Motivating Teachers

Tip:
I have used incentives in the past to motivate attendance and that works. Initially. However, it does not work in the long run. I find the ones most willing to utilize technology and attend additional training have come to an awareness of its value and usefulness.

Things that help are:

  • Making time for workshops convenient.
  • Providing food (even just different candies, munchies, and drinks are always effective).
  • When possible, providing incentives that tie to the classroom.
  • Make what is presented relevant to curriculum. They must see how it will improve their teaching.

Specific incentives that worked for our district:

  • $150.00 of high quality books for the classroom.
  • Keeping the themes light and the pace fast and interesting.
  • Having more than one presenter and changing who was presenting. Keep the session interactive with a lot of opportunities for individual and group collaboration.

For technology maybe classroom incentives need to be offering a variety of software programs that might help curriculum and appeal to various grade levels. If the workshops are strong enough, word gets out!

Submitted by:Cheryl Vitali
Resource Specialist
Alta Elementary School
Reed, California

Next Tip: Managing the Scope of Your Project