Danielle Elliott-Smith, 6th Grade Teacher at Blythewood Middle School, South Carolina, used netTrekker d.i. to successfully introduce her 6th grade honors social studies students to the research process. "During our unit on the Middle Ages, the class decided that each person would pick a topic that was interesting to them, thoroughly research that topic, and create a research paper as a final product. For many students, this was their first experience with the formal research process but netTrekker d.i. served as both a safe and reliable search engine."
Danielle has found that many 6th graders struggle with the idea that not all content on the Internet is reliable, but with netTrekker d.i. as a guide, her students learned to be more discerning consumers of information. The students also used netTrekker d.i.’s My Portfolio feature to bridge the gap between school and home. They began their research at school, saved their information in My Portfolio, and then easily accessed it at home. netTrekker d.i. made the research process easier, safer, and more convenient for these 6th grade historians. Great job Danielle!
"netTrekker d.i. has brought a wealth of global resources to the profoundly important curricular area of arts education. These masterful artisans, both students and teachers, use this technology to enrich each academic content area with beautiful audio, visual, and kinesthetic expression."
Susan McCarthy
Technology Integration Specialist, Richland School District Two
Palmetto Center for the Arts Magnet Program
Q: Why Doesn’t Read Aloud Always Work?
Q: How Do I Change My Role to Teacher?
Danielle Abernethy, Southeast CRT
In our last netTrekker d.i. newsletter, I mentioned a touching digital story, "Segregation-The Horror of Discrimination", from Shannon, an 8th grade student of J.A. Dobbins Middle School in Paulding, GA. I recently heard from one of the coaches for the project, Helen Maddox and she informed us, "Over 1200 entries were submitted from schools across the U.S. Competitors had to win at the state level (Shannon's project was a winner at the Georgia Media Festival) and then be submitted to the ISMF and judged - Shannon was a winner at both. The International Student Media Festival will be held in Orlando Nov 5-8, 2008." Good luck to Shannon!
We would love to hear from any other teachers who are using netTrekker d.i. for various projects and contests. Click here to submit your Student Spotlight Project Ideas.
In last month's survey we asked:
"Do you feel that professional development for trainers, librarians, and teachers provided by netTrekker d.i. is required for successful utilization of netTrekker d.i.?"
All future surveys will be sent to our Opinion Group. To join, click below.
