netTrekker Blog

netTrekker Spotlight User: Mali Bickley Shares How netTrekker Inspires Teacher Collaboration

netTrekker is excited to introduce this week’s Spotlight User. Mali Bickley is a Teacher at W.H. Day Middle School in Midhurst, Ontario. Mali shares how netTrekker has helped foster collaboration between teachers and students at W.H. Day.

netTrekker has become an invaluable tool in my curriculum planning as I am able to search themes and concepts that I can integrate into programs.

I have also used netTrekker as I work with other teachers during Professional Learning Communities. Being able to plan units collaboratively and have a consistent and reliable resource to support students learning has been invaluable in integrating technology into classroom practice.

netTrekker helps me support my colleagues to engage students in 21st Century learning!

Tags: collaboration, Spotlight User

All Children’s: Joey keeps learning even in hospital

My son, Joey, was diagnosed as a seizure child several years ago. When I first found out, I used netTrekker to find information for myself and for his teachers. Periodically we have to do a 48 hour study where they monitor his staring spells (petite mals) and his sleep habits. We’re in All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg right now for our latest check up. They have just built onto the hospital and it is beautiful! Joey has a private room, the nurses are FANTASTIC, and the volunteers are great. In Joey’s room he has this nice size TV that is controlled by a keyboard. He has movies, television, older arcade style games, and the Internet.

Create your own video slide-show at animoto.com.

And while it’s summer, Joey is still working on school activities. This morning we worked on math. We started with a netTrekker search, refreshed his memory on addition rules with BrainPOP and then he moved onto his workbook pages. His reward for doing the math problems was to read “Belly Up” (he thinks the silly fish is named after him), and to play other games on BrainPOP Jr. Then we went back to our netTrekker search and he played another game that he found using the refinement menu. All on the cool TV.

I made a quick Animoto Video to showcase him using the keyboard and the netTrekker and BrianPOP screen-shots.

This hospital is so cool! And the nurse assigned to Joey also thinks that netTrekker and BrainPOP make a cool combo.

Tags: BrainPOP, netTrekker, petite mals, seizure child

netTrekker Spotlight User: Dr. Hazlett Explains Why netTrekker is a Hit with College Education Majors

netTrekker is excited to introduce this week’s Spotlight User. Dr. Hazlett is a Professor and the Chair of Theil College’s Education Department, in Greenville, Pennsylvania. Dr. Hazlett shares how Theil College of Education students use netTrekker to prepare for their teaching careers.

Thiel College purchased netTrekker because the Education Department and its students value the product greatly.  From freshman students investigating education topics, to seniors doing their student teaching, Thiel’s students make great use of netTrekker.

Thiel College requires all education majors to develop standards-based lesson plans using engaging pedagogy, like Marzano’s instructional strategies, in fun creative ways using a variety of instructional strategies for all learners.  netTrekker is a tremendous digital assistant in this process.  I liken netTrekker to cheating on the test, as netTrekker provides all the answers for college students to design standards-based lessons to increase student achievement for all learners.

Special features like timeline are very popular with students especially history majors.  Science majors love all of the interactive websites that are suggested with a keyword search.  All students use the image search feature  to support and add excitement to their lessons.

netTrekker is just as tremendous a resource for college education majors as it is for K-12 teachers!

Tags: Spotlight User

Social Studies Goes Digital

As school districts around the country look for solutions to a variety of challenges, including ever-shrinking budgets, disengaged students, growing class sizes with students of all different abilities and interests to name a few, many are exploring how a transition from print textbooks to digital resources can help them address some of these challenges.  When the Indiana Department of Education issued a blanket waiver allowing school corporations to use a broad range of multimedia, computer and Internet resources to supplement or replace traditional textbooks, two districts quickly took advantage of this new option and chose to implement netTrekker as a replacement for their social studies textbooks.

Delphi Community School Corporation, a small district in Delphi, Indiana, and Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation with over 11,000 students in Columbus, Indiana, both subscribed to netTrekker in 2009 to provide more engaging, dynamic resources specifically for their social studies curriculum.  Both districts realized that a transition from traditional print textbooks to a new way of teaching with digital resources was not something that would happen overnight, and not something that would be successful without the right combination of digital resources, professional development, technology/hardware infrastructure, and a commitment to transform teaching to meet the unique learning needs of their 21^st century students.

Both districts have seen exciting results including a more current and vibrant social studies curriculum, a more engaging collegial classroom atmosphere, the ability for teachers to quickly find resources for differentiated instruction, and even increased attendance and graduation rates. But the most powerful result of this print-to-digital transition might be summarized in this statement by Greg Lewis, a member of the Bartholomew Textbook Adoption Committee.

