Turning The T.I.D.E.
HOW I T WORKS
Turning The T.I.D.E. (Teaching Internet
Development Education) works by pairing up kindergartners
with fifth graders to help the younger students to learn how to use the computer and
PowerPoint. The kindergartners are taught how to go onto the Internet and browse
different sites to get pictures of items they need for their
PowerPoint presentation and journals, or to use clip art graphics for multimedia
presentations using PowerPoint to create a template that they
can use for presentations. They create cards where the pictures are placed
relating to the alphabet: A-apple, B-boy, etc.
THE STUDENTS
The program was started with one fifth-grade class of 24 students and
one kindergarten class of 18. Groups of four, in pairs of two,
were worked with at one time, or four fifth graders or four kindergartners,
depending on the schedule. They met two times a week for 50
minutes in the classroom or the lab, depending on wherever they had access
to the Internet.
THE STAFF
Zina Burton-Myrick is the Technology Instructional Specialist (TIS) at
the Harriet Tubman Learning Center and has been teaching for
13 years. She started the program Turning the T.I.D.E. two years ago
when she taught ESL. She continued last year when she had a
fifth-grade class and taught them PowerPoint. She decided to build on
the program when she became the TIS and started working as a
mentor with a kindergarten teacher. She received an
IMPACT II Adaptor Grant in 1988 for a literacy project. She also won a Polaroid
Contest— ‘My Teacher and Me’— in 1990, and conducts
parent workshops in technology.
WHAT YOU NEED
Management strategies for computer, demonstration, and room
arrangement are the key. The classrooms should be set up in clusters
of four. Internet access is needed, as is Microsoft
PowerPoint and Word. There are various technology organizations that provide
PowerPoint training for teachers, as well as Project Smart work-shops
through the Board of Education. It is helpful to have a paraprofessional
to help with the kindergartners for this program, but it is not
necessary.
OVERALL VALUE
The best feature of this program is that children can learn
independently or cooperatively at their own rate. There is no failure
with the program and self-esteem is boosted. Children get to
show their creativity, talent, and skills by teaching younger students. ‘Each
one, teach one!’ The learning standards addressed by this
project are Learning and Self-Management Tools and Techniques (A4a) and
Tools and Techniques for Working with 0thers (A5). |