Jessica has been teaching sixth through eighth graders for three years at the Meadowood Education Center, an alternative middle school for students who have had disciplinary problems.  Her role, she believes, is to give her students the skills and confidence they need to be successful when they return to their home schools. "Most kids come to us with failing grades," she explains. "If they're reading material found on the Internet or modified with technology with success, they need that skill when they go back."

She sees technology as a new, often more effective way to reach her students. "I started really simply with PowerPoint, because I had to teach some dry government material. I need a way to deliver it an interesting and effective way to my students."

But more than that just grabbing her students' attention, she says, the interactive nature of computers has helped Jessica's students develop critical thinking skills. "They're able to pick out information that is meaningful and makes sense to them when they can chose from several sources on the Internet," she says. "I never got such specific and detailed information from kids before."

On professional development conferences:
"The Maryland Tech Academy was really the final kick I needed. The people there were so enthusiastic. They just gave you the desire to do more - sharing ideas and skills from each other, learning new things. It was really the thing that made me focus on technology improving student achievement."