netTrekker Blog

A Day to Remember

Last night a group of us were reflecting on where we were, to borrow from Alan Jackson, “when the world stopped turning.”  I was at the District Office in Sumter School District Two, which serves Shaw AFB. As a military BRAT, we were used to exercises and high alerts, but parents and teachers were unsure how to handle the “real thing”. Parents flooded the schools to take their children home, as the jets took off to assignments that were no longer an exercise. Many teachers were undecided as to whether to turn the news on and watch the events unfold, or to continue the day. A numbness fell across many classrooms. And this wasn’t just at Shaw area schools, but schools all across the nation.

When students started to show back up, teachers were left to answer questions like “what is terrorism”, “are they going to attack us”, and “why would someone do that”. And these questions continue each year as we remember 9/11, and each year teachers have to explain the magnitude of this major event in America’s recent history.

netTrekker has some great lessons and websites already researched that are great and supportive to any teacher looking to teach and explain the attack and our response. There are BrainPOP movies on terrorism and about September 9/11. Many of the websites use primary sources, images, quotes from those who were there, quotes from the leaders that were involved. Sites range from PBS, Smithsonian, the BBC, CNN, and more. There are websites with time-lines showcasing the events leading up to the attack and after the attack. I even found memorial websites on how Americans plan to remember the three sites that the four planes hit.

September 11 is the day that we came together as a nation,  and we changed some of our ways. Parents hugged their children and shifted priorities back to the family.  Neighbors knocked on doors to reconnect. Those who serve(d) us as firefighters, police officers, emergency crews, in the military and as teachers worked hard to respond, rescue, protect and start the healing. It was the everyday American who stepped up to the plate to aide as needed. As Americans, we need to remember our backgrounds and embrace the cultural differences that make us one of the most unique nations in the world. If we continue to remember, to reflect, and to allow this major tragedy remind us just how precious life is and it changes how we interact with the world in a positive way, then a small triumph can be found. The greatest way to honor those who died that day is to find a lesson that teaches what happened on September 11, but also to teach the compassion that followed after.

The Family

I had a great blog post ready to go. My son thinks of Moby as sort of a “superhero”, so on Wednesday as we were goofing around with homework, we created a video of him being a superhero called “Recycle Man” for his public service announcement homework assignment. He was wearing his Moby shirt, and well, it was a cute video. But as soon as he realized his classmates, and my blog readers were going to see it, he made me promise not to show it. I’ve put it away for future blackmail needs, but I can’t break my promise. Which also means, I had to find another blog idea.

When inspiration doesn’t hit right away, I start checking in on my social network and sure enough, an old teacher friend from SC reminded me of this little creature in BrainPOP that maybe you haven’t met before. By now you all know the family of Annie and Tim, and how Moby belongs to them. Annie is our BrainPOP Jr leading lady, Tim is our BrainPOP and BrainPOP Español guy, and Moby is the star in three series. But there are other characters that you’ll meet here and there, and with that, I’d like to introduce you to my favorite lab rat, Gary.

Gary is the little rat that you see running in and out of a window pane on the main site. The poor guy looks like he’s been an active part in most experiments with his hurt tail, bent whiskers, the boo-boo on his head, and the bandages across his tummy. But don’t let his looks fool you! This lab rat has some special treats just for you! If you are watching a science movie, look under the movie player. There you will find a variety of activities that go along with the movie. Gary is the one responsible for sharing all the science experiments that go along with the science movies, with step by step instructions of what you need to complete the experiment.  I used him in my days as a technology coach to introduce a topic, we’d try out his experiment, take the quiz and then we’d watch the movie to learn even more about our given topic before doing the next activity in our lesson, which probably included some great netTrekker resources!

There are other great characters you will meet in BrainPOP and BrainPOP Jr. (Joey thinks one of the fish in Belly Up from BrainPOP Jr is named after him.) You’ll get to know them with each exploration into this great new partner of netTrekker’s!

Not yet a netTrekker subscriber? Click here to request a free 14-day trial.

Hook, Line, and Reel ‘em In

Last year my niece came home from school all excited about a project she had to do on her favorite president. I asked her who she selected, and she answered Abraham Lincoln. I’m always curious as to how little minds work, so I asked her why President Lincoln was her favorite. Her response, “He was born on my birthday!”

