Adela

Computers are my content area, so I have an unlimited number of technology tools that I can use.  I have been teaching for three years now, and my students have accessed the World Wide Web (WWW), used search engines, participated in online courses, read and posted messages to the Moodle site, prepared and presented multimedia reports, and took quizzes via e-mail. The students, many of whom were nontraditional, quickly became quite interested in communicating with other classmates and students at other schools.  One thing that I would like to do is tape class sessions so they could be viewed by absentees or students with disabilities who might be unable to attend class sessions in person.  My eighth grade students set up email accounts at the beginning of the school year, and we used e-mail to send assignments, thereby allowing students with special needs, less aggressive individuals, and nontraditional students to take part fully in class discussions on an equal footing.  Some students emailed their assignments from home, using a private service provider such as AOL, Comcast, or Verizon.  Online quizzes that were emailed were returned directly to me for grading.  I was then able to give students immediate feedback on quiz grades and responses to assignments. I was available during class to answer any questions, but after the students became familiar with email, many would communicate with me that way too.  Last year the students did a telecollaborative project with another Middle School, and they really enjoyed it.  The online courses helped my more advanced students, because they could go as fast as they want without affecting the class.  The less advance students on the other hand worked with confidence because they did not feel like they were slowing anyone down.  I was able to give negative and positive feedback on an individual basis as well as a group basis.