“Students have choices as to how they go about accessing the information – versus one pathway to the assignment like in a textbook. They can be masters of their own education.”

Click here to read more about the print-to-digital transition in Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation.

Is your school or district making a transition from print textbooks to digital resources? If so, what has been the biggest impact you’ve seen on teaching and learning?

Tags: 21st Century Learning, bartholomew, delphi, netTrekker, print to digital, social studies

ISTE Winner – Roderick Hames, Gwinnett County Public Schools

At the ISTE 2010 conference in Denver a couple of weeks ago, there was a lot of excitement in the netTrekker booth.  Booth visitors got  sneak peak at the exciting changes coming to netTrekker for back-to-school. We had a full line-up of great customers presenters sharing their own best practices for using netTrekker in their classrooms.  And we had over 125 educators participate in our Explore a New World of Personalized Learning passport game.  The game required educators to learn about the new enhancements coming to netTrekker, find out how netTrekker helps personalize learning, and attend one of the many customer-presented workshops.

The lucky winner of the passport game was Roderick Hames, Business Education Instructor at Crews Middle School in Gwinnett County Public Schools, in the metro-Atlanta area.  Roderick won the grand prize of a brand new Apple iPad and a one year netTrekker subscription for his school.  We asked Roderick to share a little bit about himself, and it sounds like the netTrekker subscription and the iPad will fit perfectly into what he’s already doing to engage students with technology in his classroom.  He shares some great examples below of how he’s made the print-to-digital transition with digital content and project-based learning activities. Thanks to all who stopped by to see us at ISTE, and congratulations, Roderick!

About Our Winner

My name is Roderick Hames and for the past 19 years I have taught computer applications, keyboarding, programming, entrepreneurship, and web design using both Mac and IBM to middle school students.  I hold an Ed.S degree in Business Education from the University of West Georgia. In addition to my teaching assignments, I also serve as Program Specialist which is a leadership position at the county level to help facilitate staff development and other needs for a group of 25 other middle school computer teachers. 

My website: http://www.crews.org/curriculum/ex/compsci/ is widely regarded as a hub of resources for not only my own students but teachers around the country as innovative and engaging relevant lessons.  I also work after school coaching an intramural sports program.  I have presented at numerous national, regional, state, and local conferences.  This was my third time presenting at ISTE (formerly NECC).

I do not use any text books, my entire curriculum can be found online.  My activities are project based and student centered.  I work my units around a theme for each grade level.  For 6th grade it is city planning and urban development.  For 7th grade students learn about leadership character qualities and for 8th grade students focus on financial literacy and entrepreneurship. I work hard to create my lessons as realistic and engaging as possible.  I also strive to make harder lessons video based so student can learn at their own pace. My passion is to see kids who can successfully use technology as a tool to accomplish a project that would otherwise lack creativity and skill. Since one of my passions is seeing young adults prosper and reach their full potential, using technology is a great tool to bring out hidden talents in children.  I love to see kids who problem solve and can express themselves in creative professional ways using technology.

I am excited about winning the subscription to netTrekker and an Apple iPad.  I fully expect to see kids who would have struggled presenting in class fight to use the iPad to present.

Tags: ISTE2010, NECC, netTrekker, print to digital, Project Based Learning

netTrekker Spotlight User: Juanita James Shares How netTrekker Eliminates Research Frustration!

netTrekker is excited to introduce this week’s Spotlight User. Juanita James is a Media Specialist at Pillsbury Math and Science Technology Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Juanita shares how she had a breakthrough in teaching second graders new research skills with netTrekker.

Research is one of our media standards and for years I had been struggling to teach my second grade students how to do online research, or any research for that matter.  I tried various types of print materials and a variety of online sites with no success.  This quickly became frustrating, especially since we have a high percentage of non-English speaking students and English speaking students who struggle with reading.

I had been using netTrekker with students in third grade and higher, and they really liked it!  I didn’t think that second graders would be able to log in and follow directions to get to a resource, but they did! Even non-English speaking students could do this.

At that time we were learning about habitats and animals that live in different environments.  I listed names of animals, then students logged in to netTrekker and searched the name of the animal they wanted to learn about.  They were able to find pictures and videos containing information that they could then relate back to class. They could even read some of the print information in the Elementary section!  As a result, they were able to complete simple animal reports with facts obtained through netTrekker.

netTrekker has completely eliminated my frustration of trying to teach research to second graders!