BrainPOP is a great way to introduce new topics.

Since we had our work cut out for us, I decided to take advantage of her school’s subscription to BrainPOP Jr. When I was a technology coach, I used BrainPOP movies as a way to hook interest in the lesson. BrainPOP Jr. has another great feature. It teaches the students how to take notes. Annie stops periodically throughout the movie to ask a question and take notes. I had Zoe practice this skill with Annie and Moby so that way when she furthered her own investigations she knew how to ask questions and find the answers. She even enjoyed playing with the activities found under the movie and used the activity template for her puppet’s hat.

After watching a great thorough introduction to President Lincoln, Zoe then accessed her netTrekker account. She conducted her search and refined her search by reading levels 1 and 2. She wanted to just find more movies, but her mean old aunt made her do some actual reading. I did allow her to use the Read Aloud tool as needed.

The Puppet of Abraham Lincoln

Once Zoe had all of her notes together, she decided to create a little puppet play about Abraham Lincoln. She started her play with BrainPOP’s “Pop a Joke” feature, getting a her classmates to chuckle and even introduced note taking to her fellow classmates, telling them that Moby and Annie taught her that great skill! The puppet turned out pretty neat and now resides on her bookshelf, the play got an A so she was thrilled, and Zoe gained a better understanding of why President Lincoln is her favorite US President with two fantastic tools.

And what’s even better, she now has access to both of these great resources by logging into her netTrekker account. Her BrainPOP movies are always at her fingertips with one search. Yours too! Try it today!

If you have any great lesson ideas on how to use netTrekker and BrainPOP together, please share them either in a comment below or over at netTrekker Village on our discussion. boards!

Hanging by a Thread

Last week I promised you a gem from one of the sessions I attended, and told you that you’d have to take a gamble on whether or not I post it. I am so sorry to leave you hanging by a thread, but I’m ready to start sharing. This first gem has become quite popular over the past year or so. It takes presentations and digital storytelling to a completely new level.

VoiceThread is a great tool to share your knowledge and experiences.

I’m talking about VoiceThread, which is a fantastic tool. We used it to wrap up our field trip in Washington DC, to see what they learned about either a monument, netTrekker and how to use it, or about netTrekker Village. Since we were at a very busy, fast paced conference, I was extremely pleased with the number of teachers that responded. I went ahead and paid the $3 for a downloaded version of the field trip and then loaded it to netTrekker Village.

I just mentioned a price, so some would ask if this is a free tool or a subscription tool. It’s actually both. There are some free aspects, and then there are some that are based upon a subscription. You can learn more about the type of accounts they have on their site. You can even see examples of how to use Voice Thread in your own classroom in their library.

Another thought on how to use this goes back to training. What if you took screenshots of your favorite product, such as netTrekker, and asked for the teachers to comment on how they would use that feature, or leave a tip for a best practice, or even post a question on something else they want to learn? You can have the participants in the workshop comment and share, and continue the learning experience from each other.

Let’s give it a shot. Here is a VoiceThread I started on netTrekker. Leave your comments on the different features and share your knowledge and insight with each other. Let’s see how many comments we can get on this thread. All you need to do is sign up for a free account. Then you need to select if you want to leave a written comment or a voice comment. You can also mark up the page while you comment by using the marker to point out a few things or highlight something of interest. Don’t be shy. Have fun with it and experiment. That’s the best way to learn.

Hidden Gems

There are so many gems in netTrekker, and with over 300,000 resources, it’s easy to get sidetracked by a few. A few of my favorites are actually found in the netTrekker Reference Section.

Aside from the typical encyclopedias, dictionaries, converters, and such, you’ll also find some valuable resources to help with the creativity side of things in the classroom. Classrooms that are creative are gems for our students. Those are the classrooms in which students can participate and come alive rather than simply sitting on the sideline.

Pics4Learning is absolutely one of my favorite places for images to use in storytelling. This resource is found in all three of the grade level tabs in the reference section, under the “Finders” near the bottom. What’s a digital story without images? And these images are fantastic for classroom use!

