| More fun than a chalkboard |
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By: MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Staff Writer
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Posted: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 3:32 pm
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Lascassas Elementary teacher Bethany Miller shows how she teaches using Thinkfinity.org.
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Tennessee teachers now have access to a free, interactive Web site thanks to a grant from the Verizon Foundation.
The Verizon Foundation announced the $50,000 grant Wednesday at Lascassas Elementary School. The grant will provide training to teachers statewide on the thousands of free, standards-based educational resources and activities on Thinkfinity.org.
“Every activity has a way for children to get involved,” explained Bethany Miller, a third-grade teacher at Lascassas Elementary. Miller uses the interactive Web site along with a projector and touchpad to teach lessons in her classroom.
“The kids love it. It means more when you see it and get to help the teacher” she said, adding she likes not having to turn her back on the class like when she writes on the chalkboard.
Thinkfinity is the Verizon Foundation’s free Web site that has more than 55,000 educational resources, including standards-based, grade-specific, K-12 lesson plans, online educational games, videos and other materials provided in partnership with many of the nation’s leading educational organizations.
“If you go into Ms. Miller’s room you see a lesson like this each and every day,” Lascassas Principal Lyndal Duke said.
The Verizon Foundation launched the Web site, which offers a variety of research tools and interactive programs, as a one-stop site for teachers and parents to help in the education of children.
“All a teacher needs is the Internet …” said Julie Smith, Verizon Foundation director of external affairs. “They can search by grade level and for specific lessons. It’s all right there in one spot. We want to save teachers time and effort.”
Content is provided by a partnership between the foundation and 11 of national educational organizations, like American Association for the Advancement of Science, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Geographic Society.
The Verizon Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the communications company, which focuses on three overarching areas: Education, Safety and Health, and Volunteerism. The foundation funds programs that address the heart of social issues such as literacy, technology education and domestic violence.
For more information, visit www.thinkfinity.org or foundation.verizon.com.
Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com.
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