netTrekker Blog

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!

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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!”

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.

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!

2009 netTrekker Fest Event

Helping customers has always been something that I enjoy. It’s powerful to feel like you are part of someone else’s “team” and you are helping them alleviate some of their “pain points”.

The netTrekker Fest on Thursday was something completely different. We were on a journey together. I learned right along with all of our customers. When everyone came in, there wasn’t much conversation, not many people knew each other.

Our keynotes gave us many new things to think and talk about INCLUDING how we all felt about the idea of going “back to school”. Sharon Draper made us all consider our level of “crispiness” and renew our faith in what we do. Dr. Kari Stubbs of BrainPOP opened many new doors of possibilities – Web 2.0 tools, Global Perspectives, 21st Century Skills and many more as well as our new integration with the fantastic BrainPOP resources. The conversations started to flow… it was amazing!

The Zoo showed us real, engaging ways to get kids asking the questions they need to learn more – and it was FUN!

CIM shared some cool tools that work with netTrekker and all areas of the technology-scape of a school or district. Gotta have those gadgets! Specific examples of how netTrekker supports these and many other types of approaches helped to round out the day with our Round Robin of afternoon sessions.

I am changed… I am inspired… I am renewed… I am ready to roll my sleeves up (even further) and work harder for this area to continue this new buzz of excitement that was generated last week.

This is our “hood” – this region is home to netTrekker – but the netTrekker Family reaches across the whole world. We continue to try to do good things for kids where ever they are. So, as I say to everyone when I sign off… Happy netTrekking!

Tags: BrainPOP, netTrekker