Also in the “Finders” section is another one of my favorite resources, FindSounds. I use to play a sound for my students during our creative writing segments. I would tell them to close their eyes and just listen. I would play that sound two or three times and then tell them to open their eyes and write me a story based on that sound. FindSounds is a perfect place to go and get these great sound bytes to use in digital storytelling and for other creative writing projects.

You can learn more about digital storytelling by reading an article from Forsyth County, GA in our latest newsletter or joining Jill Hobson in her presentation on Digital Storytelling: The Tools to Create the Magic at NECC 2009.

cheer This sound alone has so much potential! But I’d rather you think of it as netTrekker cheering on you!

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

Tags: digital storytelling, netTrekker, reference

Are you 21st Century Literate?

Amanda has done a wonderful job sharing all about the 21st Century Channel and a bit about netTrekker‘s d.i.’s involvement in the 21st Century initiative. It’s my turn to tell you about the ICT Literacy component, my favorite section of the 21st Century Channel.

ICT Literacy Skills are synonymous with Digital Literacy

ICT. What do those three letters stand for? No peeking at Amanda’s last post. Here are some of the answers I’ve been given in the past: Instructive Computer Tasks, Information Computer Technology, and Instruction for Computer Teaching. While all of those are components of ICT Literacy, it actually means Information and Communication Technology. It’s also commonly referred to as digital literacy, since it is the ability to use the technology available to accomplish given tasks, demonstrating skills and knowledge. Students, and teachers, are able to find the information they need, analyze the appropriate materials, and even evaluate which media is the right one for the given task.

With netTrekker d.i., many think that the task of finding the information has been  customized a little too much, but in truth it hasn’t. If you were a doctor, pharmacist or a lawyer you would use a specialized search engine or database to research your information for your field in order to save time. netTrekker d.i. is similar in that all the resources are geared to be the most appropriate for education. You still have to use your digital literacy skills to determine which ones are the most effective and will help you accomplish your goals.

Onward with the great features of ICT.  To start with, it is a great place for you to learn more about the tools and processes involved in the variety of digital medias. When I was a student, our resources included magazines, journals, newspapers, encyclopedias, and other books. Today our students have all of those, plus podcasts, blogs, vlogs, digital video and digital images. Instead of just writing a paper, students can create digital stories, their own podcasts or blogs, use other Web 2.0 tools to share information, and other digital presentations. If you want to learn more about these medias and the tools involved in creating them, check out the ICT Literacy Component.

My favorite section though goes beyond learning about the tools and how to use them. I like the 21st Century Integration Models, which are lessons for teaching the 21st Century Skills. The ones from www.nettrekker.com were written by teachers for netTrekker. For these lessons they took a traditional lesson plan and added a technology-rich components to make the lessons 21st Century ready. Other lessons include those from Apple Learning Interchange, State Departments of Education, and other great 21st Century sites. Many of the lessons were written by teachers just like you!

Head on over to the netTrekker Village and share just how digital literate you are in one of the discussion boards.

Tags: 21st Century, Digital Literacy, ICT Literacy, Integration Models

Play Time

Can you imagine your life without a decorative box to put your paperclips in, without rubber bands, without being able to purchase a variety of shoes at an inexpensive cost, windows in your home, shoelaces, motion pictures, the use of paper money, cotton clothes, a suitcase with a collapsible handle or how about a telephone? These are just some of the items patented in March that have made our lives more comfortable, more organized, and definitely kept us more entertained.
March is also the time of year for the science fair projects, and through these projects our teachers will cultivate young inventors of the future. What neat gadget will they create to improve our comfort, organization, or entertainment?
If you do a search in netTrekker d.i. for inventions and then refine your search by “Video” (under the multimedia selection) you will find my favorite inventions resource, the Lemelson Center. Here students can either play games that sharpen the mind and prepare them for creating inventions or teachers can watch video on how creativity, play, and science all work together.
Oh, okay – teachers can play the games too. I know I have!

