The e-pioneer does not take rejection personally.
Teachers do not always appreciate the efforts of e-pioneers. The e-pioneer could interpret the reluctance of teachers to adopt technology as a rejection of their efforts.
Perceived rejection is not always outright and could take many forms:
A teacher doesn’t turn up for training sessions.
A teacher doesn’t respond to e-mails.
A teacher doesn’t read the e-pioneer’s blog.
A teacher abandons the use of technology the moment the e-pioneer is not at the school.
Rejection of well intended efforts is discouraging – if taken personally it can be demoralizing. But remember: when this happens it is not the e-pioneer who is failing – the one who is not responding is at fault.
Think about one or two or a dozen teachers who are responding. Think about the fifty learners who are benefiting from access to technology. The feeling of rejection is dimmed in the light of such thinking.
Positive examples prove what can be done. Rather than letting a sense of rejection get to them, e-pioneers are determined to continue providing the necessary support.
Click here for more food for thought for e-pioneers.
The real pioneer gets energized by the rejection to do even more!
Kobus, you are an eternal optimist!
I recently heard someone say that the way to live life successfully is to keep doing the right thing month in, month out… year in, year out. It’s not dramatic; it takes perseverance and patience; but yields long-term solid results. In the Khanya Project there are lots of e-pioneers and pioneer-support-staff with these qualities.
I’m particularly inspired by those who manage to keep doing the work with humour and good grace and compassion. I try to remind myself of them when there is steam coming out of my ears and I’m smiling through clenched teeth at yet another last minute cancellation of a training session after hours of preparation and a long drive through traffic…
Yes I agree with Kathy….. keen on doing the RIGHT thing.
What I would like to contribute about the e-rejection / e-negative / e-response / e-read / e-dont-care-atttude / e-worried-why-they-not-turning-up, is to e-continue to organised workshops and cluster training sessions.
The ONE or TWO educators who attend for e.g. my EIAWB sessions, I continue to present it to them – I called intense e-pinering session !! Instead of cancelling / postponing / writing a negative report on how disappointed “I” am with the schools and th educators who does not RESPOND to my invitations to such sessions, I rather look forward to the next SINGLE educator who wants to become an EIAWB e-learner !
I will have this attitude till I e-die – that is to e-going on walking the road when there are even only two rows of footsteps in the e-pioneer field !!!!!!
I will not allow “them” who don’t attend to let me feel guilty and rejected, it is in fact the other way round !!!
Albie SINGLE Presenter
One can look at investment in many ways. Putting in the time, effort and finances one expects a reasonable return. The issue is that the returns do not always reflect the investment made. Money aside, I think of the time and effort facilitators put in to prepare / plan / arrange for workshops and then only one or two people turn up. I won’t go into teacher bashing and I know many are quite busy, but sometimes the outcomes are not what is expected.
At at least two of my schools I can see a marked improvement in their use of ICT and this happens despite the fact that many things go wrong at the same time. I have to thank them for their tenacity. The disappointment comes in when the rest are sitting with some form of technology but do nothing to use it.
The investment in schools go further than the three things I mentioned above. Personal investment into a school makes it difficult to walk away without doing anything.