netTrekker Blog

Butterfly Garden of Words

This weekend Amy Ellisor, our netTrekker 101 instructor, and I talked about a project some of her teachers were working on about etymology. There was a bit of frustration for some of her teachers because they couldn’t find all of the resources they wanted on the topic of etymology.  If that ever happens to you, and you have great resources to share, please consider suggesting those websites to netTrekker through our suggest a link form on netTrekker Village, or via twitter by using #netTrekker along with the URL of your suggested resource. The other thing that you can do is add a link in your My Portfolio Project. This link will not appear in netTrekker as a whole, but rather in just your folder and will only be available to the people you give the rights to see that folder.

The other tip I’ll share is to check out the reference section. In the high school reference section I found quite a few great resources under the English Language area about word origin and meaning. My favorite, that I had not clicked on before today, was the iTools! and I did find a few resources there that would be very beneficial to this group of students in nT101.  (I love it when I learn something new!)

But what in the world do you do with etymology? It’s interesting to discover the origin of words, but what do you do with that knowledge besides winning the next game show? I took the word butterfly and applied it to Glogster. It’s not a complete project, but definitely one that can be replicated. I added the definition, some other ways the word is being used, along with the origin of butterfly. I could definitely add some more information, but for a start, I’m feeling pretty good.

Tags: butterfly, etymology, links, My Portfolio, netTrekker 101, references

Ethnic Identity in a Multicultural World …

The importance of ethnic identity in coping with a variety of life situations has been a major focus of current literature. While identity development is a difficult task for all adolescents; it is particularly complicated for adolescents belonging to ethnic groups. Teens feel a pull between their “home” and “school” identity – caught between parents’ ethnic beliefs and values, and that of the mainstream society.

To help your students understand our multicultural world, you may want to use a story to provide context and understanding.  A great example of such a story is a semi-autobiography by Julia Alvarez titled, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents.

This story spans 30 years in reverse chronological order of four sisters that fled from the Dominican Republic with their family.   They were forced to adapt to American life which proved to be difficult and embarrassing as they met friends, and tried to fit in.  They experienced identify confusion as they adjusted to life in New York and trips back to Dominican Republic. The story is told in a series of episodes beginning in adulthood and moving back to their early life as a wealthy family on the island.   Themes on family life, character, and love are intertwined in the story as topics of immigration and ethnicity are addressed through Hispanic eyes.

To extend these topics in the classroom check out netTrekker’s Multicultural Pavilion
It provides geographic and cultural information on continents, countries, and regions. Resources on ethnic identity, acculturation, cultural sensitivities, diversity, cultural heritage, and social justice issues are also included here.

To provide a multicultural experience for your students, check out these netTrekker resources:

PBS: Beyond the Border
A companion site to the PBS site that explores the story of 4 brothers who leave their family in Mexico to seek a better life in Kentucky – and find a different version of the American dream.

BrainPOP: Faces
Face the facts as Tim and Moby introduce you to the wonderful world of the human face! In this BrainPOP movie, you’ll learn about some of the many roles the human face plays in your life, and you’ll find out how faces differ from each other. Discover a few reasons that facial features vary from person to person, and why where your ancestors came from might affect how your face looks. Finally, you’ll see why the face is so important for communication, and you’ll find out which emotions look the same on faces all over the world. Are you ready to put your best face forward?

Lower East Side Tenement Museum: We Are Multicolored
Explore the multicultural influences on your life by creating a flag that combines flags of different countries. Also learn the symbolism of colors and shapes in the flags of the world.

Education World: Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month!
Lots of activities that can be done in a classroom to celebrate the month. Includes biographies of Hispanic Americans in History, graphing from the US Bureau of Census, trivia questions, and more. Site also provides a long list of related sites about Hispanic Heritage on the Internet.

Tags: ELL Channel, literature, Multicultural Resources

netTrekker Supports Continuity of Learning

So, absences are on the rise….the school is thinking about closing for a period of time due to illness.  You and your colleagues are still charged with meeting your educational objectives even though you won’t have students in your classroom.  What can you do?

