teaching environments where leadership is left for the administration only. If the administration is unwilling to let the teachers try to excel then teacher leaders cannot grow as individuals let alone as leaders to their colleagues. I think she makes very good points throughout her interview, teacher leaders are very important to the growth of schools. They help improve all aspects of school: technology, learning, and simply teaching.
ReplyDeleteI posted this to my blog rather than posting it here, I was confused as to where I was suppose to post, sorry this is coming in late.
ReplyDeleteModule 2 Overview
As I was reading the first two readings on our Model 2, I became aware that it is very important that educators understand the difference of using technology as an amplifier and actually using technology as part of the instruction and learning process. Our common uses of technology such as using a projector and powerpoint is just using technology to ampify the content already being taught. However if you give students a critical thinking question and ask them to research possible answers, evaluate the accuracy and reliability of those answers, and report their answers to your or the class - you are in fact incorporating technology into the instruction process.
International Society for Technology in Education
The importance of these standards are their focus of reforming education to a process where we are teaching the students how to think rather than how to memorize. By following the NETS standards we are asking our students to use higher order thinking skills to complete assignments and using instructional techniques that encourage and require these higher order thinking skills. Teachers considering leadership in the school need to understand these changes and encourage them to help better prepare our students for the work world they are about to enter.
National Board For Profession Teaching Standards
The National Board For Profession Teaching Standards has developed guidelines for the Teacher Leadership Certification based on feedback from principals and teachers with the idea of where education should go in the future. The purpose of this certification is to make teaching more credible as a profession rather than some job people fell into because they could pursue the on the wanted. Teaching is as important as being a doctor, to be anything you must be educated by a Teacher. NBTS Certification is a reform of education moving forward and a commitment to uphold the highest standards of learning and education.
West Virginia Professional Teaching Standards
I believe that all of the standards focus on the quality of the educator as being a leader in the classroom. And standards 4 and 5 focus on Teacher Leadership in the School and Community as well as development. Standard 1 focuses on the incorporation of technology into the curriculum.
Interview with Gayle Moller
As an new educator I have experienced some instances with leadership, but I am sure as I continue to teach I will have many more experiences to talk about. As a Business Teacher I have been working with the student organization DECA, this is a business club in our High School. I have taken on the internship to say, of becoming the DECA Adviser for next year. My administrators have been helpful in aiding in the development of the programing and providing the necessary materials and opportunities for the students. However, I would not say that the responsibility is shared or distributed evenly, rather as needed the administration will provide aid in the leadership process, but only when needed. I think that Moller is correct in the first of her reasons to promote teacher leadership (1) Teachers must be praised for taking on additional roles and the additional work they are willing to do for the educational system. (2) Teachers put forth more effort and time - therefore they should be compensated for their time and effort. I know that I am scheduled to spend my weekend supervising students at the state compensation, and I had to complete paper work so I can be reimbursed for my expenses. It is ridiculous that we are working our weekends and fighting to get our money back for traveling expenses - when we should in fact be compensated for the work that we are doing. (3) I believe that improving the educational environment to promote teacher leadership is crucial to the increasing of leaders in the school system.
Somehow my post for this Module didn’t end up posting. Not exactly sure what happened, but I’m posting it now to prevent myself from being confused later on in this class.
ReplyDelete1. I found the article to be a very interesting read. I agree with the idea that technology should be used as a way to supplement the material being taught within the classroom. As teachers, we need to know the current standards for technology that are put out by ISTE, and become aware of the implications these will have on our future as teachers, in the world of technology. For teachers to be full “leaders of technology” school systems will have to change the way the curriculum unfolds throughout the course of the school year for each grade, and instead add technological components. Teachers are simply using technology as an aid now, but with the way technology has taken off the in the classroom, in the years to come, technology will be more than an aid – it will be the way learning happens.
2. To be an effective teacher leader in the area of technology within the classroom, the teacher must constantly learn about new technology, whether it’s through continuing education or simply by exploring what’s out there. The ISTE NETS standards that have been put in place for teachers have changed since 2000, and will only continue to change as technology integration becomes an even bigger part of the school system and classroom, itself. I was required to do a Wordle using ISTE NETS standards from 2000 and 2008 to note the differences in the focuses of the standards that have been put in place. There is a significant difference in the focus of these two group of standards, and the difference is only going to continue to change over time.
3. In the article, Gayle discusses career ladders for teachers, where it should be up to the teacher to decide whether he/she wants to take on more in the way of teaching, but he/she should also be compensated for taking on more, if he/she so chooses to. I agree with this, simply because not all teachers want there to be a technology integration into the classrooms. Most of these teachers are from older generations, and have been teaching using the same methods for long periods of time. They’re reluctant to try new things. However, these new teachers that do want to become technology leaders within the school system should have the opportunity to do so, whether a pay raise comes with it or not.