Tags: inventions, netTrekker, projects, science fair, video

A Biting Find to Read

Psst. Wanna know a secret? I’m terribly afraid of vampires. Yeah, they really freak me out. Which is probably why I’m the last one on planet Earth to read the series Twilight. Jill Allen, the Director of netTrekker’s Customer Relationship and Training Department, seemed shocked that I, an avid reader, had not read this series. She almost convinced me to begin Twilight during FETC. Almost, because, well, I was still a bit nervous about the whole vampire deal. (Yes, I know there are no real vampires. I have an overactive imagination though.)

On March 2nd we will be celebrating Read Across America, and it should be a celebration for all readers, not

How many of you have read Twilight by Stephenie Meyers?

just limited to elementary students. Middle school and high school students should also enjoy this day of reading. And from what I understand, Twilight is the new Harry Potter,  when it comes to encouraging reluctant readers to crack open a book.

With Twilight being a newer book that’s just starting to take hold in the classroom, I wasn’t sure if I would find any resources in netTrekker d.i. . Not only was I pleasantly surprised to find a few, I was also pleased to find results that were not from bookstores selling the book or movie reviews. I used “twilight” as my keyword search. My first two results were related to the series! The first site was the official website of Stephenie Meyer. It was interesting to read about the dream that inspired her to write the story and how the town of Forks became the setting.

The second site is the one that I’m enjoying right now as I write this. It’s a site from the Library of Congress and includes a presentation from Stephenie Meyer at the 2006 National Book Festival.

If you search with Stephenie Meyer as the keyword, you’ll find three websites about the author. On the same note, there are 30 sites about vampires, most dealing with other writings involving these legendary creatures.

If you know of any great sites with lessons on how to use Twilight in the classroom, please share those links with our content editors in the netTrekker Village. Our content editors are always on the prowl for fresh new relevant sites.

Tags: netTrekker, read, read across America, Stephenie Meyer, Twilight, vampire

Be SMART with Interactive Notebooks

Earlier in the week, we featured the Promethean Collection of interactive Flipchart lessons.  The SMART Collection in netTrekker d.i. also provides you with over 1,000 interactive whiteboard lessons to use with your students, even if you don’t have a whiteboard.

Check SMART on the Collections menu to browse SMART notebook lessons

Developed in SMART Notebook software, lesson activities are correlated to curriculum standards and you can easily customized each lesson to suit the needs of your classroom. Each one is created in a subject-specific template with an age-appropriate design and works for a range of grades. Many SMART-created lesson activities have interactive multimedia files and dynamic graphics that students will love.

To locate SMART resources, perform a keyword search and then use the Collections refinement menu to quickly browse over 1,000 SMART notebook lessons.

This week to celebrate Valentine’s Day, American Heart Month or during your study of the body systems, have a great hands-on review of the functions of the chambers of the heart by doing a keyword search for the Circulatory System. In the Refinement Menu for collections check SMART on the Collections menu. Once you learn about the heart, there is an interactive piece where you actually put the heart back together and resuscitate a patient.

Simply click on Download Notebook Interactive Viewer to download SMART notebook lessons

Don’t have a SMART Board yet? Follow the link to the smarttech website at the bottom of the screen, select software downloads and simply click on “Download Notebook Interactive Viewer” . You will then be able to view any of the Notebooks found in netTrekker d.i.

It’s that SMART!

Tags: Interactive White Boards, netTrekker, netTrekker d.i., SMART

Promethe-WHAT?

Pro-ME-thee-in, that’s what!

Some of you are quick to brush this wonderful resource aside because your school or district doesn’t own Interactive Whiteboards, but WAIT!    

You can still view & use Promethean Flipcharts even if you don’t have Interactive Whiteboards!

Simply click on   to download software which will allow you to view these teacher created resources.

Then click on and either open the flipchart immediately or save it to your desktop.

“I don’t have time to find the Promethean Resources.” 

By utilizing netTrekker’s COLLECTIONS refinement menu, you’re able to quickly and easily browse through thousands of Promethean resources. 

“What kind of resources does this Promethean offer?”

These educator created flipcharts allow teachers to browse lesson plans, in multiple subjects, and incorporate into their curriculum.  Whether it’s to be used in the planning of a concept or for the students to master a concept, Promethean flipcharts will enhance any lesson.

In fact, here’s how you find one!

Under the Middle School Tab, I entered the keyword, government. 

I narrowed my results by selecting Promethean located in the Collections refinement menu. 

