Is there any e-mail for me today?" Carl asked excitedly as he entered my class. Nicole and Cahani, in turn, asked the same question. They proceeded to check their in-boxes for the latest installment in a series of messages for a cross-country "book" they were creating with their online keypals.
But this isn't just another classroom story about kids getting jazzed by their involvement in Internet telecommunications. Carl, Nicole, and Cahani were not just any kids. They were moderately neurologically and physically impaired special education students in a mainstream class with 11 online computers and 30 other students.
A Simple Idea Expanded
About four years ago, I became involved with KIDLINK, a grassroots, nonprofit organization whose goal is to build better worldwide relationships by involving students, 10 to 15 years old, in electronic dialogue. The hope is that as adults they will interact more peacefully with one another and work together to protect the planet. Since 1990, KIDLINK has grown to include more than 121 countries, 110,000 students, and 15 languages.
Every year, KIDLINK managers and others meet to plan the organization's direction. At the summer 1995 conference in Brazil, I met the KIDLINK Japanese manager, Isamu Shimazaki. From him, I learned of an online project he had done the previous year with an elementary class in Nebraska. To overcome the language barrier, he and the Nebraska teacher decided to write a story together about a traveling kangaroo. They and their students used fax and e-mail technology to exchange pictures and information. At the end of the project, the children each had a book with pictures drawn by themselves and their overseas keypals, with corresponding Japanese characters for the English words.
Later that year at Canyon Middle School in Castro Valley, California, I was teaching three classes of Internet telecommunications as part of an exploratory program for 7th graders. Our school enrollment was 1,580 in three grades. Class size was a difficulty for every staff member.
When I learned that Nicole, Cahani, and Carl would be joining one of my classes, I was unsure how I would fit them into the schedule I had already set up. To use the 11 available computers most effectively, I had divided the original 30 students into pairs that rotated to each set of two computers. I had used all my KIDLINK contacts to set up a keypal exchange, and I knew the teachers and what we wanted to accomplish. I had established our rules and obtained parental permission. Four months into the school year, the program was running smoothly.
I posted a message to the KIDLINK's KIDLEADER bulletin board, asking if any teacher had students who wanted to be keypals with Nicole, Cahani, and Carl. I briefly described the students who would soon enter my class. Within a week I heard from Kathy Stannard from Holland Township School in Milford, New Jersey. She had three students the same ages, 12, 13, and 14. Mariel was blind and legally deaf; Dyan and Jesse were moderately neurologically impaired. She was very interested in the exchange project.
The Project Begins
Kathy Stannard and I began exchanging e-mail messages, and I proposed using Mr. Shimazaki's idea of an e-mail "book." In my attempts over the years to integrate technology into my classes, I have learned that it is better to plan something simple and be successful—even if no one notices—than to go head over heels, get burned out, and fail or be only moderately successful. We decided to have our students write books about a day in their lives. We broke down the day into time components that students would find manageable. The students would write one or two sentences about what they did at that specific time and draw a corresponding picture.
Every two days, Carl, Nicole, and Cahani sent their keypals e-mail messages with their descriptive sentences. The students kept the messages in a folder, and the books were put together at the end of seven weeks. To make the project more personal, Kathy and I took photos of each student and ourselves and sent them to the other school. After labeling each picture with the name of the student, I posted them on a bulletin board above the private mailboxes I had made for Nicole, Cahani, and Carl.
Because of his physical condition, Carl couldn't type or draw, only color in. I needed to find a way for him to participate. Luckily, two 8th graders who had participated in previous online projects were enrolled in one of my Internet classes as student assistants. They agreed to join my class as teacher's assistants to help Nicole, Cahani, and Carl, as well as the rest of the students in the class. This plan proved fortunate because I had my hands full with the other 30 students and had limited time to help this special trio on a one-on-one basis. An aide from the special education class also attended class daily and helped all three with the sentences for their descriptions and their drawings. She would ask Carl what he did at certain times of the day, then write down one or two sentences for him. She also drew the picture to go with the sentences he formulated, and he would color it in.
Success
The plan and the program couldn't have been more successful. The time management was just about right. The special education students needed almost a whole class period to formulate their ideas, write them down, and draw a picture. Cahani and Nicole then typed their messages the next day. After a brief discussion, the class agreed to make a computer available whenever Cahani and Nicole needed one. The aide or one of my 8th graders typed Carl's message while he stood by, waiting to press the mouse button to send it.
Scanning and sending pictures didn't work out, so we mailed them. Kathy and I numbered each drawing and e-mail message as it arrived so that the students could more easily keep in order the books that grew daily. The parents of Nicole, Cahani, and Carl were thrilled that their children were included in this class and that they were so excited about coming to school and participating in this program.
At Holland Township School, the response was equally rewarding. Robert Soprano, the superintendent, observed Mariel, Jesse, and Dyan while they sent e-mail. He was captivated as he watched the students log on to their own e-mail accounts, complete a message, and send it. Kathy's efforts to include her students was only part of the progress that Holland Township School made technologically. It received the coveted "Star School Status" for technology and was the only elementary school in the state to do so that year.
On some days, Nicole, Cahani, and Carl found time to send personal messages to their keypals, and they never missed an opportunity to take advantage of sending extra e-mail. The exchanges ranged from talks about fishing to which actors were cute on Beverly Hills 90210. Other students became interested in the developing books and often would help these students type longer messages to their keypals.
Author! Author!
At the end of seven weeks, the stories were finished and the books were ready for assembly. We borrowed a book-binder machine from the library and had a class party to celebrate the authors. When the books came off press, the class applauded and we took photos. Kathy did the same in New Jersey, and we mailed photos of the students holding the books by their keypals, whom they now considered friends. I have heard from Nicole's mother that she still reads her book regularly.
Not only was this technology project successful for Jesse, Mariel, Dyan, Carl, Nicole, and Cahani, but it also became a learning experience for Kathy, me, the other students in the class, and both schools. As Robert Soprano in New Jersey said, "Technology is for all students, and with a little extra help, all students can become successful."
