Technology is that which did not exist when you were born: That saying seems to apply especially well to schools, where computers are strange new wonders to many teachers, but not to their students. The unfortunate result is that some teachers reject the use of technology in favor of more familiar instructional resources, denying their students access to a powerful tool that will no doubt play a major role in their lives.

How can we overcome these teachers' resistance to technology? As an education consultant, I've found that changing one teacher at a time is absolutely essential. It is not entirely sufficient, however: Considerable culture-building must be pursued deliberately and carefully throughout the system. Still, each teacher must become individually convinced that his or her students will benefit by the infusion of technology into the classroom.

I remember trying to introduce the notion of a "learner-active, technology-infused classroom" to a somewhat resistant faculty in a staff development session five years ago. One teacher loved the idea and ran with it. The principal and I supported her endeavors, but some of her colleagues claimed students needed a more "structured" environment and suggested she shouldn't do anything to alter the status quo.

But time passes, and so do many old attitudes. When that same district offered the same topic in a workshop last summer, so many teachers were interested that we had to run two sessions. And the teacher who had first embraced the idea? She recently offered a county-wide workshop on her experiences that attracted more than 70 other teachers rather than the 20 she had expected.

Perhaps the resistance is less about technology and more about the very idea of change. It takes a while to get used to new ideas. Other lessons I've learned about chipping away teachers' resistance to technology:

* Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Too often, reformers exude enthusiasm over some new instructional approach and make teachers feel as though everything they have been doing to date has been meaningless. There is no one right way to teach or learn. If you seek meaningful reform, you must celebrate what exists and leave room for many possible approaches on the road to change.

Engage teachers in a process of learning about technology and exploring how it might be used in the classroom. Focus on ways in which technology allows teachers to do that which they were never able to do before, such as instantaneous worldwide communication, simulations, and hypermedia presentations. Ask teachers to brainstorm about the effects such technologies could have on their classrooms.

* Avoid the one-size-fits-all approach. Meet each teacher where he or she is right now. Assess individual teaching styles and identify ways in which technology can be used to enhance that style.

Don't alienate teachers, for instance, by telling them they should stop lecturing and use computers to engage students in more active learning. Instead, show the lecture-oriented teacher how to use technology as a presentation tool. Then, after the teacher uses multimedia well in a presentation, say, "Great lesson! Wonderful graphics! It really makes your topic come alive!"

By celebrating the use of technology at the teacher's comfort level, you're opening the door to new instructional techniques. Soon you'll be able to work with the teacher toward loading that wonderful presentation on the students' computers, posing an open-ended question, preparing a scavenger hunt for students to locate information, or asking students to propose a solution to the problem.

Of course, you wouldn't want to put a teacher's workstation and presentation device in the classroom of a teacher who already embraces active learning. For that kind of teacher, a bank of computers and perhaps a notebook computer would be more helpful.

* Support the use of technology in your budget decisions. Many administrators mistakenly think that all they need to achieve technology infusion are computers for their schools' classrooms and labs. Teachers also need adequate furniture for those computers, quality software with manuals, color printers, paper, ongoing technical support, and, of course, training. I recommend purchasing a notebook computer for any teacher who is willing to invest time and energy into creating an instructional environment that makes more effective use of technology.

My experience has been that buying notebook computers pays off in savings on technology training. Teachers who have notebook computers learn more quickly and independently than those who must work only at school or, worse yet, only in a lab.

One superintendent recently told me that, as much as he hated to admit I was right, he should have purchased notebook computers for teachers earlier. When he finally bought them for a group of teachers who were attempting to redesign classroom instruction, he was amazed at the transformation. The teachers sat in his office on a Friday afternoon soaking up everything he could teach them about the computers until he finally had to tell them to go home. They carried their notebook computers, he said, like badges of honor. The teachers were finally being recognized and treated as professionals who were investing time and energy into their professional growth.

* Model good uses of technology. If you want teachers to use technology for classroom instruction, make sure you're using it for faculty and board meetings. If you want to promote the use of the Internet as a classroom resource, be sure to use it yourself when investigating new ideas. If your teachers have access to e-mail, minimize the amount of paper communication and instead begin the flow of electronic communication.

