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!
Spotlight User: Marie Pearson Discusses netTrekker Search's Collaborative Opportunities
netTrekker is excited to introduce this week’s Spotlight User. Marie Pearson is the Technology Research Teachers at Campbell County Schools in Virginia. Marie shares how netTrekker Search’s My Portfolio has opened up additional collaborative opportunities for her teachers.
We have had netTrekker Search in our division for about two years and have primarily used it as a safe, educationally-based search engine. But, wow, after seeing the potential of collaboration that exists through the use of the My Portfolio options, I can see that we will market netTrekker Search differently this next school year. I was impressed to see all the resources that could be saved in a Portfolio account and, with the addition of standards, one could have their units of study all set up for instruction. I found the My Portfolio features very user friendly and look forward to using them as we prepare for the school year.
As a technology resource teacher, I plan to use the My Portfolio features to train teachers on the expanded uses/benefits of netTrekker Search . I’d also like to assist them in setting up units of study and assist in the classrooms when they are introducing netTrekker Search to their students. Our division’s focus is on differentiated instruction and netTrekker Search provides many resources for this instructional method; therefore, I plan to emphasize to the teachers how netTrekker Search can help them accomplish this goal.