More and more schools and districts are establishing plans for handling the flu outbreak and the associated loss of instructional time.  The U.S. Department of Education is recommending the use of technology to help with distributing assignments and keeping teachers, parents, and students in close communication.  netTrekker can help by providing a tool set that fits into your learning plan for these situations:

• fantastic digital resources tied to state instructional standards

• Portfolio system that connects students to teachers (and parents to teachers)

• Safe, focused environment with engaging content suited to all learning styles

As an added measure and to help you utilize these tools to prepare for extended absences, we are offering a H1N1 Absence Survival Kit with useful resources and tips.  Suggestions and helpful information include a variety of options to provide students at home with class materials, digital and technology-based resources that appeal to all levels of learners to help them achieve their educational objectives and the ability for students and teachers to access these resources 24/7.  Included in the Kit:

• Resources from the United States DOE

• Virtual instruction lesson plan templates

• Informational webinars to help educators utilize netTrekker’s My Portfolio

• Resources to help schools communicate with parents

Check it out today at http://www.nettrekker.com/pages/h1n1-absence-survival-kit and be prepared! Directions to access the available resources for both subscribing and non-subscribing schools can be found on the page.

Another Look at Resources from TeachEngineering

Why do we have to learn this? Every teacher is bound to hear this at least once during the course of his or her career, and should be prepared to offer an answer beyond, “because I said so” or “you’ll need to pass standardized tests.” Math and science teachers could explain the value of the classes they teach in terms of how they’ll lead to college and career success. However, such talk might go over the heads of students who struggle with or show disinterest in required math and science classes.

Why not show students why they need chemistry, physics, and other STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) subjects by way of fun activities, ones that link academic subjects with real-world scenarios and hands-on projects? Sounds like a great idea, right? But it also sounds like a lot of time and work. Thanks to netTrekker’s new resources from TeachEngineering.org, such a task doesn’t need to take a lot of your time – just a healthy dose of energy and enthusiasm for teaching and exploring STEM-related subjects.

In August, Danielle introduced you to our new resources from TeachEngineering. TeachEngineering is a digital library of freely usable K-12 math and science curriculum built and maintained by a collaboration of US universities, the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), the US National Science Foundation (NSF), The US Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE) and a variety of private donors.

A keyword search for “TeachEngineering” will reveal 50 resources appropriate for High School, 380 for Middle, and 428 for Elementary.  Complete with introductory material, vocabulary words, detailed procedures, printable handouts, extension and scaling activities, and references, our TeachEngineering.org resources cover a wealth of science topics routinely taught in science classes, such as blood cells, energy, sound and light waves, and simple machines. However, these lessons and activities go beyond requiring students to memorize and recite facts and figures. Rather, these teacher-tested, standards-based engineering resources encourage critical thinking, hands-on involvement, and collaboration as they “connect real-world experiences with curricular content.”

For example, TeachEngineering’s Digestive System lesson and  Lunch in Outer Space activity are much more than just learning the parts of the digestive system and labeling them on a chart. They get students thinking about space exploration, and the challenges astronauts face while eating while in a microgravity environment on board a shuttle or the space station.

What’s great about these resources is that they not only cover what elementary students need to know about the digestive system, but also introduce them to more advanced topics, such as gravity, and link the digestive system to a fun topic like outer space! Students will even get their hand at designing and creating their own packages for foods to be consumed by astronauts in space.

Read on to learn about other examples of TeachEngineering.org resources that will help engage students in your science classes:

On the Human Body:

Move Your Muscles:  Through this lesson, students learn about the three different types of muscles in the human body, how they are affected by microgravity, and how astronauts need to exercise in order to lessen muscle atrophy in space. Students will also discover what types of equipment engineers design to help astronauts stay strong while experiencing microgravity.

The Beat Goes On: In this activity, students learn about their heart rate and different ways it can be measured. They construct a simple measurement device using clay and a toothpick, use this device to measure their heart rate under different circumstances (e.g., sitting, standing, and jumping), and make predictions and record data on a worksheet.

On Simple Machines:

Pulley’ing Your Own Weight:  Using common materials (spools, string, and soap), students learn how a pulley can be used to easily change the direction of a force, making the moving of large objects easier. They see the difference between fixed and movable pulleys, and the mechanical advantage gained with multiple/combined pulleys. They also learn the many ways engineers use pulleys for everyday purposes.

On Energy:

Solar Power:  In this activity, students learn how engineers use solar energy to heat buildings by investigating the thermal storage properties of some common materials: sand, salt, water, and shredded paper. Students then evaluate the usefulness of each material as a thermal storage material to be used as the thermal mass in a passive solar building.