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

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