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Resources in netTrekker

The Gulf of Mexico Oil spill has affected us all, whether we live in the area of the spill or are from a totally land-locked state up north.  Just seeing pictures of wildlife coated with oil and hearing stories about people who will forever more be changed by this disaster is heart wrenching.

The editors at netTrekker have pulled together some resources that will enable teachers and students to study the Gulf Oil spill and the long term effects of oil spills in general.

Example of State Standard: 

Identify and explain ways people have affected the physical environment of North America and analyze the positive and negative consequences.

Resources cited below are gathered here:  Science > Earth Science > Natural Resources > Water > Pollution of Surface Water > Oil Spills > Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill (unless another taxonomy is given)

Ideas for Cross Curricular study:

The New York Times, The Learning Network:  The Gulf Oil Spill in the Classroom:   Ideas for civics, history, geography, and science studies.

BBC:  What is a ‘Top Kill’?              Engineering principles

Australian Maritime Safety Authority:  Mathematics and Oil Spills (sits here:  Science > Earth Science > Natural Resources > Water > Pollution of Surface Water > Oil Spills) Keyword:  oil spill mathematics

Key Science Topics:

Bioremediation:  using microorganisms (bacteria) to clean up the spill

Science > Biology > Ecology > Land Management > Waste Management > Hazardous Waste Disposal,

(keyword:  bioremediation)

US Geological Survey:  Bioremediation, Nature’s Way to a Cleaner Environment

Science Daily:  Caution Required for Gulf Oil Spill Clean-Up

Biomagnifications:  oil gets into the food chain and becomes more concentrated the higher up the food chain:

(keyword:  biomagnifications)

Science > Biology > Ecology > Ecological Roles and Relationships > Food Chains and Food Webs Marietta College:  Ecosystems

Science > Biology > Ecology > Human Impact NOAA:  Ocean Pollution

Sorbents:  materials that are good at absorbing liquids

Science > Earth Science > Natural Resources > Water > Pollution of Surface Water > Oil Spills

(keyword:  sorbents)

Science Buddies:  Goo-Be-Gone:  Cleaning Up Oil Spills

Human impact:  humans affect the environment

Yale Environment 360: The BP Spill’s Growing Toll on the Sea Life of the Gulf

National Wildlife Federation:  How Does the BP Oil Spill Impact Wildlife and Habitat?

Chemical dispersants: what to use, what will work

Oil-Price.net:  Gulf Oil Spill:  The Aftermath

Teacher Resources

PBS Newshour:  Gulf Oil Spill Could Be Most Damaging in History

PBS Newshour:  Largest Oil Spill in U.S. History Continues

Ask an Expert

Auburn University:  Resources on the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

Louisiana State University:  Resources for the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

Video and photos

National Geographic Channel:  Gulf Oil Spill

21^st Century skills

Data Analysis and Problem Solving

EPA Response to BP Spill in the Gulf of Mexico

Real World Data and Activities

NOAA:  Gulf Oil Spill Educational Resources

Discussing the Oil Spill with Young Students

PBS Kids:  The Gulf Coast Oil Disaster

Ranger Rick:  How to Talk with Kids About the Gulf Oil spill

Thanks to our ISTE2010 booth presenters!

A big thanks goes out to all of our netTrekker Customers who shared “Best Practices” and their love of netTrekker with the many visitors who stopped by at our ISTE 2010 booth.

Jackie Shanti, Milwaukee Public Schools, made TWO guest appearances in the netTrekker booth.  On her first visit, Jackie shared her winning entry in the netTrekker Personalized Learning in Action video contest.  As one of the two winners – she received a scholarship from netTrekker to attend ISTE 2010.  Congratulations Jackie!

On her second visit – she had a surprise for the audience!  As she began to discuss the benefits of Online Learning – she literally got into character as she donned her typical dress when she participated in netTrekker’s Online Learning Class, NT101 ……… HER PAJAMAS!  As she received a cheer from the audience – I noticed quite a crowd gather around to hear her presentation.

Jackie provided insights on NT101:   “I had a great experience and didn’t realize the depth of the software until the class.  netTrekker has limitless capabilities and is very helpful to find and create engaging lessons to meet the needs of all learners“.

… And insights on participating in an online class as the perfect answer to fitting professional development into your busy life:

• “You can participate anytime-anywhere“
• “Your classroom has no borders or walls“
• “No need to feel uncomfortable expressing your opinion or ideas“
• “It’s just a great way to learn!“

Thanks Jackie for sharing your time with us at ISTE 2010!

