Reflection 6

Before someone can answer the query about telecollaborative lessons, they must first know how it comes about. A telecollaborative lesson is a lesson learned from doing a telecollaborative project. Now, the next question that needs to be asked is what a telecollaborative project is. Like a collaborative project, it involves two sets of students from diverse places-usually different states, counties, or countries- joining as one to work on an assignment. The only difference however is that all the work is done through the internet.

Inquiring minds would probably ask “what type of lesson could someone learn from someone over the internet?” Well here is an example of a telecollaborative lesson:

Sean lives in Florida and has been writing to Melinda for almost three weeks now. His teacher gave the class a telecollaborative project. They are supposed to write to another child in New York and learn everything they can about that student in four weeks. At the end of the four weeks, the students are to give a report with the title “My Buddy was just like me Despite the Fact…”

He’s learned that she likes kittens but not cats, she loves glitter and soccer, and that her favorite ice cream is Neapolitan because she gets three ice creams in one. Sean has already been thinking about what he can write. He wants to talk about how they both love soccer, how they are the same age-9, and how Neapolitan is both of their favorite ice cream flavor despite the fact that he’s a boy and she’s a girl.

During the fourth week however, there is a twist in the project. Sean’s teacher tells the class that every student they have been writing to is a child with special needs. Sean later finds out that Melinda is a child with Autism. He has never heard of Autism so he asks Melinda about it. She tells him everything she knows about it and what she doesn’t know she asks her parents. Now Sean has a new title for his paper. “Melinda is just like me Despite the Fact that she has Autism.”

Through a telecollaborative project, the student learned a telecollaborative lesson. He learned that just because someone may be a person with special needs, they are still just like everyone else. They have likes, and dislikes just like any other person.