Pictured from left:Bowie State University Students Ashlee Thompson; Itumeleng Shadrek; Jason L. Groves (Verizon’s assistant vice president of government affairs); Nakisha Yates; Traki Taylor-Webb (BSU’s dean, College of Education); Ebony Tyson; Ashley Baker; Mark Connelly; and Mickey L. Burnim (BSU president).

Some scholars from Bowie State University are reaping the benefits from a partnership with communications giant Verizon, which gives future classroom teachers web-based resources to enhance learning in the county’s public schools.

Eight Bowie State students have been tapped as Verizon Thinkfinity Scholars. The group is entering the second phase of a year-long internship by using a variety of teaching resources from thinkfinity.org, the Verizon Foundation’s free educational website. The scholars integrate the site’s info into their teaching plans in Prince George’s County public schools.

“Verizon has opened a whole new world of learning for our Verizon Thinkfinity Scholars and their students,” said Traki Taylor-Webb, BSU dean of the College of Education in a recent statement. “Our future teachers, their mentor teachers, students and their parents have access to materials, including well-researched resources that make their daily lessons even more lively, exciting and enriching. There are even opportunities for students from elementary through high school to insert themselves into lessons to make learning real for them.”

At the Thinkfinity website, visitors are greeted by a carousel that serves as a pathway to six topics with lesson plans, among them: the NAACP; First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign; and the Langston Hughes postage stamp that provides entry to instruction on Black History Month. In addition to lesson plans, the site also offers interactive games, videos and podcasts.

Linda Boyd, BSU project manager for the Thinkfinity Scholars Program, said “While teaching in the classrooms, the students are required to incorporate Verizon’s Thinkfinity online educational resource into their lesson plans during a year-long teaching internship under the supervision of a mentor teacher.”

According to the university, Thinkfinity scholar and intern Ashley Baker, a pre-kindergarten teacher at Marlton Elementary School in Upper Marlboro, said she uses the site to help students build math skills and learn the alphabet. She finds the Thinkfinity website particularly useful because all the resources such as lesson plans, interactive games, homework help, and ideas for parents are in one spot. “Other online resources require that you search multiple sites to find a variety of educational resources,” Baker said.

--PGS Staff