netTrekker Blog

Resource Round Up

We are often asked how a teacher can recommend a site or other great resource for netTrekker. These resources are often either great state or local websites, resources for very specific science topics, great book links, sites that are available in other languages, and great cultural resources. Sometimes it’s just a great personal website with lots of curriculum connections. We want to include these resources, and so we are pleased to announce a very easy form for you to submit them for our content editors to review, align to standards and have added to netTrekker for every student and teacher to use.

To submit a resource, you will need access to netTrekker Village. That means you need to be a member! Once you are a member, check out the form under Events titled “Resource Round Up“. Fill in as many details as you can and submit it. Make sure to include your name and a legitimate email so we can contact you once your resource is added in, or in case we need more information.

While you are at netTrekker Village, take a look at the new events added to the calendar. If you would like to host an event, in order to share a website tool found in netTrekker or a great lesson, please contact Danielle Abernethy. We’re hosting topics such as Museum Box, Social Networking, and netTrekker specific. Join us for one or more today!

By submitting new resources or taking part in an event, you help make us stronger and more resourceful for all of your research needs. To say thank you, you will automatically be entered in our monthly Power Networking Contest.

Tags: content, curriculum, events, museumbox, netTrekker, netTrekker Village, resources, social networking

Love to Differentiate

Join me this week while I am in Las Vegas for the SDE Differentiation Conference.  I know the saying goes, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”, but I just cannot let that happen! I am actually attending the conference to learn more about how differentiation is being used in the classroom in order to add more power to the professional development we offer.   I have signed up for a variety of great sessions, and am excited to share what I learn from them with you!

Before the first session, I sat down with a teacher from Texas. She was flipping through her program book and said, “you sure do have to love teaching in order to want to even try differentiating.” She’s exactly right! So, let’s spread the love of differentiation and teaching this week.

A question that came up in one session was “what is differentiation, and what isn’t it?” The answer for “what D.I. is and isn’t” is a great discussion, but let’s look at what it’s not.  It’s not a single program, it’s not hard vs. easy, or even a single answer for all students.

In another session, we looked at how to share what we know with others in PLCs (Personal Learning Communities). This is why I cannot let what I learn in Vegas stay in Vegas!  The presenter, Joni Turville, reminds us that if you are here as a representative from your school or district, you need to make sure that you go back and share that knowledge with your peers. I plan on sharing with my peers through our team lunch and learn sessions and with my fellow netTrekker users and Village members thru the blog, discussions on the Village, and in the professional development I conduct.

Another great question that was discussed was “what do you want out of your PLC and what can you contribute to your PLC?” I want to learn new ideas, tricks, and tips from my PLC. I want to have a core group of other educators that I trust to give me accurate information and great personal opinions on anything dealing with technology in education, or just education. I hope to be able to share those same items with my fellow PLC members, and not be too weak of a link in the learning process.

In her second session, Joni shared with us her favorite web resources for Differentiation. During our “stand up meetings” I heard a teacher several rows back introduce herself from Texas. I’m not sure why this grabbed my attention, but it did. Then on our way out the door, that same teacher said that Joni didn’t share a great resource that covers all of what she did show in one place, and that was netTrekker. WooHoo! I tried to catch up with her so I could get her to write this blog, but no luck. But this is Vegas. Maybe I’ll get lucky today and find her or another one of our great users!

Terms:

PLN: Personal Learning Network

PLC: Personal Learning Communities

DI: Differentiation Instruction

Connect with Us

Connections are made when two or more people have a common thread that ties them together, and are often made at an event of some sort.

netTrekker Village has several events listed on the calendar, including both online and onsite events. At NECC this summer, we are proud to feature six special guest speakers who each will be presenting a 15- minute session in the netTrekker booth #931 on how they use netTrekker or on a special feature in netTrekker. Marci Campbell, Jill Allen and I (Danielle Abernethy) will also be presenting in the booth at NECC, so there are plenty of opportunities to make a connection and learn from other educators about how you can get more from your netTrekker subscription. We are also pleased to announce that our two scholarship winners, Ryan Evans and Teresa Diaz, along with Teryl Magee, Chad Lehman, Jill Hobson, and Tom Turner will also be presenting in our booth, sharing insights about netTrekker from an educator’s point of view.

Our Sunday Night event at NECC, which was announced on the Village, is already full. We announced this one through the Village Message System and were pleasantly surprised by the quick number of people that signed up. But don’t fret, we have more events planned! If you’re in the Ohio, Indiana or Kentucky areas, there’s a netTrekker Fest happening on August 13th that is definitely worth checking out. Check the calendar for details.

Other events are online, including free webinars. Currently we have free webinars for how to make the most of netTrekker Village and the new Customer Resoruces section of netTrekker.  More of these events will be announced, and through mid June. We will also have many other free webinars on how to use netTrekker’s My Portfolio, special guests sharing how they use netTrekker, and more!

It is important that you RSVP for any of the events you are interested in. The RSVP feature is found on the right side of the event.

So join us at an event, and connect with us!

Tags: connect, NECC, netTrekker, netTrekker Fest, netTrekker Village, village, webinar

Trek With Us

netTrekker d.i. has some of the BEST customers! Our educators are down to Earth, creative, and a joy to get to know. Yesterday in the booth we met quite a few of these great users and last night we howled with a few as well.

I would like to introduce you to a few of our customers from Henrico County, VA. These guys stopped by the presentation side of our booth and we played tag with teaching each other a few things. Jill and I taught them about the admin tools and the teacher code, and they taught us about Virginia. These guys are really dedicated to their state and have started their own curriculum building for teaching everyone about Virginia.

They call themselves the VirginiaTrekkers and you can find their website by visiting VirginiaTrekkers.com. There you will find podcasts, activities, SOL Correlation, and more links to learn about their great state.

Three of them were available for a quick interview, and you can find that interview on our new netTrekker Village.

Tags: FETC, netTrekker d.i., netTrekker Village, VirginiaTrekkers