Katy teaches English and social studies at one of the few magnet-only middle schools in Baltimore County. As a relatively new school, Sudbrook has been able to offer its teachers rich technology resources to use in the classroom. But Katy has found that simply having a lot of technology available doesn't solve all her problems by itself - she still has to use it in an intelligent and appropriate way.

Though one of Katy's classrooms has two computers and another boasts five, she often  takes her students to the school's computer lab for major class projects, where her entire class can work at once. The computers in the classrooms are usually used for simple, individual-oriented tasks like word processing.

Katy finds technology useful outside the classroom, too. She uses email to open another communication line to her students' parents. "I found that my parents are so happy when they get my emails," she says. "They don't all use it, but knowing that they can is comforting for them."

On students as partners in the learning process:
"Teachers are becoming more comfortable with technology, and we're realizing that we can try things and take risks because the students can usually help us. If there are things that we think are difficult, they can figure it out faster than we can sometimes. They really are good problem-solvers."