technology can often provide the under-privileged and under-served WITH access, something
that otherwise would not be available without it.
Benita
I taught English at the secondary level for ten years. I spent five of those years
teaching ninth-grade English in a K-12 virtual charter school that was a full-time publicly
funded alternative to “brick-and-mortar” schools (Cavalluzzo, 2005, p.58). Teaching high
school students in a virtual school environment was challenging, especially when some
students believed the public school system failed them. At this particular virtual charter
school, the student population ranged from those who had been homeschooled all their lives;
ones who fled the traditional public schools because of peer pressure, to those who had
flunked out, been expelled, or been placed in a juvenile facility. When I started teaching at
the virtual charter school, I had to figure out how to teach students online. I had to explain
how to complete the assignments constantly, and in most cases, many students still did not
submit the assignments. There were times when I thought the problem was with online
education. At this point, I believed online education was not the best route for these students
and shared Andrew’s beliefs about the need for human interaction when teaching. In fact, I
began to believe Zucker and Kozma’s (2003) argument that it was easier for students to
develop a closer bond with their computer than with their teacher in an online environment.
After speaking with a colleague and reading Dupin-Bryant and DuCharme-Hansen’s (2005)
article, “Assessing student needs in web-based distance education,” I learned how to select
appropriate technology and instructional strategies that enabled me to develop an online
learning environment that was appropriate, responsive, and beneficial for my students. One
instructional strategy that I incorporated was to email students, at the beginning of the school
year, a questionnaire that asked them about their learning preference. Some shared that they
needed audio and visual to help them comprehend material and others revealed that they
needed repetition. After reading the students’ feedback and knowing about their prior
educational experiences, I began to understand why some felt the traditional public school
failed them: they had not experienced a “teachable” moment. I wanted this to happen for
them.
How did it work? First, I realized that I had to make myself visible online to my
students. Although I disliked recording myself, I embedded videos that allowed my students
to hear and sometimes watch me introduce or model a lesson. I also arranged weekly real-
time chats with my students. Beyond the videos and chat room discussions, I realized my
course had to follow an inquiry-based curriculum, which meant “text” had to be defined in
new ways (Behrman 2003; New London Group 1996). Text(s), in this case, meant locating
and accessing multiple resources online. This material included film, music, blogs, chats, art,
magazines, newspapers, e-books, etc… In this educational environment, it was imperative to
develop a ninth-grade curriculum that acknowledged my students’ multiple literacy practices.
For instance, I taught a social injustice in Black History unit. This unit included Jacob
Lawrence’s Migration Series artwork. My students had access to a website that allowed them
to listen and watch as the narrator told the stories that Lawrence illustrated through art. I also
found a video where Jacob Lawrence, himself, explained the history captured in his work.
After watching and listening, I had the students capture—in a poem, essay, PowerPoint
presentation, or blog—an experience related to injustice that they wanted to pass on to their
descendants. In this assignment, the students had to explain what they learned and how they
were willing to work to eliminate the problem. I provided multiple avenues for expression,
which gave free rein to my students’ creativity. I found this approach to be rewarding for
both the students and me. In particular, one student, who had always received failing grades