We also had some other fabulous teachers share their netTrekker stories:

Casey Ellisor from Blythewood Middle School Richland School District 2, South Carolina, shared best practices using My Portfolio in a Science and Social Studies classroom.  As one of teachers chosen to participate in the iPac initiative for the district, Casey commented that netTrekker was an essential part of transforming teaching and learning with technology.  Thanks Casey for sharing your experience with us at the netTrekker booth!

Andy Losik from Hamilton Community Schools in Michigan, was our 2nd winning entry in the netTrekker Personalized Learning in Action video contest.  Andy took advantage of the great location for ISTE 2010 and brought his family along for a roadtrip.  He discussed how Hamilton uses netTrekker to meet the needs of their staff and students to find educationally relevant websites.  Congrats to Andy and thanks for sharing with us at the netTrekker booth!

Debra Goldberg, a long time fan from Lawrence Township Public Schools in NJ, shared her experiences on ways netTrekker can help ALL students.  Debra highlighted uses for Read Aloud, Readability, and Dictionary Hot Key.  Thanks Debra for sharing with us at the netTrekker booth!

Mike Evans from Forsyth County Schools in GA provided insights into his districts use of netTrekker … way to go Forsyth for winning the top netTrekker usage award for 2 straight years! In his first presentation, Mike discussed using My Portfolio to manage digital resources.  In his second presentation, Mike demonstrated a unique way to manage small group activities using My Portfolio.  Thanks Mike for sharing with us at the booth!

Adina Popa, Loudoun Co Public Schools in VA, took the audience through an end of the year project.  The audience was totally engaged as Adina discussed her use of netTrekker and BrainPOP to prepare her students to create a Space Control Center in their classroom … we were all relieved as her students were able to bring two lost students back from space!  Thanks Adina for sharing with us at the booth!   Be on the lookout for netTrekker & BrainPOP co-presenting webinars this fall – with special appearances from Adina!

And last but not least … Barb Wagers from Aurora Public Schools in CO, provided us with some great ideas for using resources found in netTrekker’s Reference section.  Wordsmyth, not only a premier dictionary, it also has great tools to enhance literacy learning.  Project Gutenberg is a fabulous resource to find your favorite eBook.  And then Barb took the audience through her favorite resource … Create a Graph.  Thanks Barb for sharing with us at the booth!

netTrekker Spotlight User: Jan Williams Shares How netTrekker is a Hit with Teachers!

netTrekker is excited to introduce this week’s Spotlight User. Jan Williams is the Educational Technology Coordinator for Youngstown City School District in Youngstown, Ohio. Jan shares how teachers have enjoyed exploring netTrekker through integration with other technology and professional development.

This is the first year we have had netTrekker in our schools.  It has been a huge hit among our teachers, and we have had many workshops to roll out the training for the teachers.  Everyone loves the efficient way to drill down the results according to readability and the other options.  The opportunity for differentiation is phenomenal and easy to use.  Since we have many teachers using Promethean Boards, they love that they can search for flipcharts in netTrekker and be sure they are good ones!

We have asked the district to provide the money to renew the subscription for next year due to the high use and high satisfaction.  There are currently 5 people taking the nT 101 online course right now, so each of those folks will become our next netTrekker trainers in their buildings and in the district.

The Reference Link

During the NT101 course participants collaborate on the discussion boards to share tips, strategies, resources and Best Practices.  Often times, early in the course I have to send out a few re-assuring words to make people feel comfortable to post ideas.  However, this summer the discussion boards are “on fire.”  During the first content module, Barb Wagers from Aurora Colorado posted a great sample best practice article about the power of the Reference Link.   Enjoy Barb’s Best Practice article below.  Thanks to Barb for her great submission.

The Reference Link

If you have not explored the References link in the Features box, you are missing a ton of resources for you and your students. Teaching students to access the References button gives them several resources, literally, at their fingertips. There are two areas that I would like to specifically highlight.

Students always want to use images and sounds that may be copyright protected. Using Find Sound, students can download free sound clips that can be used in presentations or video production. Click on the Reference tab and scroll down to Find Sound under the category of Finders. You can search for a specific sound or browse through a list of sounds available by clicking on See Examples in English link. Once the students find the sounds they want, they can download them onto their computer and use them legally.

In the Multimedia area on the References page, there are several sites that offer free clip-art and images. The Elementary tab is a bit limiting, but have your students use the Middle or High school tab and they will see several websites that offer free clip-art and images. Many of the sites have the images in subject categories, which is very useful to the students.

