Nettrekker.com

Hello All!

Recently, I attended a training on Nettrekker and I wanted to share. Some of you may know what it is, but in a nutshell; Nettrekker is a safe search engine for kids that also has some very cool management features for teachers to create folders for web sites you want to refer back to and also create classes or groups of students that you want to see specific web sites. One trainer described Nettrekker as "The Thinking Person's Wikipedia." All web sites that you find through Nettrekker have been evaluated for quality and they also include a readability scale. Using Nettrekker you can do specific key word searches or you can "drill down" preselected subject areas and categories that they give you. In either case it helps to find web sites that you can choose to be focused for an Elementary, Middle School, or High School audience. Furthermore, you can also search for sites that are geared towards English Language Learners.

My two favorite Nettrekker features are the "Famous Person" link and the "Timeline" link. If your tired of all students wanting to do reports on the same sports stars and teen heart throbs then the "Famous Person" link is for you. You can search for famous persons by isolating male/female, specific time periods, occupations/professions, and ethnic/cultural heritage. Searching for famous persons by "Ethnic/Cultural Heritage" especially interests me so we can better connect with our diverse student population. Unfortunately, "Alaskan Native" is not included as a category, but many others are included here.

The "Timline" link allows you to create time lines based on specific dates you enter or subject areas you choose (i.e. world history, U.S. History, music, visual art, etc...). Once you log in and create your account look for these two links on the right side of the page, if you don' t immediately see the tool bar containing "Famous Person" and "Timeline" make sure to click "show" just below the orange Nettrekker banner at the top of the page.

Another very cool feature/option is that once a student finds a useful site, Nettrekker has the ability to read aloud any text that you highlight within the page. Choosing appropriate web sites with Nettrekker's readability scales and using the "OPEN Read Aloud" is a powerful combination to increase student comprehension. Look for the "OPEN Read Aloud" button just below the Nettrekker banner at the top of the page. You must then find the web site you want and highlight the text.

To find Nettrekker go to:
http://school.nettrekker.com