Patriot Plot

West Carteret has purchased software where our teacher gradebooks are kept on the Internet.  The teachers login to a secure server and post grades instead of keeping static copies of grades in a manual gradebook or even software located on our local server.  Now one may ask why do I care about this change?  Well let me share the biggest advantage for students and parents alike…you can ALSO login to this secure server and see your grades at ANYTIME.  Even in its infancy, we have found students and parents to be exceptionally receptive to this new software.  We call the software PatriotGrades and it can be accessed at anytime from our school website www.wcpatriots.com then you click on the PatriotGrades tab across the top.

This will also save paper when it comes time to send home Interim/Progress Reports.  The only interim reports that will eventually be printed is for those parents/guardians that do not have access to the Internet.  In that case, it will be the student’s responsibility to print a copy of the progress report(s) from the media center or computer lab before leaving for home on progress/interim report day. 

Parents, please provide an email address and your student’s teacher can easily email you a progress report on interim/progress report time.  This way even if you don’t have time to go and see your student’s grades, you will easily receive a progress report in your email.  Also, please remember to contact the school anytime your email changes. 

If you have problems logging in to PatriotGrades, please call me (Mike McKay) at 726-1176 ext. 13 or email me at mike.mckay@carteretk12.org or Amy McKay at 726-1176 ext. 38 or email her at amy.mckay@carteretk12.org

Please take a moment to post a comment here as to your thoughts about PatriotGrades once you have had an opportunity to check out the site.

The computers, laptops, and projectors are rolling into West Carteret High School.  The Carteret County Commissioners saw fit to fund our request to replace our aging technology.  We are excited to see these items coming in…making a dream of being able to offer state-of-the-art technology to our teachers and students.  By the end of the next school year, almost every teacher in our building will be able to use an lcd projector connected to their computer to give a visual stimulant to their lessons.  These projectors allow teachers to give notes while showing examples from the Internet, digital cameras, scanned images, software, or other media. 

In a classroom observation just this week, I witnessed a science teacher covering the topic of DNA.  The projector was being used to give notes via a PowerPoint Presentation…but the cool part came when the teacher switched from the PowerPoint to a DNA “game”.  What a novel idea to have a student play the game connecting the proper DNA items together without forming mutations (aka putting the wrong items together).  The students were listening and taking notes during the PowerPoint, but they were engaged when the game came on the screen.   

We are also very excited about the two COWS we will be able to offer to our teachers and students.  Now you might say…what in the world is a cow and why would you need one in school rather than on the farm.  Well, this is what I said also when I heard the term COWS.  Let me clarify a little…COWS stands for computers on wheels (AKA a laptop cart with 25 laptops).  This is so thrilling because of dealing with a building built far before one would have thought about having computers in every room, much less computer labs.  The height of educational technology in 1964 might have been a room full of typewriters.  The COWS will allow teachers to sign up to use the laptops in their classroom.  One might ask, what difference does it make about being in your classroom instead of in the lab?  Well…ask any teacher that same question and you might get an ear full.  A teacher and class being in their classroom allows for the teacher to have access to all materials that may come into need within easy reach.  The student behavior also shows to be better in their regular classroom…as the environment is normal.  Also, by being in the classroom teachers gain 5-10 minutes of instructional time they would lose when moving to and from the computer lab.

As an administrator, I understand the saying that “To whom much is given…much is expected.”  I along with the entire faculty and staff of West Carteret High School understand that we must put this technology to use in mastering the curriculum objectives to make this venture worth the time, effort, and money.  We plan to work as good stewards of the county’s resources to help our students.