There are several more resources in the References link, so check them out and teach your students to use them as well.

Barb Wagers
Instructional Technology Coach
Aurora Public Schools, CO

We would love to hear your tips, strategies and Best Practices for implementing  netTrekker in your classroom, school or district.  Your ideas may be published on nT Village or in our netTrekker newsletter.

Best Practice Submission Process:
Please describe (in 500 words or less), a netTrekker Integrated Best Practice. Include details that support using the Collections, the Features, Web Tools, and any of our Integrated Partner Products. In your entry, include the external links, a copy of any educator created materials, and any other pertinent documents and resources you incorporated to make your lesson a Best Practice.

Send this information to aellisor@nettrekker.com to be considered for publication in the Best Practice section of the netTrekker newsletter or on netTrekker Village.

Tags: best practice, Features and Tools, lesson plans, NT101, references, staff development, Training

Beat the Cyber Bully!

The Education Business Blog (Lee Wilson) recently posted an article highlighting the challenge schools face when educating students on cyber bullying. Lee explains that, while cyber bullying incidents will likely occur outside of school grounds, the effects have a direct impact on a student’s performance in school. In addition, many students simply aren’t aware of the potential consequences of their actions online. You can find the full blog post here, including mention of netTrekker as an effective combatant to cyber bullying.

Research on cyber bullying prevention indicates that prevention programs should be implemented at the classroom, school, family, and community levels. To aid this effort, netTrekker has partnered with CyberSmart! Student Curriculum to help K–12 educators get started in the prevention of cyber bullying at all these levels. netTrekker subscribers have free access to all of CyberSmart’s student curriculum lessons and activity sheets.  Students can learn how to examine their own and others behaviors and learn what constitutes cyberbullying. They can also explore how to deal with cyber bullying situations. Users can keyword search “cybersmart” in netTrekker to see the full collection of Cybersmart! student curriculum, or keyword search “cyberbullying” to target only those resources.

Cybersmart! also offers professional development workshops for educators. One of CyberSmart’s 4-week fully-facilitated online workshops is titled “Manners, Cyberbullying, and Ethics.”  This workshop supports  safe schools and digital citizenship  initiatives, as well as:

• Equips staff  model shared vision of acceptable use and good cybercitizenship
• Avoids legal issues or situations embarrassing to school administration
• Examines the ramifications and prevention of cyber bullying
• Clarifies educators’ copyright use

To learn more about Cybersmart! Online Workshops, click here. You can also contact your netTrekker Representative to learn more about effective strategies to beat the cyber bullies!

Tags: cyberbullying, cyberethics, CyberSmart, Education Business Blog, Lee Wilson, netTrekker

Learning from Afar

Unfortunately I was unable to attend ISTE2010 this year, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be involved! Even though I have been quite busy with work, I am still checking in on Twitter and Facebook to see what people were talking about, join in on a uStream session, and read blogs coming from the sessions.

Here were some of my favorite tweets from ISTE2010 today:

• web20classroom One of the first things to think about when teaching kids about Critical Thinking is to examine where information comes from.#ISTECT #ISTE10
• oswego98 Favorite quote of the day: Teachers have the right to hide in a cave but they don’t have the right to drag students with them #iste10
• TeachaKidd: Chris Lehmann: “We teach kids, not subjects”
• mtrump :  Technology doesn’t improve education, it changes it……TEACHERS improve education. #ebc10 #ISTE10

If you didn’t have the privilege to attend ISTE 2010 in Denver, it’s not too late! Try backtracking to see if there are any videos available from sessions on ustream.tv. You can search either by #ISTE10 (the official conference hashtag), #ISTE2010 (another popular hashtag), or by the presenter’s last name (such as Chris Lehmann). I have even found a few interesting videos on YouTube! Plus, you can check out blogs about ISTE from those who attended. Some of my favorites include Tim Childers, Vicki Davis, and Jeff Utecht.

Of course, one of the funnest things to do at the conference is visit the exhibit hall. It’s like a candy shop for educators! You can see what’s new, find new potentials, and reconnect with old favorites! If you visited the netTrekker booth, you have probably seen a sneak peak of changes coming in the fall and learned about netTrekker’s new partner, NSTA.

I am so looking forward to next year’s ISTE. Philadelphia, my birthplace, will be the host for a conference that is more than technology – one that reaches all areas of education. I hope I get to see you all there in person!

Tags: ISTE10, ISTE2010, twitter