Introductions

[Scott Habeeb]

Please tell the other members of the network a little about yourself. Nothing is too short and nothing is too long. Just let us know who we are so we can turn this network into a true community.

[Scott Habeeb]

Welcome to the world of 9th grade! We hope you'll find a lot of good ideas on the network.

[Kelly Koper]

I'm Kelly, a teacher at the Raider Academy at Hart County High School in Munfordville, Kentucky. This is our first year with a freshman academy, and while things aren't perfect, I think it's pretty clear that this team approach is a great thing for our students. And for us teachers.

I was excited about the idea of a freshman academy when I first heard it was being considered at our school, and the Freshman Transition Conference we attended in Nashville last spring made it seem like the only way to teach freshmen, especially since our students go straight from elementary school (pre-K to 8th grade) to high school.

[Scott Habeeb]

Thanks for joining, Kelly. Glad to hear that things are going well at Hart County and that you're finding teaming to be worthwhile. Remember, that if you all handle this the right way things can keep getting better each year. If you all create a website for your transition program send me a link and I'll post it for you.

[Robert Burke]

I am a retired (30 yrs) High School Teacher (Science) working with a parent advisory group which is looking into implementing some type of transition program for our freshmen. I live in Green River, WY and volunteer at the high school.

[Scott Habeeb]

Awesome. I'm sure your experience will be a big help. Green River, Wyoming - sounds like it would be a great place to be. Great name!

[Dr. Ronald G. Shapiro]

Welcome, Robert....

[Chris Gray]

Hello everyone,

I am very pleased to be a part of this network. My name is Chris Gray and I represent a new resource for students called Track Ahead.com. We just launched in September with the goal of providing a focused social network for students, parents, educators and community organizations to connect and share information in an environment that was safe for all members. We have included many resources for students and parents: over 300 videos, 125 articles (written by Track Ahead staff and dozens of contributing experts) as well as blogs, discussion forums and groups. We were just recently featured in an article on Examiner.com. We've started partnerships with community organizations such as the Indianapolis Urban League, Boys and Girls Club of Nashua, an Indiana University Latino organization called PATHE (Providing Access to Higher Education and partnered with them at an on campus event for 140 Latino high school students across the state of Indiana. We're just getting started and we hope to partner with many more educators, businesses and community partners across the country. As our student membership grows, we will begin partnering with colleges and universities to connect directly with students and review their profiles and portfolios. I hope many of you will check out TrackAhead.com. It is on a Ning platform so if you would like to sign up and check it out, you can use the same user name and passowrd. I look forward to meeting many of you and look forward to your feedback. Please let me know if I can be of assistance to anyone on this network as well. Thanks

Chris

[Scott Habeeb]

Chris

Thanks for joining and I like your Track Ahead site.

Please feel free to re-post any good blogs on this site as well. It will benefit our members and will probably bring more members your way.

[Chris Gray]

Thanks Scott. I appreciate it.