Nov. 16, 2006 — In a break from the traditional, students at Eulalie Rivera Professional School this week are teaching adults computer skills as part of American Education Week.
Navigating the tabs and menus of a laptop computer like a seasoned professional, sixth-grade student Kinesha Barnes, 11, shows a parent how to make a PowerPoint slide show. She patiently demonstrates to her adult student how to insert custom animation and set slide effects. "Here, you try it," she prompts. Kenisha and the other students in her class have been working with computers since the fourth grade. The students — proficient in PowerPoint, Excel charts and graphs, and Word documents — are teaching parents in the community, as well as their own teachers.
Edda Ortiz, 11, shows her fourth-grade teacher how to do Excel charts at one of the desktop computers. Ortiz smiles when her erstwhile teacher says she needs more practice before she can use the program to record her students' grades. Edda said her greatest joy is when she sees her students' improve.
Another student, 11-year-old Cynthia Richards, helps a visitor create a pie graph of the types of footwear students wear to school.
Peggy McCree is the teacher who is helping the students achieve excellence. She says the class, entitled "Teaching and Leading with Technology," enriches the children's learning by teaching others.
All week public schools on St. Croix have been observing American Education Week by showcasing their lessons to their community. In a recent press release, St. Croix Superintendent Cecelia Knowles wrote, "This year's observance will highlight the importance of bringing together educators, school staff, parents, students and communities in a unified effort to build great public schools."
Schools have been hosting open houses, staff support days, workshops, discussions, book and character parades, and other activities involving, students, teachers and the community. Several schools have combined report card distribution with these outreach activities.
Board of Education member Shawn Gibson visited several schools during the week. "It's so exciting to see the students doing positive things," he said.
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