Efficiency & nT – September 2011
I Don’t Have Time For That! – Spend Less Time Searching For Resources and More Time Teaching
So, school has likely started for you by now…are you still stuck in summer break mode and thinking to yourself, “How in the world am I going to have enough time to get this all accomplished?” As a teacher, you have access to hundreds of thousands of rich digital content pieces perfect for a wide range of classrooms that will help you with your last-minute planning needs. Find images, videos, and content relevant to your classroom objectives and your students in less time using netTrekker’s refinement options . If you need lesson plans, find them in context of your grade levels and subject areas. Organize all the fantastic resources you find in ways that will support your instruction using My Portfolio. Once you have your content gathered and organized, choose one of many netTrekker Portfolio options to share and deliver content you have selected more effectively.
Using My Portfolio To Plan for Instruction
The experts at netTrekker have worked with teachers to create great planning resources – quite a few of these are shared in the Global Portfolio. Check out the exciting example of a unit plan on Ancient Egypt and even some suggested folder structures to help you stay organized as you use the Portfolio to plan across a school or district!
Connect With Us!
How have you changed planning for instruction in past years with the introduction of technology?
Share your thoughts on our Facebook wall or tweet using #netTrekker!
Small, but mighty!
School Districts are as varied as the students they serve….running the gamut from large organizations serving hundreds of thousands to small entities working with student numbers in the thousands. Change – the kind that really makes a difference to kids – doesn’t come easy to districts, large or small. One organization demonstrating how to accomplish this trick is Mooresville Graded School District – a small, but mighty district in North Carolina.
Mooresville Graded School District strives to prepare every child, every day to be a successful and responsible citizen in a global workplace and community. – Mooresville GSD central site
In turns out, Mooresville Graded School District is in the process of a systemic digital conversion. This conversion, driven by the school system, parents and the community, has focused on improvements in teaching and learning – increasing student engagement via technology, content and methodology. This massive shift in the way teachers teach and students learn is proving extremely effective – putting policy into practice in ways that directly impact each student, every day.
netTrekker has been proud to partner with Mooresville in their digital conversion efforts for several years now – providing digital content that drives engaged and personalized learning at the student level and transforms the instructional focus away from the fixed and inflexible approach offered in traditional materials and methods.
Last month, Mooresville did something that even we were surprised by – the usage recorded by the district (with less than 6,000 students) earned them the 15th largest number in terms of subscription activity in our entire base. That means that this small district was utilizing powerful, engaging content to benefit students at the level that much larger districts are striving for – the company they were in for the top 15 using districts was pretty impressive.
So, what do you think teachers and schools in Mooresville are doing with some of their less engaging, dynamic content? Creative holiday decorations maybe?
UPDATE: Shortly after reading this, our friends at Mooresville sent us an update about other ways they are using their ‘heavier’ content……
This REALLY ACTUALLY happened in Mooresville…..check this out from a HS Geometry class!
Fwd: Cool Project
Check this out. See below. This is how we use textbooks. :)
Begin forwarded message:
Subject: Cool Project
For the last 4 weeks my students have been working on a popsicle stick bridge project. First researching different types of bridges, practicing with toothpicks, and finally building the bridges that they presented today. The picture I have attached is a group that built a bridge that was able to withstand 37 geometry books! Too cool not to share!