Delaware Teachers to Receive Free Educational Resources and Training

The Delaware Center for Educational Technology (DCET), with the cooperation and support of the Delaware Department of Education, has received a $75,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation to train teachers to use the free educational resources available on Thinkfinity.org and to raise awareness of the program within the state.

Thinkfinity.org is the Verizon Foundation's comprehensive online portal to more than 55,000 educational and literacy resources for teachers, parents and students. Resources include standards-based, grade-specific, K-12 lesson plans and engaging interactive activities provided in partnership with many of the nation's leading educational and literacy organizations.

Thinkfinity.org offers elementary through high school teachers resources across eight academic disciplines, from science to English to mathematics, to improve student achievement. Thinkfinity.org is designed to help teachers gain access to online resources quickly.

"Thinkfinity provides a wealth of resources, linked to national standards, that can be used to enhance our Statewide Recommended Curriculum and district curriculums across the state," said Wendy Modzelewski, instructional technology consultant from the Delaware Center for Educational Technology. "We are excited that the Verizon Foundation chose Delaware to be one of the first states in the foundation's national rollout plan."

The grant will be used to:

-- Ensure that all educators throughout the state are aware of the more than 55,000 free standards-based resources available through Thinkfinity.org.

-- Train Delaware technology innovators as field trainers and certified trainers, using the train-the-trainer model.

-- Provide teachers with hands-on, standards-based professional development to help them effectively integrate technology in their classrooms.

To make the Thinkfinity site even more valuable to teachers, students and parents, the Verizon Foundation recently announced several enhancements and improvements, including:

-- The addition of 500 new resources.
-- Individual portals to allow users to search for resources targeted to educators, students, parents or after-school programs.
-- A dynamic new look.
-- A simple, more comprehensive search engine.
-- Ability to search for resources tailored to individual state standards.

In addition to providing standards-based resources from the nation's leading educational and literacy organizations, Thinkfinity.org also offers a comprehensive professional development program that allows teachers to sign up for free online or face-to-face training to learn how to make the most of Thinkfinity.org tools.

The face-to-face training will be arranged and led by Delaware Thinkfinity trainers who have received in-depth instruction from Thinkfinity.org trainers.

"Whether it's an English teacher looking for resources to spark a love of reading in a student, or a parent seeking a convenient and user-friendly educational activity to stimulate the mind of a young child, Thinkfinity.org will help them quickly and easily find the information needed to improve student achievement," said William Allan, president of Verizon Delaware.

Content for Thinkfinity.org is provided through a partnership between the Verizon Foundation and 11 of the nation's leading organizations in the fields of education and literacy: the American Association for the Advancement of Science, International Reading Association, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, National Center for Family Literacy, National Council on Economic Education, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Council of Teachers of English, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, National Geographic Society, ProLiteracy Worldwide and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

For more information on the foundation, visit http://www.verizon.com/foundation.