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

Up the Mountain, Down the Mountain

This past Thursday I was sent to Oregon for a training scheduled for Friday. I was ecstatic at the opportunity to train, to see the great West, and to see the mountains.

I woke up at 2 am EST and made it to the Tampa airport without incident. The flight was comfortable, but long, and by the time I landed in Portland, Oregon, I was ready to go! I got the rental car, set my Garmin for the lengthy ride ahead of me, set my iTunes to play my favorite driving playlist, and set off. The colors were simply amazing! I’m a Florida girl right now, and we just don’t see those fiery reds, blazing oranges, golden yellows or lush greens in our leaves as the seasons change. Nature’s palette was rich and exciting to view. Add in the backdrop of the mountains and the crisp cool air, I was ready for an adventure!

I just wasn’t ready to drive up the mountain.

It’s been a long time since I drove up a mountain. And actually, I’ve always been the passenger, never the driver, and therefore could tune out the sights if needed with a book or looking the other way. But as the driver, your eyes must stay on the road, with an occasional glance in your rear view mirror. As I drove up the mountain and neared the edge, I looked at all those gorgeous colors in a sea of trees below me, and the panic attack set in. I didn’t realize how close to the edge I really was while going up Mount Hood. I then started taking note of how fast other cars were flying down the mountain, of the cars that were right on my tail to get up the mountain, or of the fact that I didn’t see a guard rail (and what would a guard rail do for me if I did have an accident and hit one?). There were also warning signs of ice, to use chains if snowing, animal crossings, and falling rocks. These did nothing more than to heighten the feeling of my throat closing and the panic attack settling in even more. I’m sure my panic attacks were heightened by my tiredness because as soon as I crawled off the mountain and to the hotel in Madras, I crashed and had the strangest dream.

It was like one of those old educational film strips, with a narrator explaining how education works. Each student has a vehicle, his or her brain. None are the same. You have the Ford Focus I was driving that strained to go up hill, the 18 wheeler that was on my tail forcing me to go faster, the SUV that was meant for that type of driving, and the zoom zoom sports car that scared the living daylights out of me as it passed each chance it got. The narrator noted that for each road there is a standard speed, but to expect some to slow down and some to speed up at their own comfort level. The narrator also pointed out there were areas to pull over and enjoy the view, areas to pull over and let the more accelerated people pass, sometimes a double lane to let people pass, and areas to pull over and test your brakes before going down a hill. All along the way you had the beautiful trees poking out with their vibrant hues and a look at the immediate fall if you didn’t handle the vehicle just right.

And as the narrator explained this to the class watching the film strip in my dream, the comparisons made me realize even more that the panic attack my son, and any other learning challenged student, must feel when faced to learn something new in a way they are not comfortable with must be like. While the end destination is absolutely thrilling, peaceful and worthwhile, the ride itself can be a bit scary. It also made me think of those who go so fast, that they miss the view, and even become bored with the end result because there’s not enough of a challenge for them. For instance, take that SUV that was able to go along at just the right pace, taking in the views, and able to enjoy the end result without crashing into a panic attack. Then there was the 18 wheeler that came pushing up on my tail (where I couldn’t even see the headlights, just the grill), who was like those who just don’t understand everyone moves at their own pace and that we must accommodate for them. (He wouldn’t even pass me when he had a chance, instead increasing my fear by staying right there.) It also made me realize the value of carpooling, or collaborative learning.

I wish I could say it was easier going down the mountain, but I can’t. I still panicked a little, but I knew when to pull over into the slow zones and let others pass me by and I was prepared for the onslaught of nerves prickling my neck. Thank goodness it didn’t rain or snow, I would really have been in trouble.

But the trip up the mountain did make me more thankful to work in education, and with netTrekker. I see netTrekker as a tool helping to support all levels on the course of learning with readability and grade levels, accommodating where possible by making it easier to find a place to pull over and practice those skills with resources that match the student’s learning style, lending a tool to help make it easier (like chains on the tires for snow) with features like read aloud and dictionary hot key. And yes, the collaborative learning power of My Portfolio and netTrekker Village.

But more importantly, we have some of the best teachers as users who are sharing these features with their students and enabling them all to drive, easing the learner out of the panic attacks, so they can drive smoothly up the mountain.

These pictures are courtesy of me pulling over on the way down, once I was by myself on the road and felt comfortable to take a snapshot. The image of Mt. Hood is from Pics4Learning, as indicated in the caption.

Tags: collaborate, learning, learning styles, mountain, netTrekker, netTrekker Village, Oregon

Are You the Biggest User?

This blog post is the first of an exciting series to come. Many of us are inspired by the hard work and accomplishments of the men and women who participate in The Biggest Loser. Through coaching and the support of peers these dedicated individuals learn new things and discover tools and strategies to gain a wonderful new lifestyle.

This experience is much like the virtual community in NT101, netTreker’s Online Professional Development Course. We are currently in our sixth session and our participant group includes a diverse group of over 200 people including teachers, media specialists, curriculum coordinators, administrators, and content evaluators all representing many regions of the United States.

I recently sent out a request to the NT101 Alumni groups to write in and let us know how they are doing “after they left the training camp.” Within just a few minutes, I had an amazing response. Jo Anne McClelland from Sierra Sands School District in Ridgecrest California wrote back to me, “I Have a Great One!” She explained to me that on the first day of school, during first period, as she was checking attendance, she noticed one of her eighth graders who had not answered roll call. Knowing he was a new, unfamiliar face, Jo Anne matched him up with the one name left on her roster. At the end of the day she received a message from the office that this new student was from China, had only been in the United States for two weeks and spoke very little English. JoAnne knew absolutely NO Chinese. After working with him a few days, it was evident that he read and understood English a little better than he could speak.

JoAnne called in “netTrekker to the rescue” with the Read Aloud feature. “I just pull up a list of search results that relate to our lesson of the day, have him use my computer and he loves exploring, with the assistance of ‘Mike’ or ‘Lauren’ to help him learn English and history. It’s been 7 weeks and now he brings an electronic translator to class and is able to complete most of the written work that the class is working on. Thank you netTrekker!”

This is just one of the many training success stories. Visit netTrekker Village to join our online learning community, meet members in your regional group, participate in discussions, enjoy reading Best Practices, watching videos and learning about exciting upcoming events. If you have training success story to share, please let us know. You may be the next Biggest User.

Tags: netTrekker, NT101, Training

Techno-Novice Call For Help

There’s a request for help on the discussion board by a netTrekker Villager who would like me to fly to him and assist him for a week.  Unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to make it to Northbridge, but I still want to help. My first tip, take it at an even pace. Try one thing at a time, and then add the next step. Don’t try to do all of it at once!

There are more great tips and ideas in the Teacher Tools Section of netTrekker. There are a few resources that are linked to the One Computer Resources and a few more for the One-to-One Computing.

A great tip I have learned over the years came from a friend of mine, Tom Turner. Tom’s school bought a bunch of SMART Boards last year and he needed to find a way to “hook” his teachers into using them. His secret weapon? netTrekker.

Tom did a search, refined his search by the collection of SMART, and pulled up those resources to share with his teachers. Once he showed them how easy it was to find SMART notebooks already created by other educators, how cool they were to use on the SMART Board, and what other interactive sites were like on the SMART Board, they were hooked! Once they got used to just using pre-made SMART notebooks, he then taught them how to make their own. He even used resources in netTrekker to help build those resources.

If you have a great tip on how to get started, please visit netTrekker Village and let Dean know. Help a fellow teacher out.

Tags: getting started, help, netTrekker, netTrekker Village