To build a culture dependent on e-mail, you must be diligent, particularly at first, about sending it frequently. When you learn about topics students are studying, for example, go back to your computer and search the Internet to find resources and ideas you can pass along to the teacher.

After spending a day with me observing instruction in a number of classrooms, one principal gathered information from the Internet that complemented each teacher's instructional activities. She forwarded the information to the individual teachers, along with a thank-you note and positive feedback about what was going on in that teacher's class. She was wooing the teachers into cyberspace, showing them what was available and demonstrating her interest in what they were teaching.

* Set expectations. If you believe technology should be integrated into the classroom, let your teachers know it. Ask them to highlight in their lesson plans how they are using technology to support learning. Ask them to bring samples of student work on computers to a faculty meeting to discuss and share with others. Ask them to list related web sites for topics they are studying in at least one subject area.

* Promote collaboration. Technology can be scary. You can provide safety in numbers by giving teachers opportunities to work together to learn to use technology and integrate it into their teaching. At a faculty meeting, ask teachers to pair up and design a problem-based activity using technology to address a curricular goal. Assign tech-buddies, pairs of teachers who will work together throughout the year to infuse technology into their classrooms.

* Share ideas -- but carefully! Look for great activities teachers have designed for technology infusion, both on the web and in your school. Pass them on to others. But be careful not to make too big a fuss over the few teachers who might outshine the rest. The goal is not to build resentment and competition. The goal is to provide resources to support the expectations you've set for technology use.

* Use every opportunity. Chances are, no matter what other instructional goals your schools are pursuing, technology can help. If you're investigating block scheduling, for example, ask teachers to locate useful web sites, and have them use the Internet to contact teachers who have used a block schedule. Be careful to make the necessary connections so that teachers do not see technology as just another item in a long list of initiatives.

A teacher once told me she'd like to become more involved in technology but didn't have the time. When I asked her to describe her day, she said she did whole language at 9 a.m., then hands-on math at 10 a.m., then thinking skills at 11 a.m., then cooperative learning at 11:30 a.m. The way initiatives were introduced in her school had left that teacher thinking they were all unrelated.

I suggest using curriculum development as the umbrella to connect and drive all other initiatives. When teachers design instructional activities to meet curricular needs, set the expectation that they will use technology to enhance the learning process. Keep in mind that the advent of technology has introduced new forms of writing not previously included in the curriculum: composing at the keyboard; the mix of formal written and informal spoken language used to write effective e-mail; and the need to write succinct, powerful "sound-bites" for multimedia presentations. Once these skills are included as curricular goals, the necessary technology to achieve them can hardly be avoided.

* Be patient. I've found that teachers move through three distinct phases in using technology to change the way they teach. The first I call "dynamic disequilibrium," a term used by one teacher in the throes of designing a technology-infused classroom. In this phase, the teacher is constantly trying new approaches, and just when one appears to work well, something changes. It can be an exciting time, but human beings seek stability, so it can also be a trying time.

In the second phase -- which I call "contrived equilibrium" -- the teacher latches on to approaches that appear to work best and adopts them as "the way." Well-meaning administrators often mistakenly assume teachers in this phase have achieved their goals and tout them as resident experts, ready to serve as trainers and mentors to other teachers.

This dangerously hinders the teachers' movement to the desired phase of "reflective practitioner," however, in which teachers know how to take in each new development, reflect upon their practices, and make the necessary modifications for continual improvement.

This process of change takes anywhere from three to seven years, depending on the teacher. Just as you celebrate the first clumsy steps of a child but don't expect him or her to be running races the next year, you should celebrate the developmental phases teachers go through as they learn to take advantage of the tremendous opportunities afforded by the use of technology in schools.

Change takes time; you can't expect to convert your faculty to technology overnight. Celebrate each forward movement -- never take forward movement for granted -- and you will surely build momentum in creating a technology-infused school.

Nancy Sulla is president of IDE Corp., a Ramsey, N.J., education consulting firm.