Scrolling down, I found the flipchart Promethean: A New Government. 

Tags: Integration Ideas, The Collections, Training

Collections: Quia

It’s Monday morning in the computer lab, I was just informed that the 5^th graders will be coming to the computer lab to work on their geography projects. I have 5 minutes to prepare some extra activities for those students that finish early – and for me that means it is time to find Quia activities.

Quia has created a concept that provides educators “the ability to create customized educational software online, built around their own course materials and made available to their students over the web.” Over a million educators have registered to use this service and almost 700 of these shared assessments have been catalogued in netTrekker d.i.

The Quia activities found in netTrekker d.i. span over 100 categories from Accounting to Zoology in the form of quizzes and tests including matching games, scavenger hunts, hangman, and much more. These assessments can be accessed by individual students or for whole class instruction.

I login to netTrekker d.i., click on the Middle School tab, enter the keyword geography and click search. From these 1000+ resources, it is very simple to pull out only the Quia activities by using the Quia Collection Refinement menu… I can hear them coming down the hall … I have 1 minute before they arrive in the lab… I quickly select 4 of the Quia activities, Save to My Portfolio in a folder shared in the School Portfolio… the 5^th grade class has arrived and I am ready to help them with their geography project and also direct them to some extra activities!

netTrekker d.i. has over 70 Quia resources catalogued in the Elementary section. Some of the more popular include activities to help students practice geography and map skills. Jeopardy-like games are utilized to practice reading skills for the emerging reader – by practice alphabetizing, rhyming words, and word families.

netTrekker di has over 130 Quia resources catalogued in the Middle School section. Some of the most popular include activities to help students practice matching up the World Language vocabulary. And to get students off to a good start on a research paper – have them play a challenge board game to review info needed for a research paper.

netTrekker di has over 140 Quia resources catalogued in the High School section. Some of the most popular include activities to help students review economics vocabulary. Newton’s 3 Laws of Physics can be confusing – until a student practices matching the terms with the definition.

Quia provides high-interest activities for the student by providing them with an interactive game to practice and learn skills and facts. Even though the students think that they are playing games, they will actually be learning geography!

As an added bonus by using Quia within netTrekker d.i. – you have the assistive tools for your students to use with the Quia activities – Assessments with Assistance! Dictionary HotKey provides definitions and translations for the instructions listed with the Quia activity, and for those students needing auditory support, instructions can be read to the student with the Read Aloud feature.

Tags: netTrekker, netTrekker d.i., quia

Organization is Key

My Portfolio provides a place to collect links from netTrekker d.i., links from your other subscriptions and sources. You may add templates, a timeline, famous person search criteria with results, and images.

Folders can become quite busy with websites, images, and saved features.

However, once you put everything together in one folder, you get a mess. And right now, my folder is a big mess!

Think of your file cabinet. More than likely everything is in a folder and organized, not just thrown together. That’s our next step, to create folders for organization.

First, open the folder you want to organize. On the left hand side there is a button that says “NEW FOLDER”. Click on that and you can create a new folder. You will have an opportunity to name the folder and give it a description as well. I created several folders for this project, including Famous Scientists, Images, and then two Website folders, one for Science Fair Project Ideas and one for the Scientific Method.

The next step is to move the items from the main folder to their respective sub-folder. On the left side of the websites are check boxes. Check off the ones need to moved to a specific folder, then click on move (right hand corner). When you click on move, your entire portfolio will open with the structure viewable. I selected scientific method websites to be moved into the

The steps for creating and moving items into folders.

“Websites: Scientific Method” folder. I didn’t see the folder at first, but next to the Science Fair folder there is a plus sign. By clicking on the plus sign, I can expand the Science Fair Folder to see the sub-folders. I then click on Websites: Scientific Method and then move.

By doing this, you can easily organize a project with all your resources right there at your fingertips. Some quick tips:

• Folders will line up alphabetically and they will also line up numerically.
• If you need to order your materials, consider numbering the folders
• This process can also be used in the school or district sharing area.

Hop to it! If we don’t organize now, we’ll be a mess later! (Take it from someone who knows!)

Tags: Folder, My Portfolio, Project Based Learning, Save Search