netTrekker Blog

Getting By With A Little Help

I mentioned yesterday that I read a variety of blogs, articles and other goodies first thing in the morning. Well at night, I treat myself to a bit of the entertainment news and last night in my alerts were a few pages with updates about David Cook.

I admit, I didn’t watch American Idol faithfully until his season, and season 8 didn’t hold my attention as much because David Cook was not a contestant. I’m a cougar cub for David Cook, what can I say?

Well in last night’s alerts was something about Adam Lambert, a very talented runner up for season 8 – but still not my favorite over David. Adam grabbed my attention last night, and in turn has influenced me to buy my son Adam’s debut CD. Why? Because of this commercial he made for DonorsChoose. DonorsChoose is an awesome program where teachers can write up a project or request resources that they need funding, then regular people like yourself can donate. You can give as little or as much as you can. Adam is passionate about the arts, a great outlet for kids with ADHD (like Adam mentioned in one interview) and even for kids with learning disabilities, so he advocates donating to the arts in schools.

If you are a classroom teacher, and you need to find resources for your classroom, check out DonorsChoose and see if your wish list qualifies. You can include a netTrekker subscription add-on to Weekly Reader or BrainPOP. Weekly Reader Online will help you save trees, while promoting literacy skills and global understanding using this trusted classroom resource. BrainPOP – well “the more you know, the more you know”, and their movies will help you be in the know, along with the quizzes and interactive media. Both premium upgrades lend to more interaction in the classroom, and deeper learning of content.

If you are looking for grants, then check out netTrekker’s Teacher Tools (the feature I mentioned yesterday). Click on Professional Development and then there will be a topic on grants. There are many great sites with grants still available, for as little as $100 to the thousands! The Federal Government to Best Buy to HP to Dollar General offer grants that can benefit reading programs or your greatest dream as a teacher. We even have great links to websites that will help you write the grants you’re searching for.

Thank you Adam for highlighting DonorsChoose. Best of luck to any teacher submitting for a grant. Make sure you also keep an eye on our Funding Update Page by Alan Whisman for federal funding information. (You can subscribe to the page via RSS and make it even easier to keep up with. And while you’re at it, subscribe to the main blog as well!)

Tags: Adam Lambert, American Idol, arts, Best Buy Grant, Brain Cancer, BrainPOP, Cook, David Cook, Dollar General, donations, DonorsChoose, Federal Funding, Give Back, grants, HP, Lambert, netTrekker, supplies, Teacher Tools, weekly reader

A Simple Gift

This morning I got up and read several articles and blog posts while waiting for my son to get dressed and ready for the day. One of the articles that caught my eye was about new teachers. I remember quite clearly my first week of school as a new teacher in 1996. We had first year induction teaching classes, meeting with our mentor, and many other meetings to insure that we were going to have a successful year. Much like Jane, I had teachers who scared me a bit more than inspired me into thinking I made the right career choice. Furthermore, I had no idea where to go for fresh ideas, resources to handle the various issues in my room, or even lesson plans for the topics I was uncomfortable with. I also didn’t have a colleague I could turn to that didn’t make me feel like everything I needed to know about teaching should have been taught in college. Topics such as talking to parents, realistic classroom management, and bullying were not stressed in any of the classes I took.

As you start the new year, if there is a new teacher in your building, reach out to them and give them the gift of your time. It’s a simple gift that will mean a lot to them. Don’t tell them negative things about the students or other teachers, but share with them the little things that will help them breathe a bit easier. Even if they are just new to your school, reach out. Let them know that you are dependable, resourceful, and a team player.

One gem that I would suggest sharing is the Teacher Tools section of netTrekker. Within that Feature is a list of great topics for any new teacher, including classroom management, classroom resources and even a few sites just for first year teachers. I really could have used the game templates. My favorite can be found using this path:
Teacher Tools > Classroom Resources > Lesson Plans & Assignments > Games and Puzzles
When you get to this page, click on more, and then go straight to the 3rd page. It’s a comprehensive resource of many popular television game show templates ready to use, created in PowerPoint, and with the sound effects. It was created by Kara Leonard in Murray County, Georgia.

If you are a new teacher reading this, or even a veteran, join us over at netTrekker Village. Feel free to start a discussion, join in one that’s already out there, and connect with other teachers.

Here’s to a wonderful school year to all!

TeachEngineering with a Special Touch

In a recent article from eSchool News about building momentum in STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), there was an urge to not forget the T and E in the curriculum.

“One of the findings is that discussions of STEM tend to be focused on science, sometimes math, rarely both together–usually they’re siloed, and the T and especially the E are really just left out of the discussion in policy, education, and classroom practice,” Greg Pearson, an NAE program officer, said.

“Even though we use that acronym, in terms of what’s really happening and what people really mean, engineering is the silent letter.”

› Continue reading

Tags: design, netTrekker, special olympics, STEM, teach engineering, teachengineering

There’s a Feature for That.

I am a social network junkie. I’m not as bad as I used to be, but I start my day off checking my RSS feeds, see what’s new on netTrekker Village, check in on my PLN (personal learning network) on Twitter, my Facebook PLN (which has a few different people than my Twitter), and a few other sites. Part of it is because I’m nosy. I want to know what other people are up to. The rest is because I learn a lot from these networks.

Guess what the teachers in my PLN are up to? Getting ready to go back to school. Can you believe it? Six to eight weeks of conferences, special learning opportunities, summer school, graduate classes, district professional development classes, catching up on their RSS readers, planning that really cool flat classroom project for next year, and maybe having the chance to read a book for pleasure and to lounge around the pool are over. It’s time to get back to work with the kids. Most are anxious to get into the classrooms because they are changing rooms and/or grade levels. Others are excited because they learned so much this summer at various conferences and through their PLN. They are all looking for or sharing ideas to get organized, for their bulletin boards, and “Welcome to the New Year” letters.

For this, let’s turn to netTrekker. Yep, we have a feature for that! How many of you have clicked on the

Teacher Tools on the right side in the Features box? If you go there you will see a list of drill down topics with plenty of ideas for back to school. My favorite one? Getting organized. I am the most unorganized person that probably ever existed. Well, maybe not the most, but close to it. So this is definitely a good place for me to start.

One of my favorites here was the classroom designer. You can draw your classroom dimensions out, add the door, windows, chalk boards, desks, bookshelves, plants, and students. Whatever you want. Now, if you’re like me, you probably rearrange your room several times before school actually starts. Then again once school does start as you try to get the right arrangement once you know the personalities of your kids. Instead of moving furniture over and over and over, you can actually design your room on one of these sites. I tried one out and designed an almost dream

classroom. 22 student desks with laptops and room to collaborate, plenty of books, a couch, beanbags, and coat racks instead of those mixed blessings called cubby holes.

There’s another great site that deals with rules. I had one rule, “Do what you’re supposed to be doing, when you’re supposed to be doing it, the way you’re supposed to be doing it, with whom you were supposed to be doing it.” That covered everything. But I’m sure there were better rules out there. I know that you’re supposed to try to keep it at 5 rules, even if Ron Clarke has something like 55, but I found that one rule worked for me. What rules work for you?

Best of luck to those who are getting ready to go back. Enjoy these last few days of vacation before the school year begins. I’m sure netTrekker has a search for that, too.